not so GREAT ESCAPES
Serena Williams blowing a 5-1 lead and four match points? Who was this imposter, felled by Karolina Pliskova in a dramatic quarterfinal of the Australian Open last January?
The 23-times major winner, most prolific Grand Slam champion of the open era, built her glittering career on roaring back from perilous deficits – not falling from towering leads. But since returning as a mother, the 38-year-old Williams has laboured mightily (’scuse the pun) to win any title, let alone a major. Before bub, Serena was 23-6 in Grand Slam finals, unchallenged as the greatest winner of her generation and arguably of all-time. Since her 2018, return she’s 0-4 in major finals, and 0-8 in sets. She was the heavy favourite in all of those final losses – to Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep at Wimbledon, and neophytes Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu at the US Open.
Melbourne Park a year ago provided no better example of the heightened psychological state Serena now operates in. Not just an ageing great chasing down history, she is a symbol of working mothers, a wife, a cultural icon. That’s a lot of reputation
