#360debate: Is Serena Williams the best woman tennis player ever?

Sport360 staff 02:26 08/06/2015
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  • French champion: Serena.

    On Sunday, Serena Williams claimed the 20th Grand Slam singles title of her tennis career putting her second to only Steffi Graf in the Open Era.

    Having moved past the likes of Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King for number of titles won, her eyes are now firmly fixed on Graf’s record of 22.

    At Wimbledon next month, she has a chance to close that gap and hold all four Grand Slam titles at once for the second time in her career—a so-called ‘Serena Slam’. She is already halfway to a calendar year Grand Slam in 2015—one of the few feats still missing from her golden CV.

    Our #360debate today is: Is Serena Williams the best woman tennis player ever?

    Alex Rea, Reporter, thinks YES.

    Just how do you define the greatest of all time? What are the qualifications needed to be considered? It’s all conjecture really and it’s difficult to determine but what you can be sure of is that Serena will tick a lot of boxes no matter the requirements.

    A warrior-like fighting spirit. Check. A boat load of majors. Check. A complete domination of her era. Check. Serena has it all and deservedly enters the conversation of G.O.A.T but the argument may already be over.

    Examine those three points and it will tell you more about Williams than any other number or stat.

    First, her longevity is almost alien like. She’s won slams in her teens, twenties and thirties and is actually getting better. With more experience under her belt, she’s becoming even harder to beat. Serena’s mentality is something to marvel and even through personal hardship she has triumphed.

    2011 was the nadir when she suffered a haematoma and pulmonary embolism, there wasn’t a guarantee she’d ever play to the same dizzying heights again. That came after surgery on a foot problem too. Yet, she’s won six majors since and became the oldest player to hold the No 1 ranking.

    Many will use Steffi Graf’s 22 slam successes as a stick to beat down any argument but scrutinize that too and the horrific stabbing of Monica Seles in 1993 aided her dominance. The Hungarian never recaptured her dazzling early form and with her struggles, Graf prospered. 

    While being very high on the list for majors plundered is important, it’s not the whole story. Numbers never paint the full picture but even that target is in Serena’s crosshairs. So examine the last point and that eliminates any doubt.

    Maria Sharapova is the current No 2 and can be considered one of the most successful women of the modern era. But just look at her head-to-head record against Serena. The Russian has wrestled just one set off her in the last five years and hasn’t even beaten Williams since 2004; a run of 16 successive defeats. 

    It’s not just Sharapova because Williams has beaten generations of opponents and that’s why she is the G.O.A.T.

    Reem Abulleil, Reporter, thinks NO.

    When it comes to comparing players from different eras in tennis, things tend to get tricky. Technology, equipment and even the physical abilities of players have drastically changed the way the game is being played, particularly over the past 10 to 15 years.

    So claiming that someone is the greatest ever always comes with many reservations and the only safe way to back up a statement like that is by relying on numbers and fall back on the old adage that ‘stats don’t lie’.

    Which is why I find it hard to give Serena the title of greatest of all time when someone like Steffi Graf has won more majors – she is two ahead of the American – and has achieved the Grand Slam, something Serena is yet to accomplish.

    Graf didn’t just win all four grand slams in 1988, she won Olympic gold that year and the doubles title at Wimbledon, and ended up winning five majors in a row having picked up the Australian Open to kick off 1989.

    While Williams’ dominance, and at such an age, is awe-striking, Graf had a period when she was just steamrolling everyone.

    Jana Novotna recently told Sport360 in an interview that there was a time when players would go around the locker room celebrating a 6-1, 6-2 defeat to Graf just because they escaped a double bagel.

    Someone like Martina Navratilova can also make a claim for the greatest ever title. While Serena has passed Navratilova’s tally of 18 singles grand slams, it’s important to note that Navratilova won 31 doubles trophies in majors at the same time she was collecting all those singles crowns.

    While Williams, who has not played regularly since going pro 20 years ago, has now won 67 tour titles, tying Billie Jean King, she remains 100 behind Navartilova’s total tally.

    Another important argument against Serena is her on-court attitude. She must be lauded for her fighting abilities but dropping F-bombs during her matches, threatening line judges and attacking umpires is not behaviour you’d necessarily want associated with the greatest of all time.

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