Serena Williams can’t promise she’ll ever catch, let alone eclipse, Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 grand slam singles crowns after letting yet another opportunity pass with a demoralising Wimbledon final defeat.
Williams confessed to being “a dear in headlights” during her 6-2 6-2 loss to rampant Romanian Simona Halep on Saturday.
“She really played out of her mind,” Williams said after Halep offered up the American a Wimbledon-record three unforced errors in a 16-game, 56-minute centre-court clinic.
“So whenever a player plays that amazing you just kind of have to take your hat off and give them a nod.
“I was over-hitting it, trying to go for too much. She was getting just a tremendous amount of balls back.
“I just was trying different things. Today nothing really helped.
“I’ve got just got to keep fighting and keep trying and just enjoy the sport.”
As hot as Halep was, the reality is Williams has now lost all three of her grand slam finals since returning to tennis following the birth of her daughter Olympia in September, 2017.
And all three in straight sets, to Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon last year, then to Naomi Osaka at the US Open and now this.
Her footwork at times against Halep was non-existent.
But Williams denied freezing instead of seizing the moment, admitting only to needing to find a solution to her finals flops, having won 21 of her first 25 grand slam titles deciders but losing five of her past seven.
“I don’t think it was so much tension,” the former No.1 said.
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I just have to figure out a way to win a final.
“Maybe playing other finals outside of grand slams would be really helpful just to kind of get in the groove so by the time I get to a grand slam final I’m kind of used to what to do and how to play.”
Turning 38 in September, Williams was bidding to become the oldest grand slam champion in the professional era.
She knows she’s not getting any younger and that time is running out for her to match Court’s mark that has stood untouchable for 46 years.
Asked if she still believed she could reach it, Williams, previously obsessed by the record, said: “I don’t know. I don’t think it’s harder.”
“I think it’s just coming out there and doing the best that you can do. That’s really all you can do really.
“Someone told me I shouldn’t look at the records any more. I should just focus on my game. That’s kind of what I’ve been doing since I got to 18.
“In the meantime, I got pregnant, had a baby, so … that definitely plays a little bit into it.
“I don’t know. I feel like I’m just really on this journey of just doing the best that I can.”
