I couldn't believe how well Serena played throughout the tournament to win the 2012 Olympic Gold Medal.
I can't remember ever having seen a female player play a better tournament? Perhaps Graf's 1988 French open domination is close (factoring in the additional round )?
I started looking at her performance through the week, and this is what I found.
Round
Opponent
Seed
Current Ranking
Career High
Score
Serve %
Aces
Double Faults
Break Points For
BP Convert %
Break Points Against
Winners
Unforced Errors
Points Won
Points Against
R1
Jelena Jankovic
-
18
1
6-3 6-1
76
8
0
4/6
67%
0/0
20
11
56
37
R2
Urszula Radwanska
-
45
44
6-2 6-3
61
8
1
4/5
80%
1/3
26
16
60
42
R3
Vera Zvonareva
13
13
2
6-1 6-0
72
12
0
6/11
55%
0/2
32
8
53
23
QF
Caroline Wozniacki
8
8
1
6-0 6-3
64
6
1
4/11
36%
0/0
30
17
65
40
SF
Victoria Azarenka
1
1
1
6-1 6-2
78
16
0
4/8
50%
0/0
33
5
59
32
F
Maria Sharapova
3
3
1
6-0 6-1
67
10
2
5/7
71%
0/2
24
7
56
25
Avg or Total
4
15
8
70
60
4
27/48
60%
1/7
165
64
349
199
Observations:
Defeated 4 former world #1's - including 3 that were #1 in the last year - and a former #2.
Defeated two current grand slam title holders.
Given that quality of opponent, Serena still managed:
70% serve % for the tournament.
Won 64% of all points played in the tournament.
56% of all BP's converted.
165 Winners, 64 Unforced Errors - +101 winners to errors.
Faced only 7 BP's on her serve, losing only one (to Radwanska) - 86% BP save rate
Broke serve 27 times in 12 sets - or 2.25 times per set.
Lost just 17 games in 12 sets - or 1.4 games per set.
60 Aces in 6 matches, and just 4 double faults.
Even by her standards, that's all unbelievable.
Can anyone think of a better tournament performance for a female player than that? She was literally and genuinely awesome in every department.
If she maintains that form she might yet win 20-25 singles Grand Slams.
