June 4, 2021 - Letters from Roland-Garros - S. Williams over D. Collins: 6-4, 6-4.
On Friday, at approximately ten-thirty in the morning in New York and four-thirty in the afternoon local time, in Paris, France, two Americans, Serena Williams, ranked number seven in the world and a three-time French Open Champion, and Danielle Collins, ranked number fifty, walked onto the orange clay Court Philippe-Chatrier for a third round match at Roland-Garros. Williams, the favorite by a wide margin, donned the lime green and white Nike sporting attire, which has become accustom for her over these last three matches, and Collins, with a nod to New Balance, wore all black, with pink and white sneakers.
The first set featured the return of Williams’ dominant straight down the T serve, which Collins struggled to return. On occasions when she did not forfeit an ace to her opponent, Collins would barely get her racquet on one of Williams’ bombs, which were coming down from high and coming in hot from the other side of the net. However, through Collins’ service games, she was able to bring Williams out wide with her serve, pulling Williams off the court, after which Collins would follow-up with several down-the-line backhand winners, many of which Williams could barely give chase.
A funny thing happened on a short ball from Williams that drew Collins in toward the net: although it appeared that Collins was able to chase down Williams’ shot and return it back to her opponent, the ball, in fact, bounced twice and should have been called out. Neither line judge, nor the umpire, nor the commentators made note of this discrepancy; however, the slow motion replays that ran after the match confirmed the double bounce. Nonetheless, it was a good get by Collins and a solid coaching point ––– hustle for the ball, and even if you only appear to get there in time, you may get lucky. Although Collins did ultimately lose the point; she did also force Williams to hit one more shot.
Williams took the first set 6-4, and once she won the first game of the second set, it appeared that she had decided to accelerate and close out the match in straight sets. Yet Collins, after a change of racquets, employed a level of confidence and precision that rattled her opponent (Williams hit at least four double faults in the second set, two of which were against break points) and went up 4-1, thus demonstrating why she belonged in the third round at Roland-Garros.
Williams responded in kind: her dominant serve returned; and she displayed incredible power and control on a number of swinging volley winners. Then almost all at once, despite Collins’ best efforts, the score tallied 5-4 in favor of Williams, who at 40-30, had reached match point, and was serving for a chance to advance to the fourth round. Although Collins may have expected it, she wasn’t able to do anything about it: Williams’ serve was a fast ball ––– sprinting straight down the T, to which Collins could barely reply. Match, Williams: 6-4, 6-4.
When the two Americans, who are said to be dear friends, approached the net after the match, at first they shook hands. Then after a shared smile and a beat, they embraced.
