Serena Wins 20th Grand Slam!

Welcome to another edition of SportsTalk With AJROK! You may have notice we are doing a little maintenance and making some cosmetic changes to the site, but I have to break away for a few to congratulate Serena Williams, who despite having the flu, won her 20th Grand Slam title today.

Serena shows once again why she is one of the best whose ever done it. Suffering so badly with flu that she considered pulling out, the night before. Twenty-four hours later, she emerged with a 20th grand slam title with a 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-2 victory over the Czech Lucie Safarova that, even by her standards, was remarkable. She is now only two short of Steffi Graf, the open era leader, and four off Margaret Court, the all-time leader.

Don’t Call It A Comeback, She’s Been Here For Years… At 33, Serena is at an age when most players have retired or lets face it were well past their best. Serena like real champions before her just keep finding a way to elevate their game, while others’ skills are diminishing with age. Serena remains as motivated as ever and her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, put her dedication down to her love of playing, saying she “senses she can dominate tennis and win majors”.

Serena Williams Winning Speech , Serena Williams: ‘I can’t believe I won’ 20th slam

She reminded everyone today that when she is at her best, nobody does it better than her.

“When I was a little girl, in California, my father and my mother wanted me to play tennis. And now I’m here, with 20 Grand Slam titles,” Williams said in French. “This is very special for me. I haven’t always played very well here, but I’m really happy to win the 20th here.”

She now has three French Open trophies to go alongside six each from the U.S. Open and Australian Open, and five from Wimbledon. She also became the first woman to win consecutive U.S. Open, Australian Open, and French Open titles since Monica Seles in 1991-92.

“This is by far the most dramatic [major title I’ve won],” Williams told NBC’s Mary Carillo afterward. “I didn’t even train yesterday, I’ve had the flu … it’s just been a nightmare.”

Serena’s ESPN Interview after Final Press conference after her French Open 2015 win

Williams led 4-1 in the second set, then began to falter. Coughing between points, she double-faulted twice in a row to get broken for the first time, then double-faulted again to make it 4-all. When Safarova, now more confident in her strokes, held moments later, she led 5-4.

“I choked, simple as that,” Williams said. “I hit a lot of double-faults, and my first serve just went off. … I got really nervous, it was a big moment to win 20.”

Williams received a kiss from 18-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova as she collected the French Open trophy, raising it triumphantly over her head as she milked the applause from the Court Chatrier crowd.

Williams, speaking in French, paid tribute to beaten finalist Safarova.

“Lucie played very well, she was a magnificent opponent,” Williams said. “It was a dream for me to win.”

Safarova returned the compliment — in English:

“Serena, you were amazing today, you a great fighter. Congratulations,” she said.

BW would like to congratulate Serena on her momentous 20th title and we know this sistah’s legacy is far from over. Ok that’s it for me, time to get back to upgrading BW. Until next time this has SportTalk With AJROK.
Peace and Blessings and remember whatever you do, do it like it’s your first time because no matter how many times you’ve done it before and how well you have done it in the past, it will be the first some will come in contact with you and do it like it’s your last time, because no one is promised tomorrow.
Hustle Hard, Pray Harder
I’m out!

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AJ Woodson

AJ Woodson is the Editor-In-Chief of Black Westchester and Co-Owner of Urban Soul Media Group, the parent company, Host & Producer of the People Before Politics Radio Show. AJ is a Father, Brother, An Author, Journalism Fellow (Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism), Hip-Hop Artist - one third of the legendary underground rap group JVC FORCE known for the single Strong Island, Radio Personality, Hip-Hop Historian, Documentarian, Activist, Criminal Justice Advocate and Freelance Journalist whose byline has appeared in several print publications and online sites including The Source, Vibe, the Village Voice, Upscale, Sonicnet.com, Launch.com, Rolling Out Newspaper, Daily Challenge Newspaper, Spiritual Minded Magazine, Word Up! Magazine, On The Go Magazine and several others.