OT Poll Who Wins Wimbledon Women's Final Serena or Simona

[Wbbfan1]

Who's going to win the Wimbledon Women's Final? Serena Williams Age 37 or Simona Halep Age 27

Rooting for Serena, but I think like other recent Serena's appearances in final matches the pressure will get to her and she'll lose. Still one of the Top Women's Tennis Players, but age is catching up to her.

 

[eebmg]

Serena is playing very well and her ground strokes are under control. I do not see Halep winning.

 

[Ozimoto]

Although Serena is facing the end of her career as a dominant singles player (she could play doubles for several more years at a high level) I don't think she is quite ready to go quietly just yet. She also seems to have Halep's number. That gives her the advantage on the mental side of the game, which is a big part of tennis.

 

[Yorkeez4]

@Wbbfan1 you may want to change the end time of the poll. I believe they play tomorrow the 13th.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Don't know how to change the end time. I thought I put Two Days thinking that it would include today and early tomorrow morning before the match began. If I did it wrong, perhaps a moderator would fix it.

@Wbbfan1 you may want to change the end time of the poll. I believe they play tomorrow the 13th.

 

[EricLA]

It will be an interesting final with contrasting styles. Halep has decent power, but relies more on looping shots to give herself time to defend - which she does incredibly well. She will be able to track down a lot of Serena's shots, so Serena will need to hit with power and accuracy.

But since Serena is good at creating her own power, I think the match is on her racket. IF she plays well she wins, If she has too many unforced errors, she loses. I don't think Simona can "beat" Serena if both are playing their A game...

 

[tchalla1]

It will be an interesting final with contrasting styles. Halep has decent power, but relies more on looping shots to give herself time to defend - which she does incredibly well. She will be able to track down a lot of Serena's shots, so Serena will need to hit with power and accuracy.

But since Serena is good at creating her own power, I think the match is on her racket. IF she plays well she wins, If she has too many unforced errors, she loses. I don't think Simona can "beat" Serena if both are playing their A game...

Good perspectives... Halep is excellent at positioning her shots and her placement angles are downright lethal. And Halep is superb at tracking down shots. But as you noted, Serena's previous dominance of Halep (9 of 10 matches) came from Halep's inability to match Serena's power, particularly Serena's first serve. I'm seeing a lot of aces for Serena and a lot of baseline shots that Halep won't be able to run down...

 

[Wbbfan1]

Not looking Good for Serena already down 3-0 to Simona in the 1st Set. Simona is owning Serena so far.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Simona won the 1st set 6-2. Simona is making great recovery shots and Serena is just missing the line on so many of her returns. Serena has only won 2 Matches out of 10 when she's lost the first set in a Major. Serena's playing better then at the start, but Simona looks like the better player.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Serena broken in the 5th game of the 2nd set and now trails 3-2 in the Set. Serena's serve is a non factor and Simona is playing great defense. Like in the 1st Set, Serena is missing too many shots and unable to take advantage of the few openings Simona has given her.

 

[Wbbfan1]

No Contest Simona was the significantly better player today. Serena loses 6-2 6-2

Like in Serena's recent losses at the major if she's unable to dominate with her Serve, she's unable to match shots with her opponents. Too many times her returns are pedestrian and easily returned for winners. She can't seem to draw the fire out to pull out or win matches when her Opponents are playing great. A lot of missed opportunities for Serena to make the match more competitive. Not sure if she'll ever get another major.

 

[oldude]

Age catches up with all of us. It’s amazing that Serena is still playing in grand slam finals at 37, but she has clearly lost a step. Many of her unforced errors vs Halep were simply due to her not getting her feet set, resulting in off balance shots.

Credit to Halep who is incredibly fit, got to just about everything Serena hit and played wonderful tennis the entire match.

 

[Hayven]

Serena is still relying on her power to overcome her opponents. That may get her through most matches, but it won’t work against the top 5 players anymore. Hopefully Serena can work on her finesse-game

 

[GameReadyGC]

Serena is still relying on her power to overcome her opponents. That may get her through most matches, but it won’t work against the top 5 players anymore. Hopefully Serena can work on her finesse-game

That's her game. Why would she change it at 37...Lmao. She is the GOAT. She makes WT relevant. You better enjoy the moments now once the girl from Compton hang up the rackets WT will not be relevant. It a fact rating are up when Serena is playing . And she was super dominant in her prime. And if you watch WT. Majority of the players plays Power game. She is the Queen of WT.

 

[tchalla1]

That's her game. Why would she change it at 37...Lmao. She is the GOAT. She makes WT relevant. You better enjoy the moments now once the girl from Compton hang up the rackets WT will not be relevant. It a fact rating are up when Serena is playing . And she was super dominant in her prime. And if you watch WT. Majority of the players plays Power game. She is the Queen of WT.

Well I agree with both perspectives--Serena's power game no longer dominates solely, neither her mere presence in a grand slam... Kind of difficult to change a game that has won you 23 grand slam titles--and the question can be asked, why should Serena? Interesting topic. However, unquestionably, as you stated, Serena is the "game" and without her, women's tennis has no face--no shining star. I thought Osaka was going to be Serena's heir, but she has not responded well to her recent successes...

 

[Beemer]

Father Time is catching up to her. It happens to all great athletes. I just hope she doesn't try hang on when it becomes obvious she cannot play up to her phenomenal standards any more. It's awful to see when an athlete does that IMO.

 

[Jingo]

Federer crushed some of the best young players in the world on his way to the Wimbledon Final .. just bcuz he lost the Final, does that mean he's too old? Is winning everything?

 

[toadfoot]

I didn’t see this poll before the final but I have to confess being more than a little surprised at the vote. Perhaps many voters didn’t realize that Serena didn’t face a single seeded player until the final. Not her fault that seeds lost but it certainly made her path much easier. Bottom line, Williams still has the biggest power game in women’s tennis but her movement is no longer elite.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Bottom line, Williams still has the biggest power game in women’s tennis but her movement is no longer elite.

Didn't look like the biggest power game the other day. Her serve was down 10 mph and she lacked the overwhelming oomph on her ground strokes, often hitting with topspin.

 

[toadfoot]

Didn't look like the biggest power game the other day. Her serve was down 10 mph and she lacked the overwhelming oomph on her ground strokes, often hitting with topspin.

I counted at least 10-12 serves of 120+. Still the biggest serve in women's tennis. She can still hit powerful groundies but Halep ran her side to side very effectively which prevented Williams from using her power from the baseline. I thought one of Halep's most effective plays all day long was to run Williams to her backhand corner and then hit crosscourt to Williams forehand. She forced a ton of errors that way. I told my wife 2 years ago that I didn't think Williams would ever win another major and I'm sticking to that.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

I counted at least 10-12 serves of 120+. Still the biggest serve in women's tennis. She can still hit powerful groundies but Halep ran her side to side very effectively which prevented Williams from using her power from the baseline. I thought one of Halep's most effective plays all day long was to run Williams to her backhand corner and then hit crosscourt to Williams forehand. She forced a ton of errors that way. I told my wife 2 years ago that I didn't think Williams would ever win another major and I'm sticking to that.

If she hit that many at 120+ then she must've been down even further than I thought on the others.


Williams averaged a first-serve speed of 104 mph Saturday.

Serena Williams puts up troublesome numbers in Wimbledon loss against Simona Halep

Serena Williams won just four games in her Wimbledon finals loss to Simona Halep on Saturday and had 26 unforced errors to Halep's three.

www.usatoday.com

I don't recall a lot of tough shots Halep had to run down. Normally, Williams would blow her off the court with power. Even weirder considering grass is Halep's weakest surface.

 

[toadfoot]

If she hit that many at 120+ then she must've been down even further than I thought on the others.


Williams averaged a first-serve speed of 104 mph Saturday.

Serena Williams puts up troublesome numbers in Wimbledon loss against Simona Halep

Serena Williams won just four games in her Wimbledon finals loss to Simona Halep on Saturday and had 26 unforced errors to Halep's three.

www.usatoday.com

I don't recall a lot of tough shots Halep had to run down. Normally, Williams would blow her off the court with power. Even weirder considering grass is Halep's weakest surface.

I recall several great passes Halep made on the dead run but the fact is Halep was superb off both wings and kept Williams on the run the entire match.

 

[Yorkeez4]

Halep was hitting lines and even she ssid it was her best match ever. It is difficult for me to evaluate Serrna’s performance in the grand scheme of things for a multitude of reasons. I believe Serena had played only 4 tournaments prior to Wimbledon. Historically Serena has been able to enter Grand Slams with few prior matches and still win. Because of age that may no longer be true. Was her serve being off and her inability to run the ball down due to lack of tournament play/conditioning or is it age? How many other players could have got as far as she did with so little prep. Any athlete will tell you that wirking out cs playing are totally different.

I also believe Halep was about the worse opponent Serena could have met - her game is running down and returning balls and Serena will eventually make an unforced error in long rallys. One also must ask if she feels the pressure of matching Courts record.

 

[eebmg]

It is not mentioned nearly enough how overrated Court's Grand Slam record is. They should always have an asterisk * next to any mention

As pointed out in for example

Opinion: Serena Williams doesn't need to pass Margaret Court to be Slam queen


Of her 24 major titles, 13 of them came prior to the so-called “Open Era,” a line of demarcation in tennis history that skews a lot of the records because the Grand Slams only allowed amateurs to compete until 1968.

Moreover, Court won the Australian Open 11 times in her home country at a time when the field there was mostly made up of Australian players, as very few others made an effort due to the distance and the paltry prize money the tournament used to offer.