Serena Continues to Rock

Serena Williams of the United States hugs the championship trophy after defeating Victoria Azarenka of Belarus to win the women's singles final match on Day Fourteen of the 2012 US Open., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

September 9, 2012, 9:35 p.m. ET

Serena Continues to Rock

By JASON GAY
Wall Street Journal

"I would have been a rock star," Serena Williams said.

Because she loves to sing. Because she's good onstage. That's why. That was Williams's answer to an innocuous question—If you weren't a tennis player, what would the 30-year-old Serena's life be like?—in a news conference Friday at the U.S. Open. She'd just demolished her opponent, Sara Errani of Italy, 6-1, 6-2, in a match that took less time than microwave popcorn. Williams had been merciless all tournament, not surrendering a set, barreling through alleged contenders and making her seed—four—look like a misfired practical joke. Until Sunday, Serena Williams was toying with her sport.

"Just three games to the poor Italian girl," a reporter said to Williams as the news conference began. "Is not fair. Is not nice."

Williams deflected the protest, praising Errani, predicting her vanquished opponent's prosperous future. And Williams wasn't really serious about being a rock star. She claimed she didn't have good enough voice.

But it was a telling choice for an alternative career. A rock star. Rock stars aren't pop stars—they're not obsessed with polish and choreography and appealing to everyone. They're not movie stars, craving affirmation, married to the script.

Rock stars are less predictable. Rock stars do what they want. Rock stars aren't beholden to images and tradition, to schedules and public opinion. Rock stars can go off track. They can make their fans a little crazy and nervous.

But true rock stars are also survivors. And when they perform at their highest level, they're irresistible.

That is what rock stars do. And this is where Serena Williams is. After a medical scare and a prolonged absence, she is once more the best women's tennis player in the world (ignore the rankings; they're goofy). She's proven it over a sterling summer that has seen her win a singles title at Wimbledon and two gold medals at the Olympics and at one point winning 19 matches in a row. On Sunday she added another U.S. Open title, the fourth of her career, defeating top-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.

Azarenka made Williams work, work, work for it, shoving her almost to the brink. Many times Serena seemed on the edge of an upset. It sounds so silly—the world No. 1 was going to upset the world No. 4? But the early evening air at Arthur Ashe Stadium carried that vibe. Williams had been steamrolling this Open. Until Sunday her matches hadn't been matches—watching Williams knock around her opponents in the early rounds had been like watching someone swatting a fly in a bathtub. At one point during the event, Williams won 23 straight games. The suspense was strictly clock—merely surviving Serena for more than an hour felt like some kind cosmic victory.

Until Sunday Williams hadn't lost a set. Azarenka got that and wanted more. There had been something embarrassing about how a revived Serena had been sweeping through the game's alleged elite—the Olympics in particular felt like a revenge movie—but the 23-year-old Australian Open champion seemed eager to live up to her billing.

In the third set Azarenka had Williams throughly frustrated, patiently defending the baseline and attacking Williams's serve, and surging to a 5-3 lead.

But Serena rallied, holding her own serve and breaking Azarenka back. It was 5-5 and the women's final crowd at Ashe—inconvenienced a day because of storms, competing against opening weekend of the NFL—leapt to its feet. These have been thrilling years for the men's side of the pro tour, but the women's game has been bland by contrast, with wobbly top seeds and underwhelming title matches.

This was a final that felt like a true final. It was the first time the women's title match at the Open had gone three sets since 1995. Football seemed suddenly bland. Even Jets football.

Williams closed it out by winning four straight games. Azarenka will look with regret at a groundbreaking major that slipped away, at critical unforced errors, especially serving at 5-4 in the third. But she should also consider who was on the other side of the net.

When it was over, Williams collapsed to the ground and laid on her back. A stadium thundered.

This tournament eluded her for a while. Williams had won the Open in 1999, 2002 and 2008, but she'd self-destructed here more recently; in 2009, there was her embarrassing meltdown at a line judge. Last year there was an "intentional hindrance" call`in a loss to Samantha Stosur. "This is the first year...in a long time I haven't lost my cool," she said later, the trophy at her side.

Now she has 15 grand slams. There are surely more to come. You want to bet against it? This isn't a comeback story anymore. It's a re-domination. Williams said she's never been more fit. She said she's hungry. "I'll think about my legacy when I'm done," she said.

She says if she did't play tennis, she would have been a rock star.

But Serena Williams must know. She is a rock star. And once again, the U.S. Open champion.