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Saturday 14 July 2018

10 months after baby, Serena in Wimbledon final vs. Kerber

By HOWARD FENDRICH as I can to support her. It’s that, not practicing serving
AP Tennis Writer interesting how that mental at all for a couple of weeks,
LONDON (AP) — Serena recovery is actually taking and was able to ease into
Williams has been saying much longer than I ever ex- things once Wimbledon
it over and over and over: pected.” began because of a draw
Wimbledon is only her The tennis? That’s come that allowed her to avoid
fourth tournament since quite naturally, not surpris- playing any seeded oppo-
returning to the tour after ingly. nents — or anyone ranked
having a baby. She was off the tour for inside the top 50, for that
“Every time I go out there, I more than a year after her matter — until Goerges,
want to, I guess, take a gi- Australian Open title in Jan- who was making her Grand
ant step forward,” she said. uary 2017 — won while she Slam semifinal debut.
“Keep taking giant steps, was pregnant, she later re- Now will come the stern-
but keep improving.” vealed. Williams first came est on-court test Williams
Williams played a total of back by playing doubles has faced: Kerber, a former
seven matches in 2018 be- with her older sister, Venus, No. 1 and two-time ma-
fore arriving at the All Eng- for the U.S. Fed Cup team jor champion with a lefty
land Club, and she’ll be in February. stroke and never-give-up-
playing her seventh match Then came her singles re- on-a-ball defense.
in the last two weeks when turn, at Indiana Wells in Williams is 23-6 in Grand
she meets 11th-seeded An- March, when she won her Slam finals, and Kerber is
gelique Kerber of Germany first two matches before responsible for handing
in the Wimbledon final on losing to her sibling. her one of those rare de-
Saturday. Next was a first-round loss feats, at the 2016 Australian
Certainly didn’t take long at Miami. Open. Kerber also won that
for the 36-year-old Ameri- “I honestly felt I would have year’s U.S. Open, replacing
can to get her game in done better in some of the Williams atop the WTA rank-
gear and close in on what earlier tournaments. That ings right afterward. That
would be an eighth Wim- Serena Williams of the United States celebrates defeating was the hardest part — was also the year that Ker-
bledon title, one short of Germany’s Julia Gorges in their women’s singles semifinals accepting that I didn’t,” ber reached the Wimble-
Martina Navratilova’s re- match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, in London, Williams said. “I know that don final, losing to Williams
cord, and 24th Grand Slam Thursday July 12, 2018. sounds weird, but I worked in straight sets.
trophy in all, equaling Mar- Associated Press out a lot and I worked They’ve played each other
garet Court’s all-time mark. “Almost didn’t make it, to “I mean, even this week, I hard.” a total of eight times in the
It was only 10 1/2 months be honest,” Williams said had a pain in my leg, and I Following another two past, and Williams leads
ago that Williams had far shortly after completing went to the worst-case sce- months away from com- 6-2.
more serious concerns. her 6-2, 6-4 semifinal victory nario: ‘Oh, my God, I have petition, she entered the After winning her semifi-
After giving birth to her over 13th-seeded Julia Go- a (pulmonary embolism) in French Open in late May, nal against Jelena Ostap-
daughter, Olympia, on erges on Thursday. my leg,’” Williams said. “I and won three matches enko 6-3, 6-3, Kerber was
Sept. 1, Williams dealt with She’s been wearing com- didn’t know I would have before pulling out before asked what she sees across
health complications that pression leggings during such, kind of, traumatic the fourth round because the net when she goes up
included blood clots and her matches as a precau- thoughts. Especially now of an injured pectoral mus- against Williams.
led to what she said were tion and says she remains that I have a daughter, I cle. “I see a champion,” Kerber
multiple operations. nervous. want to be around as long Williams rested some after said, “that’s for sure.”q

Marc-Andre Fleury inks 3-year extension with Knights

By W.G. RAMIREZ sion title and an appear- games for the Golden
Associated Press ance in the 2018 Stanley Knights in the playoffs,
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Ve- Cup Final in their inaugural where Vegas’ storybook
gas Golden Knights have season. season ended with a loss to
agreed to terms with three- The Golden Knights select- the Washington Capitals in
time Stanley Cup champi- ed Fleury in the 2017 ex- the Stanley Cup Final.
on goalie Marc-Andre Fleu- pansion draft from the Pen- “It was a good season,
ry on a three-year contract guins. He won 29 games I think the numbers are
extension worth an aver- last season, including the something, but they don’t
age of $7 million a year. 400th victory of his career. always show the game and
Fleury had one year re- He registered the best sta- stuff, but I think my team-
maining on his contract. tistical regular season of his mates are a big part of it,”
The extension announced career with a goals-against Fleury said one day after
Friday would keep him with average of 2.24 and a save the Golden Knights’ season
Vegas through the 2021-22 percentage of .927. He ended. “They were a big In this May 20, 2018, file photo, Vegas Golden Knights goaltender
season, creating the pos- has 404 career wins in 737 help to me all this season. Marc-Andre Fleury (29) deflects the puck wide of the net during
sibility that the 33-year-old games between Pittsburgh I don’t know, it’s weird. A the first period of an NHL game against the Winnipeg Jets, during
Fleury could end his career (691 games) and Vegas year ago, I was told I was the Western Conference Finals in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
with the Golden Knights. (46) and ranks 11th in victo- getting too old to play, I still Associated Press
Fleury helped the Golden ries in NHL history. had a lot of fun. Vegas has to do a lot, I wouldn’t want hopefully I can finish my ca-
Knights to the Pacific Divi- He appeared in all 20 given me this opportunity to go anywhere else, and reer here.”q