When Williams was in place to record a calendar slam in the latter stages of the 2015 US Open, her emotions ran wild and she collapsed in a lachrymose cloud not dissimilar to the one that enveloped Lisicki, losing in the semi-finals to the Italian doublesartist Roberta Vinci. Now she is returned to another statistical hell – or heaven, if she wins: victory on Saturday would give Williams her eighth Wimbledon singles title and her 24th major, matching the Australian Margaret Court for the most slams in the history of the sport. The Romanian is no slouch with racket in hand, of course, but her fastest serve of the fortnight is 110mph – fully 12 miles an hour slower than the booming deliveries of her opponent. Once that ball is in play, the return is vital and, if it is to be of any quality coming back at the American, Halep has to be brave, taking it on the rise occasionally, or making sure she delivers a heavy and precise enough blow from deep to keep the exchange alive. After all that, it will be a surprise – not on the scale of her defeat by Vinci in New York – if Williams does not stand in the middle of Centre Court as the freshly crowned queen of Wimbledon, and the game itself.
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