Is there any downside to winning? Well, Serena Williams feels so. Back in 2015, the American tennis legend was in the form of her life and won the Australian Open, the French Open, and the Wimbledon Championships that season. Subsequently, she was a hot favorite to win the US Open and complete the Calendar Year Grand Slam. However, in one of the biggest upsets of her career, she went down fighting against Roberta Vinci of Italy in the semifinals of the US Open. Nine years after that heartbreaking defeat, the memories of that loss still haunt Williams.
The American legend was so used to winning that she couldn’t absorb the shocking loss against Vinci. As a result, Williams feels that it is difficult to lose when you win more. Describing this point in her docu-series ‘In the Arena: Serena Williams’, she says, “It doesn’t in the way it does in the movies and no matter how much I feel like it could and should no matter how much I do different, it wasn’t my story. Winning is so glamorous and everyone thinks it’s so amazing when you win. But the more you win, the harder it is to lose. I don’t think I was able to move on from that US Open loss. I was just so angry and so sad and so disappointed with myself.”
Interestingly, that wasn’t the only time Williams won three major titles in a season. She achieved a similar feat in 2002 but missed the Australian Open that year due to an injury. Despite scars from the 2015 US Open loss still alive, Williams once revealed why it wasn’t a loss for her.
Tough pill to swallow for Serena Williams
Williams was the defending champion in the 2015 US Open and entered the tournament on the back of 4 successive Grand Slam title victories. None would’ve expected Williams to lose to an unseeded player but as things turned out, it was Vinci who stopped the American legend’s rampaging run. Despite being difficult, Williams took it in her stride and credited Vinci for the sensational win.
She went on to say, “We should be happy for each other, you know what I mean? We gotta build up each other. We can’t be angry. I mean, I won four Grand Slam (tournaments) in a row, and got to the semis in another one, and I’ve done that twice. I mean how many people have done that? So, yeah, it wasn’t a loss for me, it was a win and a learning experience.”
Very few athletes in the sporting world have had the habit of winning consistently as Williams did. She was barely outplayed in her career and put up a fight even when being on the losing side. Indeed, she is the one whom the young players can look up to for inspiration.
