Serena Williams celebrated her 40th WTA career title – Tennis Special
Former world number one, Serena Williams of the United States, bagged her 40th WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) championship title last week. She completely outclassed the underdog Czech opponent, Lucie Safarova, 6-0,
6-1, in the final of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, USA, to achieve the milestone.
Winner of 13 Grand Slam tournaments, Serena made her comeback to the WTA Tour this season after an injury layoff and has been on the roll since then. The 30-year-old veteran may have lost her spark due to the aging factor but she
is still one of the most feared competitors on any type of tennis court.
Serena was sidelined from the professional circuit due to a foot injury for a significant part of the 2011 season but the American powerhouse is well known for her belligerent comebacks to the WTA Tour. She came out firing at the
2011 US Open Grand Slam and annihilated all the opponents she faced to reach the final of yet another Major tournament. The American veteran was outshined by the brilliance of Samantha Stosur, who disposed her in the final showdown to lift her first Grand
Slam trophy.
The 30-year-old took off her 2012 WTA campaign at the Brisbane International but lost in the quarter-final round to Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova. A lot was expected from her in the Australian Open but Serena could only made it
to the fourth round of the year’s first Grand Slam event, submitting to the inferior-ranked Russian, Ekaterina Makarova, in straight sets.
Serena went for another resting layoff from the Tour but was summoned for the national duty in the Fed Cup campaign against Belarus. She won both of her singles rubbers to secure her side to victory.
Another month-long absence from the international tennis was finally ended in March when Serena came out to play the Miami Masters on her home soil. She avenged her US Open defeat from Stosur in the fourth round but lost to the
former world number one, Caroline Wozniacki, in the quarter-final battle.
Serena finally got another title opportunity in Charleston after hunting down Stosur once again in the semis. She went all guns blazing against Safarova and overwhelmed her in straight sets to register her 40th title
victory in the most assertive manner.
"I definitely want to continue this," said Williams. "I've never played consistently at such a high level with low errors like this, and the scary thing is I could have served so much better."
The American veteran is now in her early 30’s but her love for the game and will to play encourages her to remain on the tennis courts for her fans. She is still not 100 per cent fit but is still good enough to bag a number of
more titles before saying farewell to the tennis courts.
"I did pretty well in (last) summer, but then I dropped off again until this tournament. So I really am like a floating bird," Williams said. "It's motivating for me to go home and work harder because I know Lucie and Sam (Stosur)
and everyone is going to work hard, too. Now they know what to expect even more when they play me. This is a battle, and I want to continue to win."
Serena is keen to perform well in her next campaign in Madrid Masters, a WTA Premier clay-court tournament in Spain and is eyeing to bag as many titles she can this season.
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