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S. Williams Loses Her 'Battle' at Wimbledon
Andy Roddick advances to the round of 16 Saturday by ousting Russian's Igor Andreev in three sets.
(Dylan Martinez - Reuters)
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But her fortunes as a pro, while better than most, haven't been world caliber. In nine years on the tour, Craybas has won one singles title (the 2002 Japan Open) and risen no higher than 51st in the rankings (January 2003). And in two previous meetings with Serena Williams, she had never won more than three games in a set.
While Saturday's victory was "absolutely fantastic," Craybas said, it meant even more because of the work she and her coach had devoted these last months to the mental aspect of her game. At 5 feet 3 and 123 pounds, Craybas has logged long hours in the gym in order to compete with bigger, stronger players. But until recently, her mind-set had held her back.
"The two previous meetings when I played [Williams], I don't think I believed that I could actually win the match -- no matter how well I was playing," Craybas said. "Even if you're playing great, if you don't believe it, then it usually doesn't happen."
When she walked on the court Saturday, Craybas felt she was Williams's equal.
The match had been scheduled for Center Court. But it was moved to Court No. 2, which seats fewer than 3,000 people and is known as the "Graveyard of Champions," once it became clear that Center Court's previous match, between David Nalbandian of Argentina and Scottish teenager Andrew Murray, was headed to five sets.
Williams was erratic from the outset, falling behind 2-4 as she sprayed first serves and groundstrokes all over the place. She was also breathing heavily after only a few games, as she had in previous matches. In 42 minutes, she was down one set, the sky was darkening and rain threatened.
Williams changed tactics in the second set, shaving pace off her serves in the interest of getting one in. The change-up won her a few points, and she reeled off three consecutive games to take a 5-4 lead. At times, she moved as if every step pained her. Other times, she ran down drop shots and wailed at her strokes as if she had power to spare.
But Craybas hung in to force a tiebreaker in which Williams committed the errors that cost her the match.
