Serena's opponents say it can be tough facing a player they admire
NEW YORK — American Taylor Townsend dreamed of playing at the U.S. Open’s Arthur Ashe Stadium. She didn’t expect her first match there would be against world No. 1 Serena Williams, her opponent last year in a night match.
Townsend lost 6-3, 6-1 but relished the experience.
“For me to go out there and do it and actually be out there playing the best person in the world ... it was so electric,” Townsend told USA Today Sports on Saturday.
Townsend, 19, stressed that she was a competitor no matter who she played, but also knew going in that she was playing a tennis idol she’d watched “for years and years”.
Some things about playing Williams were just as hard as Townsend expected.
“There’s nothing like returning a serve like hers,” Townsend said. “She can hit any spot, any spin. There’s only so much preparing you can do. It was tough for me.”
It reassured Townsend that other parts of Williams’ game were more manageable: “I thought that I was not going to be able to handle her pace, but I really could. So that was one of the things I kind of had to psych myself out of and just realize I’m not as far behind as I think.”
Townsend isn’t the only player who openly admires Williams. Many say they do, and some list it in their official Women’s Tennis Association bios.
The bio of Vitalia Diatchenko, who retired against Williams in the first round, says she admires Williams “for her fast and aggressive game.”
Zarina Diyas, world No. 35, and Jelena Ostapenko, world No. 114, are among those who list Williams as a “tennis idol.” Sachia Vickery, world No. 137, has said Williams is one of the reasons she started playing tennis. Heather Watson, who lost to Williams in three sets at Wimbledon, calls Williams and Beyonce her “style icons.”
German world No. 18 Andrea Petkovic, a fan favorite, has said Williams was “the first player that really touched me emotionally on the court” and that the American revolutionized tennis.
Talking about Williams and Steffi Graf, Petkovic said, “I wish I could just have 5% of either one ... I would be a very happy girl.”
Williams’ admirers also include world No. 9 Garbiñe Muguruza. She handed Williams her worst Slam loss when she beat her 6-2, 6-2 in the 2014 French Open and also lost to her in this year’s Wimbledon final.
Muguruza’s bio lists Williams and Pete Sampras as her favorite players growing up. But she says her admiration doesn’t affect her on the court and certainly didn’t in that big July final.
“That day you have Wimbledon to win or to lose so you’re not thinking about Serena,” Muguruza said. “Obviously you keep an eye on what she’s doing, what she’s improving to take something from her because she’s the best. But in the court you’re not thinking about this — you just want to win.”
Varvara Lepchenko, one of four American women to reach the fourth round, agreed. It’s hard at first and then you get over it, she said.
“You don't think any more, ‘Oh, she's someone I used to be inspired by when I was growing up,’” Lepchenko said Saturday. “... You think about strategies, things that you have to do to beat her.”
Flavia Pennetta, who also reached the fourth round here, knows from experience. In Hyderabad, India, in 2003 she faced Mary Pierce. “I remember [being] a ballgirl for her ... I think I was 7 or 8, and she was 15 or 16. She was really young, and I was a baby.”
Pennetta won that 2003 match, but said it was hard at first “because you think, ‘OK I’m playing one of the best.’ But then after 10 minutes in the court everything disappears and you just focus on your game.”
Sam Stosur, the 2011 U.S. Open champion who plays her fourth round match against Pennetta on Monday, learned the hard way at her first Australian Open. “I ended up losing my first round because I was so freaked out that if I had won I was going to have to play Martina Hingis in the next round,” Stosur said.
It’s a lesson perhaps others can learn from if they find themselves across the net from Williams, who has drawn the most attention at this Open.
Said Johanna Konta, who’s won 16 consecutive matches and will face Petra Kvitova in the fourth round, about the prospect of Williams winning the U.S. Open title and tying the singles Slam count of Konta’s idol, Steffi Graf: “That would be freaking amazing ... I admire Steffi Graf because that’s maybe who I grew up watching, but I admire Serena Williams, because, I mean, who doesn’t admire Serena Williams?”
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