Serena's Triumph at Stanford: What does it mean?

There are not many times when one minor tourmament seems to mean so much to a multiple-time Major Champion. One of these times was this past week when Serena Williams seemed to cement her comeback to tennis with a victory over Marion Bartoli to win the Bank of the West Classic in Palo Alto, California. Williams showed moments of brilliance in her return to Wimbledon in June, but the tournament as a whole was a major disappointment as she crashed out to Bartoli in straight sets in the fourth round. This past week at Stanford seemed to be a major test for Serena, as a potential quaterfinal match-up with Wimbledon runner-up Maria Sharapova loomed. At points in her fourth round match against Maria Kirilenko, it seemed as if Serena would not get the chance to play Sharapova. After narrowly beating Kirilenko, Williams seemingly put it into high gear. The blockbuster against Sharapova seemed to be anything but that, as Williams was brilliant in an easy straight-set win. This set up a semi-final match-up against very dangerous German Sabine Lisicki. Williams again played brilliantly, dispatching Lisicki while only losing 2 games. The final against Bartoli did not seem to present the challenge that most people were expecting. A straight-set win against Bartoli gave Serena Williams the title at Stanford, seemingly cementing her return to tennis.

For those who watched Serena's dominating performance at the Bank of the West, the next question is whether or not Williams can manintain this high level of play throughout the rest of the US Open Series and eventually the US Open. While the logical answer to this question seems to be that Serena can in fact maintain this level of play, there is definitely cause for concern. Williams will be playing almost every other week, which is the most she has played sincer her return to the game. Saying this, fitness could be an issue. Even with this main cause of concern, tennis fans can only hope that Serena Williams can continue to succeed the rest of the summer leading up to Flushing. How great of a story would it be if Serena Williams can make a deep run at the US Open, her home major?

As for what her impressive run at the Bank of the West means, there seems to be no other explanation except for that she is awfully close to returning to her top form, which is bad news for the rest of the WTA. Serena's next challenge is at the Rogers Cup next week. Because this tournament is sure to be more competitive than the Bank of the West, a deep run next week could definitely prove that Serena is all the way back. Until next week, all we can do is hope for the best from Serena Williams.