Questions swirling around her, Serena Williams provides emphatic answer at U.S. Open

NEW YORK—There were questions for Serena Williams in the days before the U.S. Open began. How was the shoulder that kept her from playing in Montreal and Cincinnati this summer? How was her confidence after her early loss at the Olympics in Rio? How match ready was she after playing just three contests since Wimbledon? And would she be ready enough for Ekaterina Makarova, a pesky first-round opponent who had once been in the Top 10, and who had once beaten her at the Australian Open?

Serena seemed to answer all of those questions, and any others anyone might have had, simply by walking out on court in a lavender-striped skirt that received rave reviews.

“She looks like she could be a superhero called Violet Crunch,” British tennis writer Simon Briggs tweeted.

Serena didn’t just look the role against Makarova; for the most part, she played it as well. There were no signs of shoulder pain, or the slower serves that would signal it. She hit 12 aces, won 90 percent of points on her first serve, didn’t face a break point, made 27 winners and just 11 errors, and cracked one serve 121 m.p.h.

It wasn’t really that Makarova was off her game. Rather, she had no way to use it. There was nothing she could do to hurt Serena; no shot she could sneak past her, no pattern she could put together to get her out of position. Serena moved well and was sharp with both of her ground strokes, particularly with her crosscourt backhand.

There was one tiny moment of hesitation, and possible tightness, from Serena. Up 4-2 in the second set, she had squandered a break point and allowed Makarova to hang around. Serving at 4-3, Serena double-faulted and went down 15-30. Was she, after racing out to a lead so easily, going to let Makarova back in? Not this time: Serena hit an ace for 30-30, and then, under pressure for the first time all night, she came up with an excellent kick second serve and forehand winner. Another kick into the ad court gave her the hold for 5-3, and soon after that the match.

Superheroes like Violet Crunch, as well as veteran champions like Serena Williams, tend to like having questions swirl around them. It gives them a chance to show that they still have the answers. Serena gave us her first one on Tuesday night.