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For Once, Williams Falters; for Fifth Time, She Lifts the Open Trophy Conquering the Wind, Williams Enters Rarefied Air With a Fifth Title
(about 1 hour later)
As it turned out, after three sets and 2 hours 45 minutes of territorial tennis, Serena Williams really could play in the wind, just as she has played and prevailed in so many conditions and circumstances through the years. As it turned out, after 2 hours and 45 minutes of territorial tennis, Serena Williams really could play in the wind, just as she has played and prevailed in so many conditions and circumstances through the years.
With her 32nd birthday approaching, Williams is in increasingly rare company as the major titles continue to pile up. And although she certainly wobbled in Sunday night’s United States Open final, and although Victoria Azarenka certainly applied plenty of intense pressure, there was ultimately no depriving Williams of another major celebration on a court where she has experienced mixed emotions through the years. With her 32nd birthday approaching, Williams is in increasingly rare company as the major titles continue to pile up. Although she certainly wobbled in Sunday night’s United States Open final and although Victoria Azarenka certainly applied plenty of intense, next-generation pressure, there was ultimately no depriving Williams of another major celebration on a court where she has experienced plenty of disaster to go with her triumphs through the years.
Her 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-1 victory gave her a fifth United States Open singles title and a 17th Grand Slam singles title. It also underscored her dominance at the top of the women’s game. This 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-1 victory gave her a fifth United States Open singles title and a 17th Grand Slam singles title. It also underscored her dominance of the women’s game.
Azarenka had defeated Williams in two of their last three matches and, like Williams, came into this final with a Grand Slam singles title this season after winning the Australian Open.Azarenka had defeated Williams in two of their last three matches and, like Williams, came into this final with a Grand Slam singles title this season after winning the Australian Open.
But Williams, despite twice failing to serve out the match in the second set and blowing a 4-1 lead, is now the only woman to win two Grand Slam singles titles this year. She also holds a 13-3 edge in her series with Azarenka, the closest player she has to a rival in the women’s game at the moment. But Williams, despite twice failing to serve out the match in the second set, is now on her own as the only woman to win two Grand Slam singles titles in 2013.
When it ended with a missed Azarenka return, Williams did five straight jumps along the baseline and then continued to exult after embracing Azarenka at the net.  She also holds a 13-3 edge in her series with Azarenka, the closest player she has to a rival in the women’s game at the moment.
As Williams shouted, shouted some more and thrust both powerful arms into the air, Azarenka sat in her chair courtside and cried into a towel. “It’s good for Serena that Vika is there at this stage; good for both of them,” said Patrick Mouratoglou, Williams’s coach. “I think the best way to progress is to be pushed by someone.”
“I gave it all again this year,” Azarenka said in her postmatch remarks to the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium. “We showed our hearts. We gave it everything we got, but well-deserved and congratulations, Serena.” Azarenka, the ferociously ambitious 24-year-old from Belarus, has indeed been pushing, but she has played Williams eight times in Grand Slam tournaments and never beaten her.
Azarenka, the aggressive 24-year-old from Belarus who spent several years living and training in the United States, also came back to force a third set in last year’s Open final before Williams prevailed in a classic match, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5. When Azarenka’s latest upset attempt ended with a missed return, Williams jumped five straight times near the baseline — her knees together, her face the portrait of relief — and then continued to exult after embracing Azarenka at the net.
This match did not hit as many high notes, but it still produced a memorable soundtrack: shrieks, growls and grunts, as well as appreciative roars from the crowd, which was treated to the rare sight of a young woman fully prepared to match Williams’s intensity. As Williams shouted and grinned and thrust her powerful arms into the air, Azarenka sat in her chair courtside and cried into a towel.
“She’s a champion,” Azarenka said later. “And she knows how to repeat that. She knows what it takes to get there. I know that feeling, too, so when two people who want it so bad meet, it’s like a clash.”
 Azarenka balled her hands into fists and punched them together before continuing.
“In the important moment it is who is more brave, who is more consistent or who takes more risk,” she said. “And with somebody like Serena, you got to take risk. You can never play safe.”
Azarenka, a marvelous counterpuncher who spent several years living and training in the United States, also rallied to force a third set in last year’s Open final before Williams prevailed in a classic match, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.
This final did not hit quite as many high notes but it still produced a memorable soundtrack: shrieks, growls, grunts, audible self-criticism as well as appreciative roars from the crowd, which was treated to the rare sight of a young woman fully prepared to match Williams’s intensity.
“Vika’s such a great opponent, such a great fighter,” Williams said.“Vika’s such a great opponent, such a great fighter,” Williams said.
But there was another opponent involved on Sunday: the gusting, swirling wind that was even more of a factor than usual at Ashe Stadium. But there was another opponent involved Sunday: the gusting, swirling wind that was even more of a factor than usual in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Both players were repeatedly forced to adjust their ground strokes at the last moment, catch their service tosses and attempt with varying degrees of success to remain calm.Both players were repeatedly forced to adjust their ground strokes at the last moment, catch their service tosses and attempt with varying degrees of success to remain calm.
“I can’t play in this wind,” Williams said to her team in the players box in the first set. “It wasn’t pleasant; it wasn’t nice,” Azarenka said. “Skirts were always, you know, lifting up. You had to pull it down all the time. But those are the conditions you have to play in.”
Her first-serve percentage was below 50 percent for much of the first set, but she stabilized when serving at 4-5, shrugging off double faults and a foot fault and plenty of brilliant backhands from Azarenka. For much of the early going, Azarenka did indeed seem to treat the wind as an ally while Williams treated it as an enemy.
She ended up reeling off five games in a row and taking command of the match, only to lose command twice late in the second set. “I can’t play in this wind,” Williams said to her team in the players box in the first set after a game full of off-balance ground strokes.
She failed to serve for the title at 5-4 and again at 6-5, double-faulting into the net to allow Azarenka the chance to play a tiebreaker, which she proceeded to win. Her first-serve percentage was below 50 percent for much of that opening set but she stabilized when serving at 4-5, shrugging off double faults and a foot fault (she has quite a history with those in Ashe) as well as a flurry of remarkably precise and powerful two-handed backhands from Azarenka.
But with the match now even, Azarenka could not sustain the quality or, more surprisingly, the urgency. Williams broke her in the fourth game and the sixth game, and this time she did not falter when she served for the title at 5-1. She would end up reeling off five games in a row and taking command of the match only to surrender it by failing to serve out the match twice in the second set.
She is now just one Grand Slam singles title behind Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, who both have 18 and rank fourth on the career list. Evert said Sunday night that she believes Williams is fully capable of reaching 22, which would tie her with Steffi Graf for second behind Margaret Court’s record, 24. She faltered at 5-4 and again at 6-5, double faulting into the net to allow Azarenka the chance to play a tiebreaker, which she proceeded to win.
But what mattered most on Sunday night was this victory, this final. A less resilient champion might have continued to crumble after collapsing in the second set. Instead, Williams exhaled and willed herself into a more peaceful place: one where neither Azarenka nor the wind could knock her down. But with the match now even, Azarenka could not sustain the quality or, more surprisingly, the urgency. Williams broke her in the fourth game and the sixth game and this time she did not crumble when she served for the title at 5-1.
She is now just one Grand Slam singles title behind Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, who both have 18 and rank fourth on the career list.
“I think she has a real sense of history right now, and she is defining her place in history,” Evert said on ESPN after the match.
Williams confessed that she had been thinking about No. 17 when she was two points from the match in the second set.  
“That probably got me a little nervous, and I probably shouldn’t have been thinking about that,” she said.
Evert said that she believed Williams was fully capable of reaching 22 major singles titles, which would tie her with Steffi Graf for second behind Margaret Court’s record of 24.
But what mattered most on Sunday night was this victory, this final. A less resilient champion might have continued to fall apart after collapsing in the second set. Instead, Williams exhaled and willed herself into a more peaceful and less conflicted place: one where neither Azarenka nor the wind, that cursed wind, could knock her down.