As most everyone who regards sports knows by now, Serena Williams became this Wimbledon event's latest upset victim on "Manic Monday," the day on which all 32 remaining men's and women's singles players are in action. She fell to Sabine Lisicki by a score of 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 on a day that oddly saw Serena up 3-0 in the deciding set and yet unable to close. To that end, her coach (and rumored paramour) Patrick Mouratoglou had this: "She's human. You cannot expect for anybody even if she is the greatest player of all time, if she is, to be perfect on all the matches all the year. She is not, and she will never be. ... I think still that her low level is better than it was before. But she is a human. She is going to lose some matches, and we have to be ready for that."
Indeed, she is all too human, as we have seen during, between, and completely removed from the points in tennis matches over time. Serena will always be Serena, which is to say defiantly human. One has to think she will bounce back from this loss, learn from it, and be stronger. Recall that she has done just that since losing her opening match at the 2012 French Open to Virginie Razzano. Could she go on another Grand Slam–winning tear? Quite likely. For now, these are the numbers that matter: Her winning streak ceased at 34 matches, one short of sister Venus' mark of 35 in 2000, the best of the past 13 years. And Serena and Venus notably remain tied for most Wimbledon women's singles titles among active players as well: five.
Will Serena yet eclipse her sister in these respects? Will either Williams sister again hoist the Venus Rosewater Dish as the ladies' singles champion at SW19? Only time will tell. And time can do so much. But for another year, Serena has no more to do with the Rolex clocks affixed to the courts at the All England Club.
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