“Djokovic, Federer, Nadal…no one held grudge more than Serena Williams”: American’s ex-coach revisits epic Olympics victory over Maria Sharapova

Serena Williams’ former coach Rennae Stubbs has revisited the legendary American’s dominant performance against fierce rival Maria Sharapova in the women’s singles gold medal match at the 2012 London Olympics. Stubbs said that was the best match she saw Williams play in her career. The 53-year-old also opined that Williams was one-of-a-kind when holding grudges for revenge’s sake.

Williams and Sharapova’s maiden WTA Tour-level meeting came in the fourth round of the 2004 Miami Open. The former emerged victorious. However, the Russian player stunned the American twice later that year. The first was in the 2004 Wimbledon final, where Sharapova won her first-ever Grand Slam title with a 6-1, 6-4 win. In the final of the year-end WTA Tour Championships (now the WTA Finals), Sharapova registered another victory over Williams.

However, that’s as good as it got for the Russian player against the American. All of the next 19 meetings ended in Williams’ favor, with the American’s 6-0, 6-1 win over the Russian in the 2012 London Olympics’ women’s singles gold medal match being one of them.

Recently, Rennae Stubbs, who coached Serena Williams for the 2022 US Open, opined on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast that she has never seen the American play as well as she did in her 2012 Olympics win over Maria Sharapova. At the time, Stubbs herself was commentating on the match, which took place on the iconic Centre Court of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.