Serena Williams wins French Open, on track to become world’s greatest

Serena Williams is just five grand slam titles away from becoming the most successful female singles player in history.

Serena Williams celebrates with the trophy following her victory over Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova at the end of the women's final match of 2015 French Tennis Open overnight.

Serena Williams is now in sight of overhauling first Steffi Graf and then Margaret Court to become the most prolific accumulator of Grand Slam singles titles and the most successful female singles player in the history of the game.

The 33-year-old American’s third French Open title took her collection of singles major titles to 20, just two short of Graf and four behind Court. Yet for all her numerous triumphs, the last fortnight in Paris has been one of the most melodramatic in a career brimful of controversy and intrigue.

As dominant a champion as Williams — a 6-3 6-7 6-2 winner over 13th seed Lucie Safarova — isn’t supposed to stare defeat squarely in the face against far lower-ranked opponents not once but four times during the course of a tournament.

Serena Williams celebrates with the trophy following her victory over Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova at the end of the women's final match of 2015 French Tennis Open overnight.

Somebody regarded as the greatest server the women’s game has ever known isn’t expected to hit nine double faults during the course of a final. And most certainly women don’t repeatedly use the kind of language that almost certainly would have seen John McEnroe defaulted from the tournament.

Williams should be eternally grateful to the French umpire Emmanuel Joseph, who either didn’t understand some of her furious invective or chose to turn a deaf ear. Admittedly she did receive one warning for an audible obscenity midway through the concluding set but that was almost an after-thought following a constant dialogue brimful of expletives more fitting in the rugby scrum or on a building site than Court Philippe Chatrier.

She also owes a debt of thanks to Safarova, just as she did to four of her six previous opponents, who were allowed to work themselves into a sufficiently dominant position to knock the top seed out of the tournament only to find themselves effectively paralysed by nerves and so allowing their supremacy to slip.

Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova congratulates Serena Williams on winning the women's final.

Safarova, who did not really discover the sort of flowing game that had previously eliminated French Open past champions Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic until late in the second set, led 2-0 in the third with Williams emotionally flat and physically close to static. Whether or not she cast a glance at the Coupe de Suzanne Lenglen positioned courtside only the 28 year-old Czech will know, but the sight of the metaphorical finish line has been the undoing of many a player in the past and so it proved yet again.

Williams, of course, had a ready-made excuse. She let it be known she was far too ill to even consider explaining her semi-final fightback against Timea Bacsinszky on Thursday or contemplate practice on Friday. She issued a statement maintaining she was suffering from influenza and had almost collapsed after winning the concluding ten games.

Before falling behind to Safarova there were few signs that Williams wasn’t anything other than 100 per cent fit and her opponent, never previously a Grand Slam finalist despite spending more than ten years on the women’s tour, became inhibited by the possibility of winning the title. Another run of six successive games clinched things for the proven winner.

US player Serena Williams celebrates after winning the final.

Of course Williams’ powers of physical recovery are quite possibly as strong as her ability to hit a tennis ball, and if that is the case she should be commended for the way she stuck to the task after unquestionably letting her dominance slip midway through the second set. “I choked, it was as simple as that,” Serena admitted in an on court-television interview with the American broadcaster Mary Carillo, referring to the moment she lead by a set and 4-1 only to hand Safarova a gift-wrapped opportunity to become the first Czech women’s champion of Paris since Hana Mandlikova in 1981.

Safarova was playing in her 40th Grand Slam tournament and after reaching the Wimbledon semi-final last summer, she had played some commendable tennis to go one step further.

However she hadn’t come into contact with anything quite as formidable as the Williams forehand that unleashed some withering, morale shattering blows in the early exchanges.

Williams was taking her time walking around the court between points but seemed intent on winning every point quickly. Initially it meant she committed twice as many unforced errors as her opponent but the power she packed ensured a spectacular break of serve to take a 4-1 lead that effectively clinched the opening set.

Serena Williams poses with her trophy near the Eiffel Tower after winning the women's final match of the Roland Garros 2015 French Tennis Open.

An immediate break of serve in the second saw Williams celebrate with her hands held high as if she had won the title. However the inability of Safarova to find any consistency on her backhand provided good reason for such optimism. The Czech was largely parked back behind the baseline, the force of the Williams barrage preventing any form of advance to use the drop shot, which had been so effective in most of her previous wins.

But then things changed dramatically as Williams struck three double faults in one game to sacrifice her dominance.

When the set extended to a tiebreak, the rejuvenated Safarova allowed herself a semblance of a smile, by virtue of the fact she had a 100 per cent record from five previous shootouts earlier in the tournament. She took her record to six out of six with Williams bellowing the self-critical question: “What the f*** are you doing?” The answer was not abundantly clear in the initial two games of the final set as another double fault paved the way for Safarova to make an immediate break of serve.

Then, with Williams still cursing and swearing, this time she benefited from a Safarova double fault and four quick games later, with the match clock showing two hours and one minute, the beaten Czech could only scramble a concluding forehand into the net.

The Sunday Times