Serena Williams will be looking to avenge her 2010 French Open loss to Sam Stosur when she goes for her fourth US Open tonight.
It's amazing to think Serena first won this title twelve years ago when she was just establishing herself as a star on the tour along with older sister Venus. Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati, Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport, all long since retired, were at the top of the game back then.
“Wow, I mean, in '99 I was just so excited,” she said. “I had this feeling I was gonna win the whole time, and playing Hingis, I knew I could beat her because I beat her before. I just felt it. Now it's just like a little bit of a veteran, 13 Grand Slams under my belt. So I have a lot more experience, but I'm just excited as I was before.”
Serena has since triumphed at Flushing Meadows in 2002 and 2008 but if she wins tonight, victory will be all that more special after all she's been through over the past year, suffering a life-threatening pulmonary embolism.
She will also be looking for some Grand Slam revenge over Stosur who ended her hopes in the semi-finals of last year's French Open. Serena leads their head-to-head 4-2 but that had been one of her best opportunities to win a second title on the clay of Roland Garros and it hit her hard.
"Man, I was really upset because I had a match point, and those are always the hardest defeats," she recollected. "But Sam's such a fighter. I think she is underrated as a fighter, because she often comes back when she's down. So you have to really watch out for that. But I learned a lot. After that I went on to win Wimbledon because of that loss. So, you know, every time I lose it's good to experience. I hate it. I truly hate it, but it's good for me to kinda go back and take some steps back."
