Serena Williams once declined to answer questions about her shock exit at the 2015 US Open, conveying her disappointment with curt responses. The loss dashed the American’s hopes of achieving the calendar year Grand Slam, winning all four Majors in the same season.
After clinching the 2014 US Open title, Williams enjoyed an exceptional 2015 season, triumphing at the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon. With the coveted Calendar Slam within her reach, the American entered the New York Major as the top seed and three-time defending champion.
Widely considered the outright favorite to clinch her fourth consecutive US Open title, Serena Williams lived up to the high expectations by beating the likes of Kiki Bertens, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Madison Keys in commanding fashion to reach the quarterfinals.
Battling it out against her sister Venus Williams for a place in the semifinals, the top seed delivered a stellar performance to claim a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 victory. As she took on unseeded Roberta Vinci, who was competing in her maiden Grand Slam semifinal, Williams was expected to breeze through to the final.
However, Vinci stunned Serena Williams, pulling off a shock 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 upset to advance to the title clash. Unsurprisingly, the American was asked about her disappointment regarding the loss in her post-match press conference, but she refused to comment on the topic and requested different questions.
“I don’t want to talk about how disappointing it is for me. If you have any other questions, I’m open for that,” she said.
Williams also avoided answering an inquiry about how she would move on from the devastating loss.
“Anyone else want to ask a different question than that?” she asked.
“No, I told you guys I don’t feel pressure” – Serena Williams on whether her Calendar Slam hopes impacted 2015 US Open campaign
Although she was aiming for history as she attempted to match Steffi Graf’s Calendar Slam achievement, Serena Williams emphasized that she never felt pressure during her campaign at the 2015 US Open.
“No. I told you guys I don’t feel pressure. I never felt pressure. I don’t know. I never felt that pressure to win here. I said that from the beginning,” she said in the same press conference.
After expressing her dissatisfaction with the reporters’ questions, the American was glad to be asked about the positives, taking pride in winning four consecutive Major titles
“Well, thank you. Like I said, I felt very happy to get that win at Wimbledon, you know. I did win three Grand Slams this year. Yeah, I won four in a row. It’s pretty good. Yeah, so it’s definitely the positive. Thank you,” she said.
Despite her remarkable win over Serena Williams, Roberta Vinci failed to win her maiden Grand Slam title, suffering a 7-6(4), 6-2 loss to fellow Italian Flavia Pennetta in the final.
