Bleacher Report: Roberta Vinci, the Joyous Unknown Who Stunned Serena Williams, Denied History

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

NEW YORK — She was all disbelief and smiles, but not before shedding a few tears after dispatching the world’s No. 1 female tennis player and the thought, now erased, of a rare Grand Slam.

Roberta Vinci, who didn’t even know what the word upset meant until it was translated into Italian, produced one of the bigger upsets ever in her sport, maybe the single biggest.

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Copyright © 2015 Bleacher Report, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Sports Xchange: Refocused Serena makes case for being all-time best

By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange

NEW YORK — How appropriately named. How incorrectly named. Serena. Serene, calm, composed, tranquil. At times, perhaps, but if anything, Serena Williams, arguably the best women's tennis player of all time, is feisty, and more than anything competitive.

Which is how one becomes great in an individual sport, and Williams, whose quest is still alive to become only the fourth woman in history to take the Grand Slam, all four major championships in a calendar year, is nothing but great. Maybe, to borrow a line from Muhammad Ali, the greatest.

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Copyright © 2015 The Sports Xchange

S.F. Examiner: Slammed: Serena clinches hers, eyes history’s

By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner

WIMBLEDON, England — Go ahead and say it: Grand Slam. Magic words in tennis, in sport, an attraction beyond the norm, a standard of brilliance, a mark of excellence, an achievement sitting right there within the grasp — well, the serves and the ground strokes of the magnificent Serena Williams.

Williams had attempted to avoid the subject, the way some baseball announcers refuse to tell us a team hasn’t had a hit, fearing somehow the words would have an effect, be a jinx.

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©2015 The San Francisco Examiner

Newsday (N.Y.): Serena Williams wins Wimbledon and completes Serena Slam

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

WIMBLEDON, England — She had won Wimbledon, but Serena Williams was talking about New York and the U.S. Open. About the possibility of making history. About the possibility of becoming the first player in more than a quarter-century to win the tennis Grand Slam.

On a glorious day in suburban London, Williams beat Garbine Muguruza of Spain, 6-4, 6-4, giving her a sixth Wimbledon women's singles title and so much more. She now has a second "Serena Slam," winning all four of the majors in succession since the U.S. Open last year. And she has a shot at the true Grand Slam, all four in a calendar year.

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Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Newsday (N.Y.): Serena Williams beats Maria Sharapova for 17th straight time

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

WIMBLEDON, England — Everyone knows the best part of Serena Williams' game is her serving — she had 13 more aces Thursday while sweeping through her Wimbledon semifinal -- but her bewildered opponent, Maria Sharapova, pointed out another Williams asset.

"I think one of the things she does extremely well is to take [herself] from a defensive position to offense. I was not able to that," sighed Sharapova after losing to Williams a 17th consecutive time.

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Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.