{"id":25023,"date":"2020-03-26T10:23:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T14:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordontennis.com\/?p=25023"},"modified":"2021-12-23T19:49:36","modified_gmt":"2021-12-24T00:49:36","slug":"a-career-defining-match-2012-wimbledon-r3-serena-williams-vs-zheng-jie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2020\/03\/26\/a-career-defining-match-2012-wimbledon-r3-serena-williams-vs-zheng-jie\/","title":{"rendered":"A Career-Defining Match: 2012 Wimbledon R3 Serena Williams vs Zheng Jie"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the time of 2012 Wimbledon<\/a><\/span>, Serena Williams had 13 major titles. Williams had seemingly done it all, taking home the singles title at the Australian Open 5 times, French Open once, Wimbledon 4 times, and US Open on 3 occasions. In doubles, Williams had four Australian Open victories, two at the French Open, four at Wimbledon, and two at the US Open. This was a total of 12 major doubles wins, in addition to the 13 singles victories.<\/p>\n

In other words, Williams had dominated tennis from the late 1990’s until the early 2010’s.<\/p>\n

Yet, when 2012 Wimbledon rolled around, Williams’ future in tennis was full of uncertainty. Steffi Graf’s 22 major title record seemed further and further away. Williams’ ability to match Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert at 18 grand slams was even fading. Williams’ career was seemingly on its downward stretch and even a single major more was slipping out of her grasps.<\/p>\n

The trajectory of Williams’ career almost certainly turned with her 6-7(5), 6-2, 9-7 victory<\/a> over the always-tough Zheng Jie.<\/p>\n

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Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n