Will Stop Fighting for Equality When I Am in My Grave: Serena

Winner Romania’s Simona Halep and second placed United States’ Serena Williams, right, pose with their trophies after the women’s singles final match on day twelve of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London.

(Photo: AP)

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep climbed back into the top 4 in the WTA rankings issued on Monday after her straight set win over Serena Williams of the US in the final of the Wimbledon on Saturday, 13 July.

Becoming the first Romanian ever to win a Wimbledon singles title, Halep ascended three spots to the fourth position after taking home her first title of the season and second Major trophy following her triumph in the 2018 French Open.

The fourth spot is not the highest Halep has reached in her career that kicked off in 2006, Efe news reported.

Halep, who turns 28 in September, became world no 1 for the first time on 9 October, 2017 and has held the top spot for a total of 64 weeks over two spells.

Meanwhile, in an interview after her loss to Halep, Williams in an interview with Sportscenter, spoke about how she will continue to fight for equality. When asked about her stand on fighting for equality despite all the recent criticism against her she said that she will continue to fight for equality only when she dies.

“Well the day I stop fighting for equality and for people like you and me will be the day I am in my grave,” said Serena.

After returning from a maternity leave, Williams fell short at the French Open round of 16, the finals of the Wimbledon and the US Open in 2018 and did not get past the Australian Open quarterfinals nor the French Open third round in 2019.

Williams, whose hopes to match Australian Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam titles was dealt a new blow, climbed one spot to ninth.

Having squandered her sixth chance to equal Court's record since claiming her last Major at the Australian Open in 2017, Williams will now have to wait a little longer to have another chance to achieve the milestone.

(This article has been published in an arrangement with IANS)