Serena Williams was on the ropes. After sailing through the 2012 US Open draw, she found herself down 3-5 to Victoria Azarenka in the third set of the final. Then the world’s top-ranked player, Azarenka had done what no other player could so far that year at Flushing Meadows. She ran Williams ragged, frustrated her into forehand errors and disrupted her most unstoppable weapon: Williams’ lightning bolt of a serve, arguably the greatest shot in the history of the women’s game.
Even though Williams would valiantly close the gap to 4-5 on serve without recording an ace, Azarenka still had the title on her racket. To hear Williams tell it afterward, she was so spent, so done that she had already begun drafting a runner-up speech in her head. And it seemed as if it wouldn’t be much longer before the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd heard it. But something deeper inside wouldn’t allow Williams to back down. When Azarenka missed a deep crosscourt forehand by a hair’s breadth, that inner force was revealed itself. It shone through her determined point construction, her relentless defense and her unmissable appetite for combat. Just as suddenly as Williams was facing certain elimination, she won 16 of the last 22 points for a 7-5 third-set edge to claim her fourth US Open title.
