The hard-hitting precision and strength of Germany’s  Angelique Kerber on Saturday ended Serena Williams’ pursuit of a 24th Grand Slam title and eighth Wimbledon championship.

Williams, who had said at the outset of Wimbledon   that her return to full competition was about more than adding Grand Slam titles, fell 6-3, 6-3 to the superior firepower of the 30-year-old Kerber.

“To all the moms out there, I was playing for you today. And I tried,” said Williams, 36, just 10 months after a difficult childbirth that was followed by grave medical complications. “Angelique played really well.”

“I’d just like to tell all the moms, I had such a long struggle to come back and it was really difficult,” Williams explained in her post-match interview. “Honestly I feel like if I can do it, they can do it.

“I’m just that person, that vessel, that’s saying, ‘You can be whatever you want to be. If you want to go back to work … to me, after becoming a mom, I feel like there’s no pressure to do that because having a child is a completely full-time job,” Williams said after the match.

By reaching the final of Wimbledon in her fourth tournament following a 13-month maternity leave, Williams’ achievements have however been appreciated, particularly by women who know first-hand the sacrifice required to compete at the top level of tennis while at the same time handling the demands of motherhood.

The last time she featured at Wimbledon before this encounter was in the 2016 final, where she won her seventh title by, interestingly defeating Kerber 7-5, 6-3.

A star-studded crowd of 14,900 including golfer Tiger Woods, Formula One champion, Lewis Hamilton, the Duchess of Cambridge (the former Kate Middleton) and the Duchess of Sussex (the former Meghan Markle who is a close friend of Williams) attended the final.