WIMBLEDON, England — Serena Williams finished with an ace and a curtsy, showing she’s ready for the queen and a lot more at Wimbledon.
The defending champion won her opening match yesterday, relying on an overpowering serve to beat 17-year-old Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal 6-0, 6-4.
Williams won all 27 points on her first serve and hit 15 aces. As the crowd applauded, Williams curtsied, mindful Queen Elizabeth II is expected to visit Wimbledon for the first time since 1977 tomorrow.
“I want it to be more natural,” she said of the curtsy. “Right now it feels really forced. Seems like I’ve never done a curtsy before, which may be true. But I’m looking forward to nailing it.”
The queen may also get to see top-ranked Rafael Nadal, who advanced by beating Japanese wild card Kei Nishikori 6-2, 6-4, 6-4. It was Nadal’s first match at Wimbledon since he became the 2008 champion; he missed last year’s tournament because of knee tendinitis.
“For me it was a very special moment to come back to this, probably the nicest Centre Court in the world,” Nadal said.
Maria Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, needed only 54 minutes to beat lucky loser Anastasia Pivovarova 6-1, 6-0.
Former top-five player James Blake, returning from a three-month layoff because of a right knee injury, lost to Robin Haase 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.
“The knee is not great,” Blake said. “If it doesn’t get better soon, I’m not sure how much longer I want to play in pain.”
Blake was also displeased with former tennis player Pam Shriver, who was at courtside working as an ESPN analyst. In the middle of his match, Blake complained about the volume of Shriver’s commentary, yelling, “I can’t believe you played tennis, I can still hear you.”
After Shriver shrugged off Blake’s outburst and continued to talk at the same level, Blake shouted, “You wanna be an [expletive] about it and act like I’m at fault?” before continuing with the match.