page_title: 2012 Serena Williams tennis season
section_title: Wimbledon Championships
hierarchical_section_title: 2012 Serena Williams tennis season / Year in detail / Grass court season: Wimbledon Championships and the Olympics / Wimbledon Championships
caption_attribution_description: English: Serena Williams hitting a backhand shot during the 2012 Wimbledon Championships on Day 10 in the Semifinals versus Victoria Azarenka.
context_page_description: The 2012 Serena Williams tennis season officially began on 2 January with the start of the 2012 WTA Tour. Williams won the most WTA singles titles of the season with seven titles which included two grand slam titles at Wimbledon and the US Open. She also won the WTA Championships and her first singles Olympics gold. She suffered her first first round loss in a slam at the French Open losing to Virginie Razzano.
  In doubles, Williams, partnering with sister Venus, dominated the grass court season by triumphing at Wimbledon and winning women's doubles gold medal at the Summer Olympics. Serena Williams was voted WTA Player of the Year for 2012, the fourth time she has won this award. Based on her brilliant show in 2012, Serena was named as International Tennis Federation world champion.
context_section_description: Williams' came into the championships as a co-favorite with world no. 1 and top seed Maria Sharapova. Williams chose to come into the championships with no grass preparation. In the first round, she faced Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová in No.2 Court, where older sister Venus fell the day before. After her first-round loss at the French Open, Williams looked nervous but still cruised through the first set, winning it with a double break. In the second set, she served for the match in the ninth game just to be broken, but she was able to break back in the next game to win. Her next opponent was Melinda Czink of Hungary; the American breezed pass the Hungarian with 7 aces to take the first set in 19 minutes. The second set was tighter, but Williams prevailed, breaking in the ninth game and then serving it out to advanced to the third round against China's Zheng Jie. Zheng kept toe-to-toe with Williams by holding her serve to force a tie-break, which Zheng won with the aid of a few errors from the American. However, Williams dominated the second set, winning it at two including winning the final 13 points of the set to force it to a decider. Both player kept their serve until the 4th game where Williams had to save 3 break points. The match went on serve until Williams broke in the 14th game and served it out. Williams also recorded 23 aces in the match, which was the most aces in a match by a female tennis player, breaking her own record of 20 aces which she set in her semifinal match against Elena Dementieva in Wimbledon 2009. Her next opponent was the first woman ever to score a 'Golden Set' in a Grand Slam event in the Open Era, Wild Card Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan. Williams dominated the first set, taking the first five games before Shvedova took a game, Williams eventually won the set. However, Shvedova came back in the second set, breaking the Williams serve twice to take the second. The third set came on serve until the tenth game, where Williams' broke and served out for the match on her first match point. In the quarterfinals, Williams faced defending champion Petra Kvitová. In the first set, Williams took the only break of the set at the sixth game and eventually took the set. The second set was tighter as Kvitová had set point at tenth game on the Williams serve; however, Williams saved it and broke in the next game to serve it out and advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals, she faced 2012 Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka. Williams took care of the first set, winning it with a single break. In the second set, Williams broke early at the third game; however, the Belorussian broke back in the sixth game, as both players held serve to push the second set into a tie-break, which Williams won with her 24th ace in her second match point and first on her own serve. Williams broke her own record set in the third round of 23 aces. It was her fifth win in a row against Azarenka. Williams' opponent in the final was first-time Slam finalist Agnieszka Radwańska. Williams dominated the first set, winning it, winning the first five games and closing it out in the seventh game. Williams led by a break against the Polish no. 3 seed before a rain-delay. In the resumption of the match, Radwańska took advantage of a sloppy Williams, coming back and winning the set. In the final and deciding set, Williams took the final five games to take the match. It was Williams' fifth Wimbledon singles title, tying her with sister Venus; this is also her 14th Slam singles title and her first since 2010 Wimbledon. She also recorded 102 aces in the entire tournament, the most of any men and women. After the win she moved to number 4 in rankings. After she won the Wimbledon singles title, former world no. 1 John McEnroe described Williams as the greatest female player who has ever played the game.
  Serena Williams also played doubles with sister Venus. The sisters were playing in their first doubles tournament since Wimbledon 2010. In the first round, they cruised past Vesna Dolonc and Olga Savchuk. In the second round they faced th
caption: Williams won both the singles and doubles title for the first time since the 2010 Australian Open.
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