“Sorry, everyone.”
Roberta Vinci, an unseeded Italian tennis player, pulled off a stunning upset against top-seeded Serena Williams Friday at the U.S. Open — an outcome not even she expected.
Julio Cortez / AP
"Serena is an incredible player, so this is the best moment of my life," Vinci said in a match interview on the court.
Vinci, playing in her first Grand Slam semifinal, won the match 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, ending Williams' highly touted effort to become the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win a calendar year Grand Slam.
To that, Vinci had, of all things, an endearing apology: "Sorry everyone."
Vinci went on, in between rounds of growing applause from the stands, to acknowledge the collective let-down Williams fans were surely feeling in the moment of what she felt was her own greatest professional achievement.
"For the American people, for Serena, for the Grand Slam and everything — but today is my day," she said. "Sorry, guys."
During the match, Vinci had even appealed to the crowd to not count her out as an underdog without a chance.
Asked what her strategy was against Williams, Vinci said it was all about "my fight, my game."
"My mind say, 'Put the balls in the court…don't think about the Serena on the other court,'" Vinci said.
And that she did, no matter how hard Williams tried to change up her strategy against the unrelenting Italian with swift, sharp moves.
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