For Serena Williams, this will be another opportunity to win her record 24th Grand Slam title. But she would no longer be obsessed with her winning her 24th Grand slam title after having lost a similar opportunity earlier. Simona Halep, her opponent, would be eager to win her first Wimbledon title herself rather than trying to stop Serena reach the 24th Grand slam mark.
But amidst expectations, dreams, passion and a full house, there would not be a place to hide weaknesses and vulnerabilities for both the players in Saturday’ s final.
Irrespective of the winner of this titular clash, it is sure to be a historic one. 37-year-old Williams will equal Australian Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 major singles titles if she goes on to beat her opponent.
For Halep, her national pride will depend on her performance as she has the golden opportunity to become the first Romanian to win a singles title and what could be a better stage than the Wimbledon, to do it against a veteran of the sport.
Halep herself had claimed that if she starts thinking about her opponent’s record for the past two decades, she would have already lost the match by then. Nadia Comăneci, former Romanian gymnast and one of the legends of her sport also commented that Halep’s match against Williams will be “watched by every Romanian alive on the planet”.
However, 27-year-old Halep has only one win against her name over Serena Williams and that too came almost five years ago. Meanwhile, Williams has won each of their three Grand Slam clashes, including the one at Wimbledon in 2011. But the Romanian could take solace from the fact that their battle at this year’s Australian Open was a close one and it could have easily gone her way.
While Williams is not as swift as she used to be in the court, Halep is perhaps one of the fastest movers on the tennis court and that would be a massive advantage for her.
Williams, on the other side of the spectrum, has failed to get her 24th Grand slam title twice after experiencing defeat in Wimbledon and US Open final, last year. Regardless of her comments, who wouldn’t want that record and the pressure of reaching there might just be taking a toll on her in the big games.
But, come the big match, the big players arrive; and come the big match, big players are born. Will it be Williams, the roaring champion or will it be Halep winning the first of her potentially many Wimbledon titles?
Watch history in the making as the action starts 6:30 pm (IST) onwards.