As the Australian Open was kicking off and Chris Evert was sitting in the sun talking about what might happen, a colleague mentioned that Maria Sharapova hasn’t beaten Serena Williams in 11 years.
Evert wasn’t surprised–nothing about women’s tennis is likely to catch Chris Evert by surprise. But when asked about it, Evert said she thought “this might be the year” that streak ended. She wasn’t predicting it would be here in Melbourne, but that Sharapova has the goods to take a match from Williams–and that they would likely see each other a lot this season the way they’re playing. And here they are, in the Australian Open Final. Williams is 16-2 against her closest rival. Both won Grand Slams in 2014–Sharapova the French, Serena the US Open.
