Serena Williams Beats Lucie Safarova To Win The French Open

Serena Williams won her match against Lucie Safarova to win the French Open. Her French Open win is also her twentieth Grand Slam victory, ESPN reported. Williams said about her match,

“I was just so angry at myself… I pretty much gave the match away… I think she played really well, but at the same time, I gave it to her. I started hitting double faults. I was really frustrated with myself. I just had to, like, try to pull it together.”

The match was not easily won by Williams, who had suffered a debilitating illness just a day before her finals match, according to Bleacher Report. Williams said about being ill before her win,

“This is by far the most dramatic [major title I’ve won]… I didn’t even train yesterday, I’ve had the flu… it’s just been a nightmare.”

“I even told the physic, ‘I’m not sure I’m going to be able to play, you know, because this is just not looking good…’ I actually was really bad last night.”

Williams got up by one set before double-faulting to lose the lead. Williams was able to recover, holding off Safarova to win 6-3, 6-7 (2) and 6-2. Lucie Safarova’s coach Rob Steckley said about the match,

“Experience kind of kicked in on the other side of the net… You’ve got to be extremely hungry and can’t be a nice girl. You’ve got a dig deep and get yourself dirty and not be afraid to go for the win. That’s what Serena does best. She does what she needs to do to intimidate the other players and push them back off the baseline.”

Steckley continued about the match, saying,

“Once she ripped her first screamer forehand after six unforced errors and then suddenly there was not a ball Lucie could really hit… Serena has that ability. She can go off for a while and then she gets the rhythm back and she locks in. She’s like an F-16. Lock. Target. Die.”

Included among Serena Williams’ twenty Grand Slam titles are three French Open titles, six U.S. Open and Australian Open titles and five Wimbledon wins. Williams said about her win at the French Open,

“When I was a little girl, in California, my father and my mother wanted me to play tennis. And now I’m here, with twenty Grand Slam titles… This is very special for me. I haven’t always played very well here, but I’m really happy to win the twentieth here.”

[Photo credit: Mike Hewitt/ Getty Images Sport]