Serena Williams playing against herself SLOW MOTION

Williams is primarily a baseline player, and her game is built around taking immediate control of rallies with her powerful and consistent serve, return of serve, and forceful groundstrokes from both her forehand and backhand swings. Williams's forehand is considered to be among the most powerful shots in the women's game, as is her double-handed backhand. Williams strikes her backhand groundstroke using an open stance, and uses the same open stance for her forehand. Williams's aggressive play, a "high risk" style, is balanced in part by her serve, which most say is the greatest in women's tennis history. She consistently projects great pace and placement with her serves; in the 2013 Australian Open, she had a peak serve speed of 128.6 mph (207.0 km/h) which is the third fastest all-time among female players (only Venus's 129 mph and Sabine Lisicki's 131 mph recorded speeds are faster). What makes her serve even more deadly is her ball placement and her ability to consistently place powerful shots with great accuracy. At the 2012 Championships at Wimbledon, she hit a women's tournament record of 102 aces, which was more than any of the men hit during the two weeks, a rarity given that aces are more common in the men's game. Williams also possesses a very solid and powerful overhead. Although many think of Williams as only an offensive player,[who?] she also plays a strong defensive game. She has stated that her favorite surface is clay because it gives her extra time to set up her shots.

Williams is known for producing exceptional comebacks, particularly on the Grand Slam level. She has won three Grand Slam singles titles after saving match points, (the 2003 Australian Open semifinal versus Kim Clijsters, the 2005 Australian Open semifinal versus Maria Sharapova, and the 2009 Wimbledon semifinal versus Elena Dementieva), a feat achieved more often than any other player in history. She also came back from a 3–5 deficit in the third set against Kim Clijsters in the 1999 US Open en route to her first Grand Slam singles title. In the 2012 US Open final against Victoria Azarenka, she was down 3–5 in the third set and found herself two points away from losing the match. Williams then proceeded to win the next 4 games and defeated Azarenka. In the semifinals of the 2015 French Open, Williams was ill and barely able to walk during changeovers, yet beat her opponent, Timea Bacsinszky, 6–0 in the third set. Another improbable win occurred in the third round of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships, when she recovered from two breaks of service in the third set to defeat Great Britain's number-one female player, Heather Watson. Williams has bounced back from a set down to win in 37 Grand Slam matches.