Tuesday, June 09, 2015

W is for Win

Williams. Wawrinka. Winners. Wow.

What a French Open that was. Serena Williams and Stanislas Wawrinka won the women's and men's singles titles at Roland Garros. With both players having initials S.W. , it would have been a tad cooler if they both won Wimbledon (which is also called SW19 because of its area code) hehe but their wins were both pretty incredible for different reasons.

Stan Wawrinka became the oldest man in 25 years to win the French Open, his second Grand Slam title after winning in Australia last year. He is now in a tie with Andy Murray (who also has two) and anyone who achieves this feat in the era of Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic has definitely achieved something special. By winning last Sunday, Wawrinka also snapped Novak Djokovic's 28-match winning streak and prevented Novak from completing a career grand slam.

Serena, on the other hand, is now halfway towards completing a calendar grand slam. This is actually the first time in her career that she is this close to achieving a feat that only 5 people in history have achieved, primarily because each time she has won the Australian Open in the past, she lost immediately at the French. That she is this close to achieving what is deemed to be the most prized achievement in tennis at the age of 34 speaks volumes of just how unparalleled Serena's talent is. Her win last Saturday means that she has now won 20 majors, only 2 behind Steffi Graf and 4 behind Margaret Court. With no one looking like they can consistently challenge her, I wouldn't be surprised if Williams passes Court's record of 24 within the next 2-3 years. Another record she shares with Court - she has now won at least three of each Grand Slam title (Steffi holds the record with four of each).

Wimbledon is just a couple of weeks away and it will be interesting to see who will win on the men's side and if anyone can stop Serena. Predictions, anyone?

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