From the booming ace that started last night’s U.S. Open quarterfinal to the victory pirouette that ended it, Serena Williams’ 6-0, 6-0 flattening of Carla Suarez Navarro left no drama, no contest, no question as to the best player in the world. Vying with history, not foes, the only question is whether Williams is the best of all time.
Perhaps it’s the impact of Patrick Mouratoglou, coach, confidant, and presumed boyfriend. Or maybe it’s the games’ immortals being tantalizingly close, Williams sitting just two wins away from seizing her 17th Grand Slam title, which would be one behind icons Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. Whatever the case, the result has been the best tennis of her life.
Evert — who is tied for the second-most Grand Slam crowns in the Open Era, behind only Steffi Graf — last night dubbed Williams the best tennis player the women’s game has ever seen. And while Williams humbly said that’s a title she hasn’t earned yet, she admits she has her eyes on that prize.
“Yeah [I do],’’ said Williams, after the first double bagel in the U.S. Open quarters since Navratilova’s in 1989. “For me, I never really want to focus on the numbers. I started playing tennis not to be the greatest but just because I had a racket and a dream. Now people are saying that I could be [the best].
“But for me, I’m just not there yet. I feel like Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf, they just, right now, are to me the ultimate icons in history. … I just am still that girl with the racket and a dream, and I’m just playing for that.’’
And playing the best she ever has, the most consistent and focused Williams the tour has seen. She teamed up with Mouratoglou after last year’s French Open, the only first-round exit she’d ever suffered in a major. Since then, all she has done is win Wimbledon, Olympic gold, the U.S. Open, and French Open titles, and gone 96-5 in the best stretch of her career.
“One of the main reasons I was able to work with Patrick is because he was telling me a lot of the same things that my father told me,’’ Williams said of her dad and ex-coach Richard. “I think that had he told me something opposite or something different, or he wasn’t just doing almost similar stuff, I wouldn’t be able to work with that because I just wouldn’t accept it.’’
On Suarez Navarro’s 25th birthday, Williams dominated her outmatched foe with not only her typical overpowering serve and great defense, but a surprisingly clean game. She held a 20-3 edge in winners, but unlike the Williams of old, had few unforced errors despite the swirling winds.
“When you play against Serena, you know these things can happen,’’ said Suarez Navarro, who didn’t even manage a break point until it was 4-0 in the second set. Williams needed just 53 minutes to dispatch the Spaniard, and has dropped just 13 games through five matches in this U.S. Open, as admittedly brilliant as she has ever been at Flushing Meadows.
“Ah, I guess so,’’ she said. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it yet … I’m just thinking, ‘OK, I just have a really tough match in the next round and I really want to do well.’ ’’
The next hurdle is Friday against. No. 5 Li Na, whom Williams had to struggle to beat 7-5, 7-5 a couple weeks ago in Cincinnati.
“Tough, tough opponent,” Li said. “But it is [a] good challenge to play against her.”