Serena Williams was an exceptional tennis player, and her want for revenge might have been one of the reasons why she was so successful.
During her tennis career, the legendary American had to beat many rivals who tried to dethrone her. One obvious example was her sister, Venus Williams, who she played against 31 times and won on 19 occasions.
But there was also one challenger six years younger than her who was determined to dethrone Williams as the leader on the WTA Tour. Maria Sharapova showed her incredible talent early on in her teenage years, and one of the wins that proved her talent was against Serena Williams.
The Russian player beat her in the final of the 2004 Wimbledon Championships, a match that she won 6-1, 6-4. Only a couple of months later, Sharapova bested Williams also at the WTA Finals, beating the American player 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
At that time, she led the H2H 2-1, but little did she know that those two wins were the only wins that she would ever record against Serena. The American legend went on to win 19 consecutive matches against Sharapova to improve her H2H record to 20-2.
One win in particular stands out to Rennae Stubbs, who coached Serena Williams during her retirement event in 2022, and she discussed it during her Rennae Stubbs Tennis podcast.
Stubbs talked about the 2012 London Olympics final, in which Williams completely crushed Sharapova. The American player didn't trash only Sharapova but every opponent en route to the Olympic gold medal in London.
In the final, however, Stubbs, who commentated on the match, saw how incredibly well Serena played, calling it the "greatest match" she ever saw the legendary American play.
"Actually, the greatest match I ever saw Serena Williams play, and I saw her play a lot of great tennis, was the finals of the Olympics in London against Sharapova."
"I was doing the commentary with Mary Carillo, and Maria had a great serve out wide. I remember, it was like a big serve, like 115 [mph] or something, and Serena literally turned her shoulders and just crushed a forehand down the line at about 120 [mph], going back down the line."
"And where we sit in the booth at Wimbledon is right on court level, and I just looked at Mary Carillo and I just couldn’t. Sometimes there were just no words."
According to Stubbs, that win at the 2012 London Olympics was inspired by Williams' loss to Sharapova in the 2004 Wimbledon final. It was only the second time they met in London since then, and it was one of their most important matches.
"I’ve never seen anyone play better than that match. It was like the loss that she did have against Maria years ago on that court [in 2004], it entered her body and she said, ‘Not today’."
Stubbs also explained that she never saw anyone who could hold a grudge for revenge more than Serena, but compared Novak Djokovic to the 23-time Grand Slam winner.
"I think on the men’s side I would say that Novak maybe, but I think there was no one who held a grudge for revenge more than Serena Williams, which is one of the reasons why she was so great, because she was never into complacency. It was always about, ‘it’s never going to happen again’."