Serena Says Arrivederci to Calendar Slam
This was sorta like waking up in the morning to discover that Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson on the other side of the world.
At high noon on a Friday when most sports fans are still scheming on long lunches and early work exits, Roberta Vinci happened.
As in the 32-year-old Italian ranked No 43 in the world of women's tennis who was, putting it mildly, in the proverbial zone:
Frankly, Williams is playing spectacularly for her age. Not that 33 is cheating the reaper, but at the highest level of tennis, she's enduring more wear and tear on her bod than she's letting on and still getting the job done.
Just how much of a razor's edge that's been for her to accomplish has just been underscored. And just how long she can keep it up is becoming less of a musing and more of a mortal inevitability.
Williams had a close call in the third round here before overcoming the challenge of Bethanie Mattek-Sands, which continued a trend.
So, Steffi Graff's 1988 calendar Slam -- which, truly, is the only real Grand Slam there is -- remains as the third and last time women's tennis has seen the feat achieved.
And if this was Williams' last best chance to join that elite group, it may well be another eternity before anyone else even comes close.