Serena Williams proved why she reigns as the number one female player in the world - with a mid-match vomit not even putting her off her game to take out the Australian Open.
In fact, Williams thinks that the coughing fit causing her to be sick, which the star admits has never happened before, may have actually helped snare her sixth Australian Open victory against Maria Sharapova on Saturday night at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
'I think in a way that just helped me – I felt better after that. My chest was really stuck at that point,' The Sydney Morning Herald reported Williams as saying after winning the match: 6-3 7-6 (7-5).
Here was a break in play for the roof to be closed due to rain but the 33-year-old, who had been battling a cold throughout the tournament, took a few minutes longer to return to the court.
The American champion was given a small amount of cough syrup by a doctor to suppress the coughing.
'I was coughing so much. It was just forcing things out of me. So I was just trying to pull myself together,' she said.
Williams admitted to experiencing a lot of ups and downs throughout the tournament.
'So I just thought – you know, I was somehow still in the tournament and now I somehow have won. So I don't know. It's really exciting,' she said.
Williams has now moved ahead of Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert in the all time Grand Slam-winning title stakes, and is now only three off Steffi Graf. If she stays fit then you would not bet against her overhauling that.
This was a match that showcased the best of women's tennis, with both players massively fired up and punctuating every game with fist pumps and animalistic cries of 'Come on!'. But in the end Serena, though getting tight, showed that her power is still irresistible.
Congrats Serena!
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