© Reuters
USA's Serena Williams celebrates winning her womens singles final match against Germany's Angelique Kerber
Serena
Williams' memory is not as powerful as her first serve these days,
although with so many achievements to recall it would be churlish to
hold that against the American great.
However, when the
34-year-old world number one does finally call it a day, she says she
will always remember the moment she beat Germany's Angelique Kerber on
Sunday to equal Steffi Graf's professional era record of 22 grand slam
singles titles.
"There's definitely some blurs between eight,
nine and 10," the American who began her collection at the 1999 U.S.
Open when beating Swiss Martina Hingis, told reporters.
"I don't
even know where eight, nine and 10 were, or when. I definitely don't
remember where 12 was. I remember one through four. Gets really blurry
after that.
"But I will be able to definitely place this one."
For good reason.
Williams won her 21st singles major a year ago by beating Spain's Garbine Muguruza at Wimbledon.
Since
then her reputation as a ruthless "closer" has been questioned after
the calendar year Grand Slam dream went up in smoke in the 2015 U.S.
Open semi-finals, before defeats by Kerber and Muguruza in the
Australian and French Open finals.
Williams banned herself from talking about the "22" as this year's Wimbledon entered its business end.
But
after rediscovering her ruthless streak in her 28th grand slam singles
final she said that it was a special feeling and there had been a few
sleepless nights fretting about it.
"If I'm honest, coming so
close, feeling it, not being able to quite get there," she said. "My
goal is to win always at least a slam a year. It was getting down to the
pressure."
SLIGHT SCARE
Apart from a slight scare when
she dropped a set against fellow American Christina McHale in round two
-- Williams has looked perfectly at ease during the championships.
On
Saturday, during a 7-5 6-3 victory over fourth seed Kerber, her game
oozed smooth power and even when her opponent fought tenaciously to stay
in touch, there were none of the panicky moments Williams is
occasionally prone to.
She said that was because she was calmer than ever -- having decided to accept some "tough losses" and carry on.
"I
had to start looking at positives, not focusing on that one loss per
tournament which really isn't bad - for anyone else on this tour they
would be completely happy about it," she said.
"I learned that you can't win everything, even though I try really hard. I still am not going to be perfect.
"Once I started focusing more on the positives, I realised that I'm pretty good. Then I started playing a little better."
The French Open final defeat, when she was strangely subdued, was a turning point, Williams said.
"I
think sometime after the French Open, (coach) Patrick (Mouratoglou) and
I were talking, strategising. He just said, you're back. I guess he was
right."
