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Spectators of the US Open were expecting Serena Williams would win her match on Friday and get one step close to winning a Grand Slam. But on Friday, Italian veteran Roberta Vinci, who was playing in the semifinal, defeated Williams 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. No one saw this coming. Serena would have been the first female tennis player to a complete the grand slam since Steffi Graf in 1988.
A dark horse
Williams has won 21 Grand Slam singles titles and is normally an unstoppable force. There was a huge international audience watching Friday’s match expecting to see her be victorious. This is Vinci’s first victory against Williams. She had never won a set against in four previous matches and had been struggling this season. When asked if she ever expected to win this match, she replied “No. When I wake up, I say, ‘OK, I am in the semifinals today. Try to enjoy it. Don’t think about Serena.’ I didn’t expect that I (would) win.” Vinci is calling this victory “The best moment of my life.” She also apologized to any disappointed Williams fans: “For the American people, for Serena, for the Grand Slam and everything. But today is my day. Sorry, guys.” Now she will face off Flavia Pennetta in the final.
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What stopped Williams’ momentum?
“I think she lost her way, mentally,” said her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. He said that Friday was not a good day for her and that she woke up feeling off. Even Vinci could see that her opponent was feeling nervous.
“Tactically, she didn’t know what to do at a certain point. When you do the wrong choices, you lose the points that you’re used to winning, and then you don’t understand what’s happening, and then you make more and more wrong choices.”
He reminded everyone that athletes are only human.
“How many times did it happen this year where she felt like this and she still found her way through? She didn’t find her way today” he stated.
Williams got visibly upset and angrily smashed her racket after losing the second set, for which she received a code violation for racket abuse from the chair umpire.
Williams did not want to dwell on her loss
In a news conference after the game, Williams was keeping her answers short and avoided several questions. “I don’t want to talk about how disappointing it is for me,” she said. “If you have any other questions, I’m open for that.” She had nothing but nice things to say about Vinci – “She’s going for it at a late stage. So that’s good for her to keep going for it and playing so well. Actually, I guess it’s inspiring. But, yeah, I think she played literally out of her mind.”
