by Pete Bodo*
The first serve Serena Williams hit Saturday was a kicker, wide. 15-love. The next one was flat, out wide as well. 30-love. Then she hit a flat one down the center stripe, 40-love. After that, she hit another one down the pipeline, flat. Whoops. . . Vera Zvonareva poked the return back and eventually won the point. Accidents happen, right? Serena then went to the wide slice, finishing off the game.
All those first serves, with their assorted spins or lack thereof (none of this, hit the first one flat and hard as you can, pray you get the soft spinner in if you miss), clocked in far below Serena's tournament-best delivery (125 mph), and even her swiftest in this Wimbledon final (122 mph). In fact, there wasn't 10 mph difference between any of those serves; they all zipped along somewhere between 96 and 106 mph.
This wasn't a very important game, but it was an emblematic one, a testament to Serena's absolute command of the single most important stroke in tennis. Men like Pete Sampras, Goran Ivanisevic and Boris Becker have built empires on the serve; others have lifted themselves out of the muck and mire of the minor leagues with it. Now a woman has joined them, for the first time. If you worship, as I do, at the altar of power, this was great stuff.
Serena gets a great deal of credit for the sheer bigness of her serve, but this game was more representative of why it's so deadly, and of the nuanced, wise way she deploys it. Her first serve stings like an asp. Her slice swerves like a drunk driver. The kicker is a jack-in-the box. Just crank the handle ladies! Pop!!!! You never know what's going to jump out at you, but it's guaranteed to scare you each and every time.
This did not go unnoticed by Zvonareva, who put up a brave fight in the first set but went down swinging, 6-3, 6-2. Asked to describe what it was like to face that sorcerer's mix of deliveries, Zvonareva thought a moment, then said: "Well, she can use different serves. She can hit flat and she can use what is very good on the grass, effective on the grass—a slice serve, wide where it's very difficult to return.
"Then, you know, you can cover one side, but then she can go flat very hard the other side. So she always changes it. And the second serve (the kicker) she can put so much rotation in, so it's very difficult to attack it, as well. I think I made a mistake today. I stepped back, and I should have been more aggressive on her second serve."
That last observation was a strikingly acute bit of self-analysis, all the more impressive for the way Zvonareva worked it out under battle conditions, rather than in some commentary booth. In my notes, I did jot that it was probably a tactical mistake for Vera to stand fairly close to the baseline, and then have to make returns while moving both backwards and sideways. Either you commit and attack the ball from a stance on the baseline, or stand back and take it moving forward in the hopes that you haven't left her too much of an angle.
Easier said than done, of course. . .
It came down to this: Zvonareva played a courageous match, but not a particularly smart one—a critical error for one of the brighter women on the tour. It couldn't have been easy to march right into Serena's line of fire, racket blazing, for that's a shootout no woman can win. And it wasn't very productive. At the baseline, Zvonareva repeatedly engaged in hitting contests with Serena, both women ratcheting up the pace until the ball couldn't take it and fled the lines. Usually, the woman who drove it away was Zvonareva. She was aware of that, too.
!102606122 Versatility, soft hands, and a full command of the stroking repertoire are hallmarks of Zvonareva's game. She's one of those players who's jammed tool box often seemed an impediment to getting the job of winning done, efficiently and authoritatively. This was not one of those times. She left her tools back in the truck.
"I think today I was able, you know, to serve okay. Just those couple double faults, but it's nothing. Return, I was able to do the return [that's debatable, but let's assume she meant she was usually able to get the ball in play]. The most difficult were in the rallies where I didn't make the right choices at the right time. Maybe sometimes I went for too much and sometimes I didn't attack enough. . .I would make I think the right choice, and then she will make a really good get and a passing shot. Then next shot you feel like you have to go for even more, and then you start missing."
Attempts to slow down or vary the pace? Not today. It's always costly when you play the game entirely on the terms of your opponent.
One final thought on Serena's serve: In the second game of the second set, Serena hit a wide slice in the deuce court. There was no call on the apparent ace, but Vera challenged. Hawkeye confirmed that the ball was wide. Second serve coming. Serena stepped up and hit the same identical serve as if to say, There, do you believe me now?
We believe, Serena, we believe.
Serena's press conference was delayed, so I'm posting this and will come back later with a a few more thoughts on Serena.