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Serena Williams of the United States, left, is being watched by her partner Andy Murray during a mixed doubles match on the sixth day of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London on Saturday, July 6, 2019. ( AP Photo / Tim Ireland)
Serena Williams went to her press conference in Wimbledon holding her phone, a bottle of cold water and a stats sheet that reinforce what stands out clearly from Saturday's victory in the third round in singles:
She is about to find the best of herself for quite some time.
COCO GAUFF, 15, ADVANCE AT THE 4th TOUR IN WIMBLEDON
Williams, injured or ill for a good part of the season, took a step forward against Julia Goerges, 18th seeded, a powerful hitter who lost to the US last year in half-time. final at the All England Club. Indeed, Williams' hit served up to 120 mph, scored 71% of his best services at the tournament, never facing a break point and won 6-3, 6-4.
"It was a tough year for me," said Williams, who had competed only 12 times in 2019 until this week, mainly because of an awkward left knee that n? finally did not suffer. "So every game, I hope to improve tons."
Maybe it was a good thing that she played twice on Saturday, then.
About four and a half hours after overtaking Goerges at court # 1, Williams went to the central court for his hectic debut as Andy Murray's team mate in mixed doubles. Apart from a slip near the net when she lost foot in the first set – she was fine and laughed – Williams looked good when winning 6-4, 6-1 against Andreas Mies and Alexa Guarachi, especially by hitting a service outside. 122 km / h, which equates to the fastest singles success of any woman (she, of course) during the tournament.
"Andy and I love the competition – I know we both want to do well," Williams said. "We are not here just for the show."
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She is seldom.
But if Williams wants to win an eighth singles title at Wimbledon and a record 24 Grand Slam titles, she will want more performances like the one she gave against Goerges.
Force, yes, but nothing has been forced.
"I play pretty well when I'm calm, but also very intense, just to find the balance between the two," said Williams, 37. "So it's a hard balance to find, because sometimes, when I'm too calm, I do not have enough energy, I always try to find that balance."
Two other key statistics on paper that she brought to her media session: she produced more winners than non-forced mistakes, 19-15, while Goerges finished with 32 forced mistakes, a reflection the difficulty with which Williams can make his opponents manage t sends their way.
Goerges also credited Williams for causing havoc upon his return.
After an average of 10 aces in the first two rounds, Goerges was limited to half.
Perhaps more importantly, Williams's scathing answers immediately put him in control of the points.
"It's fair to say that she's creating tremendous pressure with her returns," Goerges said. "It means that I have to go to the limit in my service games."
After the traditional Sunday break, the action will resume Monday with all the matches of the fourth round in men's and women's singles.
Williams, 11th seeded, will face No. 30 Carla Suarez Navarro, while the other confrontations in the first half of the women's group set on Saturday are No. 1 Ash Barty, who has a run of 15 wins, against Alison Riske of United States; No. 21 Elise Mertens against Barbora Strycova; and double champion Petra Kvitova against No. 19 Briton Johanna Konta.
On the bottom half, it will be the American sensation of 15 years Coco Gauff vs. No. 7 Simona Halep; # 3 Karolina Pliskova vs. Karolina Muchova; No. 8 Elina Svitolina vs. No. 24 Petra Martic; and Dayana Yastremska against Shuai Zhang.
In the men's draw, eight-time champion Roger Federer and two-time winner Rafael Nadal won on Saturday in straight sets to move closer to the semifinal. The record for Federer's 17th visit to the fourth round at Wimbledon will be against No. 17 Matteo Berrettini, an Italian never before seen in the grass tournament.
"For me, I am very happy with the way things have gone so far," said Federer, winner of the score of 27-5, 6-2, 7-6 (4) on the No. ° 27 Lucas Pouille. "I hope it will take a special performance from someone to stop, not just a poor performance."
Nadal, who defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 6-3, 6-2, will then meet Joao Sousa undeclared.
Kei Nishikori, number 8, meets Mikhail Kukushkin and Sam Querrey play Tennys Sandgren in the first match of the second week at Wimbledon between two American men since Pete Sampras defeated Jan-Michael Gambill in the 2000 quarter-final.
Kukushkin's victory over Jan-Lennard Struff in the 12th round at Court 12 was interrupted when a 60-year-old spectator had to be resuscitated after collapsing.
Sandgren beat number 12 Fabio Fognini 6-3, 7-6 (12), 6-3 at Court 14, with a capacity of 318 places. Fognini unleashed a tirade in Italian at one point, saying that he wished that a bomb exploded at the All England Club. Later, he stated that his comments were in the heat of the moment because he was unhappy about not playing well and the state of the grass field.
"If I offended anyone, please forgive me," said the disturbing Fognini, fined $ 27,500 at Wimbledon in 2014 for unfair conduct. He is on probation in Grand Slam after being fired from the US Open 2017. "This was certainly not my intention."
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