Serena Williams hailed her historic Olympic final thrashing of Maria Sharapova as the greatest moment of her career after the American clinched a first singles gold medal with a 6-0, 6-1 win yesterday.
Serena has won 14 Grand Slams and two doubles gold medals during her glittering career, but the world number four’s 63-minute rout of French Open champion Sharapova on Wimbledon’s Centre Court in the most one-sided women’s final in Olympic history was a new high even by her standards.
It was the culmination of a remarkable grass-court campaign that brought Serena a fifth Wimbledon title and her long-awaited singles gold.
Williams is just the second woman to win a Golden Slam of all four major titles and singles gold, emulating German legend Steffi Graf in 1988.
She is also the first woman to complete a Golden Slam in both singles and doubles.
It is that historic context that makes Serena believe this is her finest hour.
“This one is so high up there, being Olympic gold champion, being Golden Slam champion singles and doubles, that’s pretty awesome,” Serena said.
“Hey, I did something nobody’s done. So I’m really excited about it.
“I was so focused here. I remember I was serving and I was thinking, ‘Serena, this is your best chance to win a gold medal. You play great on grass. You have got to do this’.”
The 30-year-old has been on a mission to emulate her sister Venus’s gold medal from the 2000 Games in Sydney and Sharapova was just the latest star name to be demolished by Serena this week.
Serena lost just 17 games in her six matches, dropped serve only once and hammered down 60 aces as the likes of Sharapova, world number one Victoria Azarenka and former top-ranked duo Caroline Wozniacki and Jelena Jankovic were swept aside.
She admitted that equalling Venus, who cheered her younger sister to victory from the players’ box, as a singles gold medallist was a sweet moment for herself and the rest of her family.
“It’s awesome. She beat (Elena) Dementieva (to win gold), so she won against a Russian too,” Serena said.
“I would have been happy whether I would have got a silver or gold. It’s such a great achievement to get on that medal stand. So that was awesome.
“But obviously I wanted gold. Now Venus and I both have gold singles, so it’s pretty cool.”
World number one Victoria Azarenka won the Olympic bronze medal with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Russian 14th seed Maria Kirilenko.
Bryan brothers triumph
America’s Bob and Mike Bryan won their first Olympic gold medal with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) victory over French second seeds Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra in the men’s doubles final.
The Bryan brothers had taken the bronze medal in the men’s doubles in Beijing four years ago.
They are the world’s top ranked men’s doubles pair, a position they have held for 297 weeks, and together they have won a record 78 doubles titles including 11 Grand Slams.
“This is the biggest win of our career right here,” Bob Bryan said. “There was a sense of urgency. This could be our last Olympics.”