Williams Wins 5th Wimbledon Singles Title

There was the euphoria of winning her fifth singles title at Wimbledon, tying her older sister Venus, and her 14th in a Grand Slam tournament. The satisfaction of purging a shocking French Open implosion and the aura of vulnerability that followed. The relief that comes with reviving a career on the brink, from cheating death, from outlasting a patient and persistent adversary who on Saturday threatened with a comeback nearly as stirring as Williams’s.

When it was over, when her crisp backhand found open court, Williams fell backward onto the lawn. She stayed there for a few seconds, a grass angel basking in a 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 victory over Agnieszka Radwanska, before climbing through the crowd to meet her entourage in its box. Her appreciation of these moments is greater than it was 13 years ago, when at age 17 she announced her presence at the 1999 United States Open. There is an element of selflessness, of humility, that comes, perhaps, with age and maturity. Now 30, Williams is the first woman in her 30s to capture a Grand Slam since Martina Navratilova won Wimbledon in 1990 at age 33.

“Oh my God, I can’t even describe it,” Williams said during an on-court interview after she turned back Radwanska on a blustery and chilly Centre Court.

When she took to Twitter an hour later, Williams was nearly speechless still: Yeaa, she wrote, with 40 more a’s tacked on. When she appeared an hour after that in the interview room, Williams said that winning had yet to sink in; usually, she said, it does immediately. But it certainly appeared to while she answered a question about her motivation to win the women’s doubles final with Venus, as they did Saturday night.

“I don’t feel any pressure because, I mean, regardless, I won Wimbledon,” Williams said, placing her head on the podium as she unleashed a lengthy, high-pitched cackle.

Since the last time she won Wimbledon, in 2010, Williams has endured two foot operations, caused by a misstep on broken glass; emergency treatment for blood clots in her lungs; an 11-month hiatus from the tour; a demoralizing loss in the 2011 United States Open final; torn ligaments in an Australian Open warm-up tournament; and an outstanding clay-court season that came to a sudden and stunning end with a first-round defeat at the French Open, her earliest exit from a Grand Slam tournament.

Williams wanted to expunge the memory of her loss in Paris. She tried. She could not, at least for a while. Naturally negative is how Williams describes her temperament, a personality trait at odds with the confident, powerful persona she projects on the court.

The loss spilled over into Wimbledon, into sluggish three-set victories against Zheng Jie and Yaroslava Shvedova. Was she headed for another disappointment? Did she have enough mental toughness to advance? Her father and coach, Richard Williams, said she was lucky to have reached the quarterfinals.

“I think Serena feels the pressure; she doesn’t have time on her side,” said Chris Evert, an 18-time Grand Slam singles champion, in a recent interview. “And she wants to take advantage of these opportunities.”

Williams dominated the first set Saturday, winning the first five games as she matched Radwanska on extended baseline rallies, drilling sharp-angled forehands and cross-court backhands, even mixing in the odd drop shot. But when Radwanska, who was dealing with an upper respiratory illness, came back after a short rain delay and showed her mettle in the second set, overcoming a 4-2 deficit, Williams grew anxious, and it was natural to think back to her implosion in Paris, where she first blew a 5-1 lead in the second-set tiebreaker against Virginie Razzano, and then lost the match.

One does not survive a pulmonary embolism without some serious staying power. Winning her first service game of the third set stabilized Williams. Four straight aces at 1-2 emboldened her. A nifty drop shot to break Radwanska at 2-4 empowered her.

“After that,” said Williams, “it was, ‘I can definitely do this.’ ”

It was a disappointing result for Radwanska, seeking to become Poland’s first Grand Slam champion, but her presence in the final solidified her standing as a contender. It also proved that a crafty and creative tactician could handle and counter power and pace — at least for a time.

Williams became the seventh woman in the past seven Grand Slams to win the championship. The field is ever deeper. A revived Maria Sharapova. Angelique Kerber. Petra Kvitova. Victoria Azarenka, who will rise to No. 1 when the rankings are released Monday. Radwanska, who will climb to No. 2. But during these two weeks, none of the last three women could contain Williams.

Williams’s decision to remain in France to work with Patrick Mouratoglou, who owns and operates a tennis academy outside Paris, could be seen as a sign of maturity as well as desperation, a willingness to listen to another voice when for so many years she has stayed loyal to her clan. Those sessions recharged her psyche as much as her body, which absorbed a punishing workload at Wimbledon — a challenging slate of singles matches, in addition to a title run in doubles — without incident.

“I don’t see why not,” Williams said when asked if she could surpass Steffi Graf (22), Navratilova (18) and Evert on the Grand Slam singles title list.

For all the speculation that Williams had passed her prime, it is possible that this championship marks the beginning of a new phase, a return to prominence instead of a culmination. And in that new phase, Williams has assumed more of a supportive role in her relationship with Venus, who is battling an autoimmune disorder.

“I don’t know what I would have if Venus didn’t exist,” Williams said. “I don’t even know if I would own a Grand Slam title or if I would play tennis, because we do everything together.”

Ten of the last 13 Wimbledon singles titles belong to them. Five Wimbledon doubles championships, including their triumph Saturday. More euphoria. More satisfaction. More relief. Another trophy hoisted.

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