Halep stands between Serena and Court landmark

LONDON: Serena Williams’s place among the legends of tennis is assured but her mission will not be accomplished unless she at least equals Margaret Court’s record haul of 24 Grand Slam singles titles.

The 37-year-old American gets a third chance in a year to go level with the controversial Australian when she plays another former world number one Simona Halep in the Wimbledon final on Saturday (today).

Aside from the one-on-one rivalry on court, both women have a member of the royal family rooting for them — Williams’s friend Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Halep favouring Kate, Duchess of Cambridge.

Williams will hope for a happier ending than being out-played both by Angelique Kerber in last year’s Wimbledon final and Naomi Osaka in the US Open final where a spectacular meltdown torpedoed her cause, leading her to eventually consult a therapist.

Williams claimed after her semi-final romp over unseeded Czech Barbora Strycova that the Court landmark is not on her mind. “I thought about it this morning,” she said. “I actually didn’t think about it since because it’s really not about 24 or 23 or 25. “It’s really just about going out there and giving my best effort no matter what.”

Her claiming to be calm — she attributes this to digging into her memory and recalling how she felt when she beat sister Venus in 2002 for her first Wimbledon title — will reassure her coach Patrick Mouratoglou.

The 49-year-old Frenchman is more forthright over the reason why Williams has returned to the tour after giving birth to her daughter Olympia. It is chasing down 76-year-old Court’s landmark set between 1960 and 1973.

Halep, the first Romanian woman to play in the Wimbledon final, has the weaponry to upset Williams. However, she will want her serve to be more reliable than it was in the early stages of her ultimately easy semi-final win over Elina Svitolina.

She has won just one of the four Grand Slam finals in which she has appeared. But she has shown already she can deal with a partisan crowd having beaten 15-year-old Coco Gauff on Monday.