Serena Williams
Tennis’ greatest player Serena Williams is through to her 33rd Grand Slam finals after she defeated Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals of the US Open 2019. With this win, she tied Chris Evert’s record of most career US Open wins in the Open Era, as both the American legends have 101 victories at Flushing Meadows. She will be battling against Canada’s Bianca Andreescu for her 24th major title.
This year, Serena’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou confessed that he will be coaching Williams from the stands if needed. During last year’s finals against Naomi Osaka, the American received a code violation (warning) from the chair umpire, Carlos Ramos as Mouratoglou tried to coach her using hand gestures.
“I think it’s (on-court coaching) the most stupid rule. I don’t think we should get penalized for that. That’s how it is. This is fine. But when you never, and nobody is penalized or almost never, I don’t think it’s fair. So do I regret? No. Would I do it again tomorrow if it’s necessary? Yes,” Mouratoglou said.
Serena Williams is against the idea of being coached in the midst of a match and she shared that Mouratoglou was jesting around with pressers. “Yeah, no, he knows better than to say that to me. I think he was just playing with you guys. That’s not, like, an option for me,” Williams said.
After her Saturday’s win over Bianca Andreescu, Serena Williams will be tying with Margaret Court’s all-time record of Grand Slams. Court has won 24 Slams (11 in the Open Era and 13 before the Open Era). If she wins the finals in New York, the six-time US Open champion, Williams will be equalling Chris Evert’s record of US Open titles in the Open Era.
Evert has won seven of them and yes, of course, Serena’s win over Andreescu in the finals would aid her to surpass Evert’s record of most number of US Open victories in the Open Era of tennis. When Serena Williams won her first major title at US Open 1999, Andreescu was not even born.
In the quest of her 24th major, the 37-year-old, Serena will be the oldest player, male or female, to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era. The American legend will be the four mother on the WTA Tour with Grand Slam title.