Roberta Vinci. Unseeded. Ranked outside the top 40 in the world. Vinci may have lost in the final, but she showed how you beat a champion and a bully. She held her hand up and asked the champion to wait. She turned her back to the vocal shouting. She didn't break down when Serena yelled across the net. The Italian doubles specialist was first to her chair on the changeovers covering her head with her towel. And she hits a slice, one-handed backhand with very little pace and proved that slicing and dicing takes no prisoners.
Rarely in her career have we seen Serena hit a slice backhand, or a forehand for that matter, but this world number one doubles player from Italy forced one of the greatest players of all time to change her game. There wasn't much pace coming from Vinci's side of the court. Brad Gilbert calls her "DaVinci" and she lived up to that name as she sliced, diced, angled and artistically stroked her way to a victory ending a Grand Slam run - a feat only completed by three women previously and just one in the Open Era.
But Vinci changed the mental game as well for the first time ever on this American champion. She won over the New York crowd. Vinci stayed the course. As the match hit two hours, Serena tired but grew vocally louder. Every winner with punctuated with a screaming exclamation point. Vinci took no notice. She's 32 years old - no intimidation here. She's seen it all before. Vinci tossed and served and didn't take note of Serena showing her Nike's dress back straps as she tried to hold up Vinci's march to dominance. Vinci held her hand up when the Champion was ready to serve saying: "Just wait a moment - you make me wait on my serve? I'm gonna make you wait on yours." This Italian was not going to cower. She owned the court. She owned the crowd. And, she won.
The tennis was not stellar. Vinci took Williams out of her comfort zone, with drop shots, sliced backhands and approach shots, volleys and dozens upon dozens of lobs. Serena rarely sees a one-handed backhand - there are only 2 one-handed backhands in the top 100 women in the world. But what we forget is that a one-handed backhand hits the ball much earlier than a two-handed backhand. Serena wasn't prepared for the earlier contact of the ball - the Champion was on her back foot continually even on her masterful forehand. Serena hasn't seen slice like this in years. And she hasn't seen an opponent mentally as strong as Vinci was on this day since Sam Stosur defeated her on the same court in 2011.
Roberta Vinci may have ended a Grand Slam run, but she probably brought tennis back to a reality with a win reminiscent of a McEnroe, Edberg or even a Nastase. Let's see if Roger moves up to the service line on Novak's serve and plays more like a doubles player, reminiscent of a Bob Lutz or a Stan Smith... or even an Italian doubles player named Roberta Vinci.
