They are respected more and it's not a good thing IMO. These girls today don't have the self-belief to beat Serena, although I can't blame them, after all it is called generation SUCK for a reason. I think most of them have seen Serena beat down Sharapova 1 to many times in the last 8 years, dating back to when they were just spectators at 13 years old. Kids are highly impressionable.
Now players like Graf, Hingis etc. truly believed (and with good reason) that they were the better player, so while they respected them as rivals, the fear wasn't there at all...
Now players like Graf, Hingis etc. truly believed (and with good reason) that they were the better player, so while they respected them as rivals, the fear wasn't there at all...
