WILLiams has it in her Name

Her racquet has it, her name has it and it is in the word that matters most to us in our lives. ‘W’ and the word is win. Yes, add will to it, its there too. Serena showcased all the right meanings of the words in her 1-6 7-5 6-3 win over Moscovite Nadia Petrova. Her will to overcome adversity and to fight back from nearly been ousted of the tournament is worth lauding.

A two hour five minute encounter could have been much shorter had the younger of the famous Williams sisters not raised her game up when it mattered the most. She is making a comeback after a chronic knee injury. The injury kept her out of action for a major part of the 2006 season.

The win against the fifth ranked Petrova is her first win against a top ten player in two years. A figure which Williams herself admits to be a ‘bad stat’. In her first round at the Open, Williams beat the 27th-seeded Mara Santangelo 6-2, 6-1 in 67 minutes. She defeated her second round opponent, Anne Kremer, 7-6, 6-2.

The proceedings in her third round match started with things going not in her favor. She dropped the first set 1-6 in 29 minutes. Won the first three games of the second set to show some spark then lost her touch and was staring at what might have been her last shot at the Australian Open for 2007, but the early ouster was not acceptable to the American who made sure she stuck to her shots and raised her game.

All of a sudden a new Serena was out there breaking her opponent, her shots which earlier landed on the wrong side of the sideline were in the right spots and the grit made sure she clawed back and claimed the set, 7-5.

She continued with her form and broke the Russian twice in the third set to claim it 6-3 and happily made it to the fourth round. Petrova was stunned at the change of fortune in the game. She said later that Serena’s superb effort in the second set gave her the momentum going into the decider and she took full advantage of it.

Serena is a two time Australian Open Champion. She won in 2003 and her last was in 2005, when she was on a dream run. She seemed invincible at that time ripping apart her opposition with ease. She defeated three of the tournament's top 4 seeds (#2 Amélie Mauresmo, #4 Maria Sharapova, and #1 Lindsay Davenport) en route to the title.

That year, 2005 saw TENNIS Magazine put her in 17th place in its list of 40 Greatest Players of the tennis era. 2002 and 2003 were her best two years in the game when she managed to win five grand slams, she has won seven in all till now.

Serena now has a face off with the red hot Serb Jelena Jankovic, ranked 11. Last year Serena had slipped out of the top 100 for the first time in her career since 1997, but managed to end the year at 95. her current form should get her back up on the ratings soon enough.
As of now the ‘W’ for Will, Win and Williams will be pushing her towards a probable impressive start to the year. She after all is a player who turned pro at 14, all that experience and grit are going to do her good now. For now, lets face round 4.