Serena Pockets Biggest Grandslam paycheck

New York: Serena Williams was asked last week what the number 18 meant to her. "It means legal to do some things," she said, laughing. But she knew what the reporter was getting at. "It also means legendary," she added more seriously. She would not go so far as to call herself legendary - "I'm just Serena," she said - but she joined elite company when she equalled Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova with her 18th grand slam singles title. The top-ranked Williams defeated Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 6-3 to capture her third US Open final in a row and sixth overall. Williams had not advanced past the fourth round of a grand slam tournament this year and over the past two weeks she had expressed relief and excitement at her success at the US Open. When Wozniacki's final stroke went long, Williams collapsed on her back and started to cry. In a post-match interview, she choked up saying the word 18. "I have been trying to reach it for so long, since last year, well, since the beginning of the year," said Williams, who received an 18-carat gold bracelet from Evert and Navratilova after the match. "I didn't really think I would get there. I just felt so good." Williams survived a women's draw ravaged by upsets, the only player among the top nine seeds to reach the quarter-finals. Wozniacki, the No.10 seed, was the highest-seeded player Williams faced, and even though she never lost more than three games in a set during the tournament, "it definitely wasn't anything that was easy," Williams said. "It was a little bit more pressure on this slam than the other ones because she hadn't done well in the ones before," said Sascha Bajin, Williams' practice partner. "Especially the seeds going out early in the draw. The pressure just kept on rising. Everybody was expecting Serena to win." Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/serena-williams-beats-caroline-wozniacki-at-the-us-open-20140908-10dqn1.html#ixzz3CoXomXf2