Serena Williams Likes Playing Under the Roof

Written by: Staff on 5th July 2012

Serena Williams Likes Playing Under the Roof

epa03296637 Serena Williams of the US celebrates her victory over Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in their semi final match during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 05 July 2012. EPA/JONATHAN BRADY |

Serena Williams has been playing at Wimbledon since she was 16 years old, has won the title singles titles four times and experienced a whole spectrum of emotions on Centre Court . But playing under the closed roof was a new experience for somebody on course for her 14th Grand Slam victory, and an atmosphere in which she reveled.

Williams has taken time to find her top form and with her sister Venus suffering a first round exit on the hallowed grass for the first time since 1997, many wondered whether the end was nigh for the most famous sister act in modern tennis. She arrived with no grass court preparation and looking to purge the memory of her shock French Open loss to Virginie Razzano in the fist round.

The rest of the All England Club suffered a stop-start sort of day as rain again affected the schedule on the unroofed courts. But under the £100 million hydraulically controlled translucent fabric structure installed in 2009, Serena was back to her intimidating, forceful best as she defeated defending champion Petra Kvitova 6-3, 7-5 to reach her eighth Wimbledon semi-final. “‘I loved it,” enthused the 30 year-old sixth seed.

“I loved the sound of the balls. It’s kind of like a whoosh and a pop. It’s really cool. It’s almost like a video game, but you’re playing. It kind of flies through and you hear it when it lands. I really like playing indoors.’’

Williams unleashed 13 aces, including three in the closing game, to dethrone Kvitova and end the Czech’s 11-match winning streak at Wimbledon . Serena, who now faces reigning Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, said: “‘You can’t play a defending champion and not elevate your game. I had to weed out the riff-raff and just get serious. I had a good talk with my dad. He motivated me, and my sister as well. It got me really motivated to do better and be the player I know I can be.”

And the fact that Williams is guaranteed more Wimbledon court time in the upcoming Olympic tennis event, has made her more reassured. “I feel like no matter what happens, I’ll be back in a couple weeks,” she said. “That’s kind of a different feeling. Usually it’s a once‑a‑year kind of thing, but now it’s, Okay, we’ll be back, we’ll be back.”

Topics: 10sballs.com, All England Club, American tennis news, British tennis news, Petra Kvitova, Serena Williams, Sports, Tennis News, Wimbledon Champions