Serena Williams Rallies Down Under For Revenge Against Muguruza

Garbine Muguruza of Spain (but born in Venezuela) is an amazing tennis player with a bright future.

21 year old Garbine Muguruza of Spain

Remember her name (the z is pronounced with a th sound) because she just squeezed 18 major title victories worth of experience out of the legendary Serena Williams in the Australian Open.  After Serena lost the first set, I expected a repeat of last seasons failures.  Instead, Serena miraculously narrowed the match to one set apiece and then made a push for a 4-2 lead in the third set.  Immediately I reached for the laptop to tell one of America's greatest sports stories lately because one of the games greatest tennis players EVER had climbed a formidable hurdle that tripped her up several months prior.

There is a lot to describe when charting the constellation Serena, but in the end her serve will be the shining star.  Over her storied career, Serena's serve has served her well whenever she loses her way in a match- like the match she just won over a very difficult challenger in Muguruza.  The difficulty of Muguruza goes all the way back to the French Open last summer in which Muguruza ran Williams off of the clay courts of Roland Garros, 6-2, 6-2.

Clay is clay, but when Serena faced her again yesterday in the hard court rematch down under, she found herself down 6-2 again in the first set of their match at the Aussie Open- appearing to still have no answers for her able opponent.

Despite valid attempts, Serena could hardly get her kick serve past Muguruza who's height and powerful forehand transformed the mighty Williams' serve into a tool of her own. With a great weapon neutralized, Serena simply used every remaining tool that she had left in her toolbox.  One of them was telling herself, "at least I have won this five times", referring to her 5 previous Australian Open championship victories.  In part she was joking, but if you watched this match, you would be as confused as Serena was as to how this match turned in her favor.

Though her skills make her worthy of a number one ranking, her results of late would make you think that Serena is content with simply remaining competitive in the closing part of her career. Not only is she not content, Serena has every intention of finishing on top. The first game of the second set against Muguruza showed the intention of the legend and the mind of a champion performer.

At some point, the entire match began to resemble a Michael Chang or Andre Aggasi contest in which these baseline masters would wear down worthy opponents to win the battle.  Serena had to master the baseline just to stay alive- and suddenly her serve caught fire.  It usually does catch fire in the tournaments that she wins, but not always- and the hallmark of what makes Serena special is the ability to win tournaments with less than her best stuff.

Dominika Cibulkova (ranked #10), the next opponent for Serena, will push Serena in a similar fashion to Muguruza. Cibulkova's dismantling of  former #1 ranked Victoria Azarenka was beyond impressive- it was dominant.  Azarenka tapped into some of her former greatness but could not match the foot speed and shot making ability of Cibulkova who looks to be on her game for this tournament.  For the first time in some time, Serena and Venus both have reached the quarter-finals potentially creating a flashback Williams versus Williams clash in the semi-final round. Either way, Serena has found her serve and can smell the finish line.

18 major titles leaves Serena in a three-way tie for third place behind Stefi Graf who has 22 major titles and Margaret Court who sit on top with 24 majors. The divide between 18 and 24 is immense when you're trying to accomplish the goal in your mid 30's.  Serena is 33 right now and once again ranked number one in the world, but desperate want for the all-time major title record left her with only one major victory in 2014.  A new coach and a new way of thinking might be the key to solidifying her place in U.S. tennis and American sports lore because Serena has a real chance to finish her career as the best to EVER do it.  She already is the best woman to EVER serve the ball.  Her serve might even be worthy of comparison to the best men servers of all time as well.  Her exploits as the whiny tennis legend seems to be par for the tennis legend course as only a few great stars, male or female, survived a career without ever being seen as bitter in defeat.

19 year old Madison Keys- USA. Is the generation that
Serena inspired ready to be recognized?

Regardless of where she finishes her career on top of women's tennis, she has been a lot like Jordan; a global ambassador of the game who inspires a generation of Serena wanna-be's. Have you seen the serve of Madison Keys, an African American female tennis star who just advanced to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open?
Even Serena's attitudinal edge lends itself to comparisons with Michael Jordan, but her championship exploits are closer to Bill Russell. Serena was once just a really athletic player who could overwhelm her opponents with supreme athletic ability- and that serve.  Now Serena is a middle-aged tennis star nearing the waning years of a special career in which she learned and accomplished a lot.  Her accomplishments these days are partly from the accumulative impact of winning so much and an intense will to keep it going some more.  While she seems settled with accepting the results, she clearly expects great ones.  The fire to be great demands the mind to know what greatness looks like.  Finishing in a crowded group for second place or winning 6 more majors to move into second place with Stefi might be the results Serena has to live with, but its hardly her vision of greatness. All you need to see is Serena with her back against a wall to understand what burns inside of this great champion.

In reality, the number one player in the world plays flat more often than not these days.  She has won so many times utilizing as little as possible that she now wins that way most of the time.  Not a great formula when you turn 33 and the entire world of women's tennis gets up to make a win over you a part of their yearly resume, but is it the only way an aging tennis player can reserve enough energy to capture crowns?  Outside of the U.S. Open title of last season, Serena struggled to simply make quarterfinals last season.  She has the game to beat any player at any time, but there are plenty of great players who can send her home early if she doesn't bring that A-game to a given match.  As she walks towards the sunset, getting a win over Serena is like taking one of those bleacher seats out of the old Boston Garden.  Even losing to Serena is an historic experience to this age of new players, but actually beating Serena bears the kind of possibility that might even verge on the edge of hope these days.

Gracious in defeat.  Williams lost to Muguruza in France

Based upon the eye test alone, Cibulkova should beat Serena just as Muguruza should have beat her too.  Vegas might pick Serena to rise to the top down under, but the generation of players who grew up admiring or envying Serena have arrived and are ready and able to compete. Every so often they will overcome Serena's wisdom and errant serve with youth and vitality, but the drive within Serena to finish her career as the best women's tennis player ever will always be something to reckon with. It sends her into a realm of focus that is similar to auto pilot on a plane.  If she senses the need for gas, she presses on it.  When she must have a serve she finds it.  If she needs to extend a rally in order to press a strong opponent into mistakes, she locks her feet on the baseline and smashes balls left and right while her opponent chases after them.  Whenever she looks to be playing at her worse she is actually moments away from flipping a switch and being someone other than the person you had been watching moments before. Muguruza might have stopped the kick serve, but she froze on the slice and then had no clue which would come next.and eventually had to guess her way to the bitter end.

When it comes to 33 year old Serena Williams, its hard to know what to expect from set to set, but there simply is no way to count her out because her worse is often better than most players best.  Regardless of her age, if she is on the court I'm betting on Serena because she is the safest bet the game has ever seen. EVER!

Postscript: Venus Williams on her game is a welcomed sight as well