GIVE IT A REST, MATT….Last night Serena Williams won the Australian Open, her fourth grand slam tennis title in a row, and this is the caption that Matt Drudge put on her picture. What a jerk.
And for any of you who may have heard that she now “joins Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf as the only women to win a Grand Slam,” it ain’t so. This mistake seems to be getting repeated by people who misinterpreted what the announcers said on ESPN after the match.
Actually, three women have won tennis’ Grand Slam (Australian, French, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open): Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court, and Steffi Graf. In addition, two women have won all four tournaments in a row but not in the same calendar year: Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf. That’s what Serena just did.
Serena’s domination of women’s tennis over the past year has been astonishing, but it’s worth remembering that she’s not invincible. She came within a couple of points of losing her first round match in the Australian Open this year and she would have lost in the semifinals if Kim Clijsters hadn’t pulled a Novotna and melted down after going ahead 5-1 in the final set. What’s more, her sister Venus took her right to the limit before losing in the finals. So there’s still a smidgen of hope for the rest of the tour….
UPDATE: He’s now changed it to “No sitting on the flag, Serena,” so maybe he just meant it in fun. It didn’t seem that way with the original caption.
