It did not take long for Serena Williams to lose her cool and an outburst that is now so commonly associated with the former top-ranked American came to the fore in her final against Samantha Stosur at the US Open 2011. Interestingly, it did not take too long for Stosur to beat Williams in the final either, and that she was a tad surprised to win it as easily as 6-2,6-3 is an understatement.
It was a ten-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that razed the twin towers in New York and Williams did not do anything that suggested that she respected the occasion. Williams was engaged in a tirade with the chair umpire because she felt that a decision had gone against her, and after the match refused to shake hands with her. However, later, in the press conference she did admit that she had been outplayed by her opponent.
Sosur needed only 83 minutes to win her first ever Grand Slam, after having been the finalist at the French Open last year and much of the credit needed to be accorded to her serve that helped her dominate the match from quite early.
The Australian broke Serena as early as in the third game to go 2-1 up in the match, and made it two breaks in the seventh game against a struggling Williams serve. Serving for the first set, Stosur won the game on love to go a set up.
Later, speaking at the press conference, Stosur said, “After that first set I kind of sat down and I could feel my heart pounding out of my chest, and I thought, ‘OK, I’m up a set now. I’ve got a chance to win one out of the next two and I’ve got a chance’.”
It was in the first game of the second set where things went dramatically wrong for Williams. Serving at 15-40 and down a couple of break-points, Williams first served up an ace. However, at 30-40, she slammed a forehand and immediately screamed “Come On”, before the point had ended.
The chair umpire Eva Asderaki decided to make use of the ‘hindrance rule’, and warded Stosur the point, which in turn meant that Stosur had won the game as well. A rather angry Williams begun arguing with Asderaki in scenes that were similarly to her exit from the 2009 edition of the US Open where she had delivered a similar tirade to the linesman.
A furious Williams broke back immediately in the next game and the things went on serve till it was 3-3 in the second set. This was when Stosur had another opportunity to break the Williams serve at 30-40 and she did just that. Stosur then served out well to make it 5-3 in the second set, incidentally, ending the game with a winner followed by her own version of ‘come on’!
Then, in the ninth game of the second set, it was all over for the temperamental American, when she failed to hold her own serve and Stosur had grabbed her first ever Slam.
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