Twenty 2020 Questions: Can Serena win her 24th major singles title?
Any woman facing the 38-year-old in a Slam final will know she’s beatable, but the biggest thing in the American's favor will be her determination.
We're answering the 10 biggest questions on the WTA and ATP tours in 2020. The entire list will be rolled out here.
From a historical standpoint, this is the most important question of the year, and the most perplexing. At 38, Serena remains capable of winning any match, except one—a Grand Slam final. From 1999 until 2016, she was 21–4 in Slam title matches. Since then, she’s 2–6, and has lost her last four. Serena, it seems, has a case of finals phobia. For the first six rounds, she plays like her old self; then, when the record is in sight, she tightens up.
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Can she break this pattern in 2020? Her recent record will work against her: any woman facing her in a Slam final will know she’s beatable. The biggest thing in her favor will be her determination—it has never failed her on a tennis court before. Roger Federer and Tiger Woods have gotten their last-hurrah Slams; Serena will too.