"My grandmother passed away, not even a week before" - Alize Cornet recalls 'best' win of her career against Serena Williams at Wimbledon
Alize Cornet recalled her win over Serena Williams in the third round of the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, calling it the "best win" of her career because of the circumstances surrounding her coming into the match.
Despite the 23-time Grand Slam champion being the overwhelming favorite, Cornet wrapped up a come-from-behind 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 win in three sets to secure the sixth top 10 win of her career.
Reminiscing on the experience when speaking with the WTA, the Frenchwoman reflected on how her grandmother had passed away just the preceding week, meaning she had to go back and forth to Nice for the funeral.
Stepping on to the court, Cornet felt like she was in "another world" altogether and adopted the mindset that nothing really mattered to her at the moment. She decided to just play for her grandmother and have as much fun as possible, which eventually worked out in her favor.
"Maybe the best win of my career. Before this tournament, my grandmother passed away, not even a week before this match. The day before I played Serena, I went back and forth to Nice to go to her funeral. The day before playing Serena, I was not practicing, I was on a plane," Alize Cornet said.
"When I entered the court I was in another world. I was like, 'OK, nothing really matters. I'm just going to play for my grandmother, try to have fun as much as I can.' Then the miracle happened," she added.
The 33-year-old remarked that it was "very emotional" to defeat Serena Williams on grass, especially as she had never been comfortable on the surface for a long time. With her friends and family watching as well, Cornet admitted that it was an experience she could never forget.
"It was very, very emotional to beat Serena on this surface. I'd never felt super-comfortable on grass until the previous year. Having this kind of win on No. 1 Court in front of my friends and family is something I'll never forget," Alize Cornet said.
"I knew what I had to do against her, because it worked once. So I tried to keep it really simple in my head, to adopt the same strategy. I knew hard courts and grass courts were two different things, but I really tried to keep it simple," she added.
"That was a very special match for me" - Alize Cornet on beating Serena Williams at the 2014 Dubai Tennis Championships
Alize Cornet also recalled beating Serena Williams in the semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships earlier that year, saying it was a "special" match and that she was proud to prove to herself that she could beat someone as good as Williams at the top of her game.
"That was a very special match for me [against Serena], to prove to myself that I could beat this kind of player, this kind of legend. I remember preparing for it very precisely with my coach back then," Alize Cornet said.
"Trying to put a strategy in place that could be efficient against her. It's not easy to have one against Serena as she was on top of her career, but I remember playing the tactic perfectly," she added.
In the final, however, the Frenchwoman fell to Venus Williams to hand the seven-time Grand Slam champion her 45th WTA Tour title.