The shock waves created by Belinda Bencic's sensational upset of top-seeded Serena Williams in the Rogers Cup semifinal will resonate for days. But it's never too early to put things into context.
In the grand scheme of things, every match Williams plays between now and her first outing at the upcoming US Open is a dress rehearsal, a dry run of the sort neither Williams nor any other male or female player has experienced since Steffi Graf in 1988. Once Williams won Wimbledon and set herself up to complete a historic, calendar year Grand Slam in New York, everything between the two majors took on a different cast.
That's not to say Williams didn't do everything in her power to beat Bencic on Saturday in Toronto. Winning is always preferable to losing, and nobody personifies that better than Williams, a 21-time singles Grand Slam champion.
That's not to say Bencic is any less a player than her nervy, come-from-behind 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 win, which was earned over the course of two-and-a-half hours. After all, Bencic is just the second player to beat Williams this year.
"Well, I think I played really crappy today," Williams told reporters afterward. "I'll try to be politically correct. And I don't think you would disagree. I actually played a couple of matches like this this year, but I was able to get through them, but against the better players, you have to not play like this. I just really, really didn't play up to par today, what a professional tennis player should play like. I played like an amateur, to be honest."
The reality is Williams' upcoming mission is a distraction that weighs heavily on her. She has vowed to not talk about this quest for the gold-standard Grand Slam, but she has talked about it in code ever since she won Wimbledon.
The other day, after she played an excellent match to knock out Roberta Vinci, Williams coyly said: "Maybe I'm a little stressed out. Maybe I need to give myself a hug."
It's safe to assume she wasn't referring to the stress of playing a semi in Toronto.
Williams' anxiety comes largely from her having to mark time. You could almost see that in the way she played against Bencic. Williams came roaring out of the gate, blitzing Bencic in a dazzling first set. But Bencic is crafty as well as enormously talented, and she knew just what buttons to push. She fed Williams neutral balls down the middle, hit behind her, chipped away and broke down Williams' ground game.
Gradually, Williams lost her edge. The part of her that was still there looked to that majestic serve to atone for her baseline sins, but this time, the greatest shot in women's tennis sputtered and failed. Williams made just 50 percent of her first serves, and though she cracked 16 aces, she also hit 12 double faults -- some at critical moments. Williams allowed Bencic a look at a staggering 19 break points. Yes, 19 against Williams' serve.
This was an unforgettable match for Bencic, an 18-year-old who was 2 when Williams won her first Grand Slam title. Bencic won her first WTA title just weeks ago at Eastbourne, but she's on the express elevator in the rankings. She started 2014 at No. 212, but she'll be at least No. 16 when the next rankings are issued.
The result might be unforgettable to Williams and her team as well, because it rings the same alarm bell that was briefly heard in the second set of the Wimbledon final. Bencic is part of a generation of gifted young players whom Williams will have to take as seriously -- if not more so -- than all the Simona Haleps, Ana Ivanovics and Maria Sharapovas of the WTA when she arrives in New York.
The group includes Bencic, Wimbledon finalist Garbine Muguruza, top-10 newcomer Karolina Pliskova, Madison Keys and recent first-time WTA tournament winner Sloane Stephens. That makes two distinct groups of quality players -- vested veterans and gifted youngsters -- whose constituents will be vying to be the bit player who goes down in history as the spoiler of Williams' season Slam.
Of course, there's also the chance that all this stress -- even this loss -- is something Williams needs and a useful way for a great champion to whip herself into shape for what could be her last colossal role. We'll find out soon enough.