Australian Open: Serena Williams - A feeling like in the summer of 1926
Serena Williams will face Naomi Osaka in the 2021 Australian Open semi-finals. After her success against Simona Halep , the 23-time major winner was decidedly relaxed.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Feb 17, 2021, 12:00 pm
Jim Courier is almost exactly eleven years older than Serena Williams. The former world number one from the USA ended his career at the age of 30, and Serena is heading towards 40 this year. Nevertheless, there were overlaps in each other's résumés, also in terms of tournament tennis. Serena started her professional career in 1995. You know each other, you value each other. Which does not always make the interviews after successful matches easy.
Because Courier knows about things that the normal mortal does not know, and still has to plead ignorance. And so the two-time Australian Open winner after Serena's success against Simona Halep verbally cautiously approached his counterpart, told something about cameras that allegedly followed Serena in the hotel (quite remarkable in times of a global pandemic), but did not want to ask too specific questions. Which caused Serena Williams not to answer too specifically either.
Serena strong on the defensive
She did so at the press conference, in which a journalist asked Serena when she had last seen herself in such a good position during long rallies. Probably 1926, Williams mused after a brief period of reflection, in the summer of 1926 to be precise. In fact, the legend, who entered the tournament in tenth place, also needed very good defensive qualities in the decisive phases against Halep.
The performance against the Romanian was the best of the tournament so far. Aryna Sabalenka had also challenged Serena in the previous round. This will be no different in the semi-final on Thursday, her 40th in one of the four biggest tournaments against Naomi Osaka. The Japanese extended her winning streak in Grand Slam matches to twelve, the 6: 2 and 6: 2 against Su-Wei Hsieh left no questions about Osaka's favorite position.
It remains to be seen whether this will also come into play in the encounter with Serena. There have been three official meetings between Osaka and Williams so far, the first two going to the Japanese. The most recent meeting on the WTA tour took place in Canada in 2019, where Serena Williams won in straight sets. Another statistic speaks for Osaka - even if the sample is still quite small: Whenever it has survived the quarter-finals of a major, it was also able to win the tournament: in 2018 and 2020 the US Open and in 2019 the Australian Open.
The good news for both women: As of Thursday, spectators can again be played in Melbourne. And in the event of a win, a well-infused Jim Courier will be waiting.
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