US Open 2013: Heroic Serena Williams enters folklore with win over Victoria Azarenka

Williams did her fair share of choking, that’s true – her forehand chose those nervy last few minutes of the second set to break down, and she seemed clueless about what to do when her blistering serves kept coming back with interest. But she would never have been in a position to choke if it hadn’t been for Azarenka’s unwavering self-belief and accuracy off the baseline. The Belarussian, with her power-packed counterpunching style, can trouble Williams in a way that very few others on the tour can, and it won’t be surprising if one day she actually won one of these close Slam matches against the American.

That’s pure conjecture though, and a matter for the future. What probably hurts Azarenka right now is that she came close yet again, and couldn’t get the job done. But how close was it, really? A lot more than the score suggests, if the mid-match decibel levels of both players is any indication.

With Williams starting to sulk and wail and scream desperately as the second set slipped away from her, it seemed like the Belarussian had finally managed to push Williams off the edge. Although the vocal energy that Williams displayed wasn’t all negative – after saving a set point on Azarenka’s serve to even the breaker at 6-6, she let out an almighty roar that seemed capable of shaking the very foundations of the cavernous Arthur Ashe stadium – there was no mistaking the fact that Azarenka had wrested control of the tempo of the match. Williams duly followed that saved set point with a couple of baseline errors, and Azarenka had all the momentum going into the third set.

That moment, of course, is when Williams decided to unfurl the last trick up her sleeve, a trick that no one knew existed in the early part of her career – her ability to adapt her game to the demands of the situation. Realizing that her flat strikes were not only coughing up errors in the wind but also playing right into her pace-loving opponent’s hands, she started putting a bit more air into her serve and forehand. Relying on placement and angles more than sheer brute force, she got stuck into the rallies and dared Azarenka to go for more. Williams continued to hit the cover off the ball with her backhand, but the sudden change in the pace and trajectory of her forehand threw the Belarussian off, and led to a string of errors that ultimately cost her the match.

The 2013 US Open final will likely be remembered mainly for two things: its historical significance (17th Slam, 5th US Open and all that jazz), and Williams’s inability to serve out the match not just once but twice. But there are other things about the match that deserve to be remembered too; things that are primarily concerned with the ability of the two protagonists to make constant, and occasionally drastic, adjustments. Adjustments to accommodate to the opponent’s pace of shot, adjustments to withstand the effect of wind on their own shots, and perhaps more importantly, adjustments to arrest their own inner struggles.

Serena Williams jumping for joy after her victory

Williams and Azarenka had to battle against more than just the opponent through the tense, 2hr 45min battle. And while that may true of all tennis matches, and most sporting encounters in general, what makes this match stand out was the very conspicuous way that the two players went about their adjustments. Azarenka put her head down and muttered to herself more fiercely with each passing moment of the second set; Williams, on the other hand, gave herself elaborate reprimands as her errors mounted in the second set, and visibly forced herself to remain calm as she attempted to regroup in the third.

Finally, there was the most striking adjustment of all – Williams celebrating the win by furiously jumping up and down, and letting loose with a series of thundering ‘Come on!’s. She had kept her emotions pent up for almost the entire third set, and needed some release. Did she want the win a little too much, even after all these years and 16 Majors? She probably did, which explains the mid-match vocal shenanigans that she put on display.

Like the heroes of our legendary tales, Serena Williams often finds herself in a position where she wants something so bad that she seems in danger of self-combustion. And since we never question how those mythical gladiators managed to keep their heads and get to their destination, we shouldn’t question how Williams does it either.

We should just accept it, and celebrate it, as a mark of true greatness.