Serena Williams came into the Australian Open with some question marks, but does anyone really think she’s going to lose?
It’s a case of until she gets beaten, then I’ll believe it.
Right now, Williams is still clearly the logical favourite even though she comes into the event rusty, having not played since her shock US Open semi-final loss.
There were also lingering health concerns exacerbated when Williams withdrew from the Hopman Cup because of knee inflammation. Still, Williams just keeps rolling, rounding into form with an archetypical destruction of Su-Wei Hsieh in the second round, losing just three games in less than an hour.
It has been a remarkable performance by Williams who hasn’t played for four months. But did we expect anything else? Her dominance has been so vast, that it is not a stretch of hyperbole to rate Williams as the greatest athlete this millennium.
There have been so many remarkable sportspeople in the past 15 years, including Roger Federer, Lionel Messi, Tiger Woods, Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps and LeBron James. It could be well argued that Williams trumps them all.
Williams has long dominated tennis but these days, despite that stunning loss to Roberta Vinci at Flushing Meadows, she is truly transcending the women’s game.
Maybe Messi is doing something unfathomably similar in football, although he does have a noteworthy adversary in Cristiano Ronaldo. Bolt is probably the closest doppelganger to Williams, though athletics no longer has the cache it used to have and boasts fewer must-see events compared to tennis. Marvelling at Bolt’s superhuman performances are more intermittent.
Williams, with 21 majors, is inching closer to Steffi Graf’s open era record of 22 grand slams. She is already arguably the greatest women’s tennis player ever, considering her longevity – she won her first grand slam in 1999 – and the depth of the sport these days with players being spawned from virtually every part of the globe.
In grand slam finals, Williams is 21-4 – the best percentage in either the men’s or women’s game.
Williams is 34 years old – an age where even the great ones generally struggle or have already retired – but she’s seemingly getting better. She has won eight grand slams in the past four years, and amazingly was on course for the calendar grand slam last year before Vinci morphed into a superhero.
Despite the never-ending accolades and endless superlatives, Williams has often had a dubious standing among tennis fans and the broader sports community. She’s long been the antithesis of tennis’ quaint image of elegance and humility.
Perhaps her emergence, far removed from the stereotypical tennis prodigy upbringing, and then utter domination alarmed some of the traditionalists.
Her brashness – both in on-court histrionics and outlandish attire – has often been frowned upon by the traditionally conservative tennis fraternity. Her temperamental demeanour at times fuels the criticism.
Sometimes she appears disenchanted, or even perhaps just merely bored by her dominance, and consequently her game shockingly spirals into a meltdown.
Some critics loathe Williams’ playing style with her relentless slugging from the baseline being the prototype for a generation to essentially mimic a game built around sheer grunt rather than grace.
Powerfully built, Williams is an athletic marvel and the most imposing women’s tennis player ever. Much like LeBron in the NBA, her brutish physical attributes are just too overpowering for her opponents.
But it’s unfair to label her merely as brawn. Williams’ athleticism is underrated; she’s nimble and moves around the court exceedingly well. Precise footwork enables her to be in the perfect position to unleash her deadly groundstrokes.
Williams’ arsenal also contains arguably the most lethal serve ever seen in women’s tennis and a competent volley, on the rare occasion she does venture to the net. Williams has a knack of improvising her shots, a testament to her concentration and ability to see the ball late.
Williams no longer has a legitimate challenger. Once, there was her sister Venus, Justine Henin and Martina Hingis. These days Williams’ biggest obstacle is combating the swirl of expectation in her determined bid to conquer the deeds of the legends from yesteryear.
What few realised, including perhaps Williams herself for some time, was that she was most content when obliterating opponents on the court. The only athlete I’ve seen more ruthless was basketball legend Michael Jordan, who was famous for winning while psychologically destroying his rivals.
Williams is wired similarly. She’s basically a tennis cyborg sent to eviscerate all opponents. Impressively, Williams has conquered a whole new generation of players who are bred to counter her firepower. No one has come close to challenging her supremacy and ability to bully from the baseline.
Maria Sharapova, generally regarded as the next best player over the past decade, has lost 17 straight times to Williams. Like Jordan, Williams seems to relish any slight, however trivial, and use it to motivate herself.
Sharapova hasn’t beaten her since 2004, a year where she memorably defeated Williams at the Wimbledon final. Many heralded the then 17-year-old Russian as the next dominant player on the women’s circuit and a heap of attention was suddenly directed at the new glamour player.
You feel Williams took that personally. Sharapova won the rematch later that year, but Williams has not lost to her ever since. Williams’ utter domination over her ‘rival’ is one of the most astonishing feats in sports.
Williams’ edge is her aura and resolve. She isn’t scared by the spectre of defeat. She thrives when on the brink. Williams almost never plays conservatively; she’s always backing her instincts in the sheer belief that her innate attacking will pay dividends.
It doesn’t matter if she’s ill, injured or simply playing poor tennis, Williams routinely finds a way to win.
Much like her complete supremacy in 2002-03, Williams again finds herself clearly the dominant force in women’s tennis. It’s hard to think of another athlete in any sport rediscovering their peak more than a decade later.
One day, perhaps sooner than we may think, Williams will walk away from the sport. She’ll leave an enormous chasm, much like when Sir Donald Bradman left cricket or Jordan retired (the second time) from the NBA. Women’s tennis, hopefully fleetingly, will become less entertaining and feel slightly diminished in spectacle without Williams.
More than ever, the Australian Open presents an opportunity to savour one of the most iconic athletes we’ve ever seen.
Phil_Ivey
Guest
Bolt or Phelps for me. They've won everything there is to win, but more importantly, have never lost to mediocre athletes the way Serena has. Now it is much harder as a tennis player not to do that as you have far more big matches than athletics or swimming, but I would say that Djoko has not lost to any mediocre players since the height of his career, so it's possible.
Steve Kerr
Roar Rookie
Like Michael explains, it's OK that Serena wouldn't stand a chance against even a mediocre male player, because they have a natural strength advantage, so it doesn't count. It's a good job Serena never benefited from having any natural strength advantage over her opponents........
Lancey5times
Guest
Phil Taylor?
My2cents
Guest
It's still tennis. Isn't it sexist not to compare her to them. I mean if gender equality is the goal. Why shouldn't we compare male and female tennis players against eachother
My2cents
Guest
It's hard to compare across sports. And the lack of competition in elite woman's tennis ( is serena better or is everyone else sub par) makes it hard to judge. However there are a few obvious contenders from other sports. And less obvious contenders Usain Bolt, Murali, even basketball player Manu Ginobli has a much more impressive resume. 5 NBA titles across multiple era's, a euroleague title and an Olympic gold medal for basketball despite not being from america
AZ_RBB
Guest
*looks confused* It would be more sexist if we refused to compare her to Federer et al. Also, nobody said she couldn't beat the others.
Kevin dustby
Guest
Crush?
Kevin dustby
Guest
Federer, shocking temper?
Michael Huston
Guest
For those fools comparing Serena to Djokovic, Federer, Nadal etc, get off your sexist high horse. Of course she wouldn't be able to beat those guys, but it's because of their natural strength advantage. It's everything else that makes Serena greater than them, like her ability to overcome adversity, her seriously under-rated skill, decision-making, and finesse, her powerful yet consistent and accurate serve, her ability to move around the court even at age 34 (just look at how Lleyton limped to the end of his career). She's easily the greatest athlete of this millenium, so she's way past those athletes and should be in the Michael Jordan/Pele discussion as the greatest ever. No other athlete has been able to hone in their brilliant talents and deliver in such a dominant way for as long as Serena.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Actually Messi does play against the best multiple times a year. Yes, many of the best are on the same team as he is. But on the latest Ballon d'Or shortlist, 11 of the top 25 played in the La Liga. Messi's Barcelona also often makes the latter stages of the Champs League where they play the best in Europe twice. Messi and Ronaldo are absolutely extraordinary. But I agree that dominance in any era is the best measure of greatness. Serena's extraordinary dominance as well as coming back from form slumps and off court adversity almost certainly puts her up with the best ever. I think it's harsh to ignore Tiger. In the 17yrs between 97 and 14, he finished outside the top 5 only twice. Golf is an incredibly difficult sport to dominate as one or two shots can ruin a tournament for you. Which is why so few dominate over long periods. Phil Mickelson is probably the next best over the last 20yrs.
Dutski
Roar Guru
It's an interesting question - and to steer away from the 'sportsmanship' side of things I've taken that to mean "Has anyone consistently dominated their sport over the last 15 years like Serena has?" This sort of comparison is tricky as tennis is one of the sports where top competitors consistently come up against each other around the world. Football players, like Messi, don't play against all the other top footballers from all around the world multiple times per year, so comparisons are tricky. Then there is team success vs individual success. It's probably easier to compare golf to tennis. If Tiger's wheels hadnt fallen off he would be right up there. While I would rather watch Federer play, and I consider him a far superior tennis player, he hasn't dominated like Serena has. The only person I can think of who has been consistently considered the top (or close to it) player in their sport for such a long period would be Richie McCaw.
Chui
Guest
"Perhaps her emergence, far removed from the stereotypical tennis prodigy upbringing, and then utter domination alarmed some of the traditionalist" Their father determined that the sisters were to be professional tennis players from a very early age. Doesn't sound like a terribly different upbringing from a lot of the tennis brats.
clipper
Guest
Certainly she lays claim to be the best Women's tennis player, unfortunately the level hasn't risen to meet her unlike the men's side and so there has not been another Graf / Seles / Navratalova to compare how great she is, which is not her fault at all, she can only play whoever is on the other side. Amazing athlete, would still dominate if they had best of 5 sets, but hard to compare across other sports - how would you compare to Heather Mckay who never lost a match in 19 years of squash?
clipper
Guest
Nadal is up there with Djokovic when it comes to time wasting - he quite regularly goes over the 25 second limit between points and quite often has a opportune toilet break.
AZ_RBB
Guest
I find the "sportsperson" debate very tricky. Over the course of the past 15yrs, Serena has had relatively very few issues. Federer was known for his shocking temper during his early days. Do we look past that just because it was a long time ago? Djokovic is easily the worst when it comes to gamesmanship. Can't think of another player who wastes time and stalls as often as he does. But I can't fault Nadal. Can I hate him being too nice? I prefer to stick to objective views which is actually what this article is going for but like always, the headline doesn't accurately reflect the actual article.
Kaks
Roar Guru
The only way she would be alongside Federer is as the best woman tennis player of the era. No chance would she be in the top 3 best tennis players if we didnt look at the genders. Taking nothing away from Serena, she has dominated womens tennis. But if we are looking at this in general, an overall 'sportsperson', then in tennis alone she is beaten by Federer, Nadal, Djokovic et al.
Josh Govin
Roar Rookie
Serena Williams is the greatest ever! She still stands strong inspite of all the insults & abuses thrown at her. She has the heart of steel!
AZ_RBB
Guest
Hard to compare across sports. But she is alongside Federer as the best tennis player of the era.
The roar
Guest
Why all this silly questions asking people to comment about Williams? Some people are calling her a disgraceful loser because the media is prompting them to do so. I can remember Williams hugging & congratulating her opponents every time she wins.
Mad Max
Guest
What a joke ... of course she is NOT! She would not be in the top 30. And she's a pig of a sports person to boot.