Issue link: http://itf.uberflip.com/i/441551
ITFWORLD WINTER 2014 33 www.itftennis.com Working herself narrow, she did everything in her power to be ready for a charge at Wimbledon. And then she went and lost in the third round. Now she knew she was in trouble. "Just after Wimbledon I was just so disappointed because I worked so hard," she said. "Six hours a day literally just training, training, training, nonstop. After that, I thought, well, maybe I shouldn't train so much because the results aren't coming. Maybe I should just try something new. "I just went away for a week and a half and I didn't practice as much. I practiced, but I didn't practice as long. I made sure I hit every day. At that moment I also realised I just needed to relax a little more. I put a lot of pressure on myself." It was that simple: relax and the world is yours for the taking. Getting back into the winning habit, she took the titles in Stanford and Cincinnati and by the time she reached the Open, she was back in business. In each of the 14 sets it took her to win the title, she did not drop more than three games. And when she faced one of her closest friends in the final, she was ruthless, walloping Caroline Wozniacki 63 63 to finally bring her that 18th Grand Slam title. Still, Wozniacki had much to thank Serena for. Splitting up with her fiancé, golf world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, had been hard enough but having to go through the process in the public eye was almost too much to bear. When she stumbled out of the French Open in the first round, she looked forlorn but an invitation from the world No. 1 to come and spend a girls' weekend in Miami helped heal the wounds. Taking her pal under her wing, Serena soon had Wozniacki smiling again and as the summer hard court season got underway, the Dane was playing better with every passing week. She dropped a couple of sets on her way to the final but in her pomp, she looked every inch a challenger to the world No. 1. Alas, the nerves got to her in the final and much as she made a better fist of it as the match wore on, she was never going to come back after giving Serena a one-set lead. Kei Nishikori knew just how Wozniacki felt. He had defied the odds to reach the final — and defied belief as he dismantled Novak Djokovic in the semifinals — and then when his big moment came, he was felled with nerves. By the time he had settled down, Cilic was running away with the match while Nishikori had simply run out of puff. " I was dreaming about this all my life, and suddenly in the last four, five days everything started to change... It means everything. This is just the peak of the world." - Marin Cilic Marin Cilic became just the third man outside the 'Big Four' to win a Grand Slam singles title since 2005 Roland Garros