The walk back down the players’ tunnel without holding the champion’s trophy is not overly familiar to Serena Williams on any of the Grand Slam stages.
It has only happened six times in 28 finals. Twice this year, though, she experienced it, trundling off Rod Laver Arena and Court Philippe Chatrier as a runner-up in back to back majors for the first time in her career.
Fortunately for the 34-year-old, it would not happen after the Ladies’ Singles final at this year’s Championships. History finally fell Williams’ way on Wimbledon’s Centre Court.
After three failed attempts, the world No.1 levelled Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam singles titles with the defeat of Angelique Kerber.
It was the seventh time the 34-year-old had grasped the Venus Rosewater Dish, the 7-5, 6-3 triumph the culmination of exceptional shot-making and unwavering determination from both women.
“This tournament I came in with just a different mind frame,” Williams said. “In Melbourne I thought I played well, but honestly Angelique played great, she played better. So I knew that going into this one, I just needed to keep calm, be confident, just play the tennis that I've been playing for well over a decade.”
Victory avenged defeat to the German lefty in this year’s Australian Open decider, with the Williams serve more potent in the rematch. It proved the difference in a high quality shoot-out. She won an extraordinary 88 per cent of points on her first serve, thumping down 13 aces en route.
As was the case in Melbourne, Kerber’s dogged consistency kept her in points she looked to have no right to extend. The only break of serve in the first set came as she was trying to force a tie-break. Unperturbed, she cast aside the disappointment and pulled off the shot of the match on her way to holding for 2-2 in the second.
Dragged well wide of the tramlines, she thumped an all or nothing backhand down the line. Too far off court to earn another crack at the point, she nailed the winner into the corner, electrifying the Centre Court crowd and drawing a raised racket of acknowledgement from Williams.
Kerber threw everything she had at Williams but simply fell short to the better player on a cloudy, gusty Saturday. She made just nine unforced errors to the American’s 21 but it Williams’ aggression proved telling as she struck 39 winners to her opponent’s 12.
“This is how Serena is playing. I had one break point, and I couldn't do anything,” Kerber said. “I was trying to be tough, to be in the match, trying to fight until the last point. Serena was today the one who won the match. I played my best that I could.”
Williams extends her record as the oldest woman to win a major in the Open Era, which she set with last year’s Wimbledon victory. Nine of her 22 have come after the age of 30. Other timeless champions before her, Margaret Court and Martina Navratilova, only won three in their 30s.
The pressure of equalling Graf’s mark had clearly taken a toll on Williams in the past year. Her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, had noted she hadn’t been herself until the eve of the Championships. She suffered a surprise capitulation in the US Open semi-finals, bowing out to the then world No.43, Roberta Vinci, with a calendar-year Grand Slam on the cards, before the aforementioned defeat in Australia to Kerber.
Spain's Garbiñe Muguruza continued to plant seeds of doubt when she upended the American’s bid in the French Open final, but there would be no denying her place in history on the final Saturday of this year’s Championships.
“I've just felt a lot of pressure, I guess. I put a lot of that pressure on myself. Obviously I’ve had some really tough losses,” Williams said. “One thing I learnt about last year is to enjoy the moment. I'm definitely going to enjoy this.”
With time to reflect after those long walks back down the Centre Court tunnels in Melbourne and Paris, this was a champion able to put a pursuit of history into perspective.“I learnt that you can't win everything, even though I try really hard,” she said. “I do the best that I can. I still am not going to be perfect.”
Not perfect, but arguably making an unanswerable case as the greatest of all time.