After winning her Open-Era record-tying 22nd Grand Slam Title in an entertaining, closer-than-it-seemed 7-5 6-3 win over Angelique Kerber, Serena Williams has firmly ensconced herself as the Greatest Women's Tennis Player of All Time. Chrissie Evert said it best on the ESPN Broadcast, "She was always the greatest player of all time. Now she has the results to match." This is very true. SErena Williams pure talent, physicality and brilliance was always at a different level than any other player who has ever played women's tennis. Now she does have the results commensurate of the Greatest of All Time.
Serena Williams has all the skills needed. She has the best serve probably ever in women's tennis, able to run through service games against 90% of all opponents without nearly a worry. She has the hardest groundstrokes and an underrated ability to place and move the ball, a hidden nuance behind her brilliant brutality. She moves better than she should given her physicality. She is emotionally stronger than basically all players. All of this easily adds up to the best of all time, but her real secret has been her longevity.
Nearly as amazing as her 22 Slam Titles, is that they have come across 17 years (starting with her win in the '99 US Open, she has gone 17 full slam years - 68 titles - between her 22 wins). Beyond the 17 years is the fact that she has won 9 of those titles after turning 30 in 2011. Her longevity was necessary to accomplish these incredible feats, and a sign of her true dominance. She started her career as Steffi Graf ended hers, and is now winning against players who were barely 5-10 years old when it started.
Women's tennis has long been burdened with burnouts of talented players. So many players of Serena's career came and went quickly, reaching highs that could come close to matching Serena, but never lasting. Looking back over her 17 years, the reams of players that came close to the sun, from true greats like Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, to flavor of the weeks like Elena Dementieva or Petra Kvitova, or Amalie Mauresmo. Serena has outlasted them all, and what is the biggest credit might be the fact that she did seem to waver away from the game for a while.
Early Serena, the player who won the Serena Slam - winning 4 straight majors from the '02 French through the '03 Australian Open - was so much better than the field it was almost unfair. Then, suddenly, it seemed to go away. The mid-00's for Serena Williams was an incredibly interesting period in retrospect. She battled injuries, illness, and a host of outside interests from modeling to fashion to business, going the way of a global star instead of a global star athlete.
Remarkably, during this time, she managed to win only 2 of 20 majors from the '03 US Open through the '08 Wimbledon title. 2 of 20! In ostensibly what would be her prime, from 22 through 27, she missed five slams, lost before the QFs six times, and won only twice. Her wins were seen as complete flukes in a way, both in Australia coming in as an underranked player who blasted her way to titles. Then, something seemed to change.
She won 8 of her next 20 slams, going 8-1 in Finals in that time. Against a new set of players, a new set of challengers, she was better than ever as she approached, reached and crossed 30. Serena Williams incredible comeback is truly remarkable, but you have to wonder whether her dalliance outside of the game, and the injuries that took away months of mileage on her body in her mid-20's helped her keep the passion and intensity through her 30s.
Serena Williams 22 majors has firmly cemented her place as the Greatest of All Time, a title she rightfully earned by fighting off the challenges of most women's tennis players, and continuing to use her god-given skills with her peerless work ethic to accomplish more than any player ever. n a way, it is surprising she ever loses, but the variety and generations of players that were able to beat her show again why Serena was so good. At various times, people could take her on and beat her, but those periods, those windows were incredibly brief. Before long, they would go away, and Serena would go on winning and winning her way to 22 and beyond.
