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Serena Williams is not the best player of her generation merely because of what she wins, but rather how and why she wins:-that which she brings to the table (the sport) -she is the most talented female tennis player ever: - tennis skills sets, athleticism, mental fortitude, determination, and physique. As part of the proof that Serena Williams is the most talented female tennis player ever (TMTFTPE) I want to proffer evidence merely from the time of Serena in the earlier years on the WTA tour.
It a failure to recognize this fact that is consequential to the many follies people proffer around here and elsewhere in tennis fandom against the greatness of Serena Williams tennis game. Folks, there are rational tennis professionals (who are able to count from 1 – 22 or to 24 and who know the difference between 22 or 24 and 14), like Monica Seles, John McEnroe, Cliff Drysdale, Jon Werthiem, who have already deemed Serena Williams the greatest female tennis player ever, not merely because of her Grand Slam titles count, but in totality the nature of her game (tennis skills sets, athleticism, and physique) she brings to the sport. Moreover, even so it should be noted that there on going debates as to whether or not Serena Williams is not only the greatest female tennis player ever, but the greatest female athlete ever (ESPN Sports).
Additionally, it is a failure to recognize that Serena Williams is the most talented female tennis player ever that is consequential to realization among many fans, even some in Camp Williams Sisters, that Serena is the better of two sisters even by the year 1999, in spite of all evidence that points it. But, Serena Williams had ONE major problem during her formative years on the WTA Tour, which is the psychological problem most younger siblings suffer against an older sibling – how to beat her big sister Venus. This problem of Serena inability to get on with the beating of her older sister has help skewed the line between who is the better of the two sisters up until the 2002 season, the differences in their Grand Slam successes at the time, notwithstanding.
There can be no doubt that Venus and Serena, through their growing up, practice sessions together and their relationship, forced each other to be as good as they are. Serena, who we all now know wears her ego on her sleeves, goes into every match on the tour with the belief that she can win, except in her matches against Venus up to the year 2002. For example, at the 2001 US Open Serena played some brilliant tennis against #6 Henin, next played a barn burner of match against #3 Davenport, and next beats the World’s #1 in Hingis as if she stole her purse the day before, but lo and behold she folds up like a $3.00 suitcase in the Finals to Venus. So much so that when they met the net at the end the match Venus is heard asking Serena, “What happened?” She just was not able to produce the killer instinct against her big sisters and until she was able to do so we would never have seen the player she is today, as poster RVD points out in one of his current thread here.
Let us examine how the presence of Venus has impeded Serena’s progress during her formative years of Serena on the tour. [Note: it is the presence of Serena in the post 2001 season of their careers than has impeded Venus’s progress to much more greatness]. But first, let me lay the foundation to how really talented this women is even so as a rookie player.
Serena like Venus before never played on the tennis Junior Circuit since age 9. Nevertheless, she was enjoined to the WTA tour as Pro in 1995, played one qualifying match in that year in losing effort; did nothing on the tour in all 1996; played six qualifying matches without any tour ranking and then got an initial ranking of #448 while qualifying for the 1997 Moscow Tier 1 tournament in October 1997 where she made her first main draw, losing in R32; then increased her ranking to #304 and got entry to the main draw of the 1997 Chicago Tier II tournament, where she beats the Worlds #27, #7, and #4 ranked players, Elena Likhovtseva, Mary Pierce, and Monica Seles , respectively. In the 1998 Sydney Tier II tournament even though Serena was ranked #96 she still had to go through qualifying to the main draw. She won three qualifying matches for entry into the main draw where she beats the World’s #13 (Testud) and #3 (Davenport) only to lost to ASV in the semifinals. Serena record in qualifying matches is 9 – 4 = 69.2%.
ROOKIE SERENA WILLIAMS VS. THE WTA TOP 10:
[Note: Before Serena ever played her first Grand Slam match on the WTA tour she already beats the #7, #4 and #3 players from the top 10 of the WTA ranking, and raised her personal rankings to #53 in the world with only 20 matches (13 qualifying & 7 main draw) on the tour]. This is unprecedented!
1. In Serena first Grand Slam tournament, the 1998 Australian Open, ranked # 53 her first match is against a top 10 ranked player #9 (Spirlea). Serena wins, giving her now a total of 4 Top 10 wins. But, in the next match she is stopped by Venus.
2. Serena next Top 10 win came against #10 Spirlea at the 1998 Miami tier I tournament where she lost to #1 Hingis is tight three set match by 4-7 tie-break in the third set. Then, her next Top 10 win came at the 1998 Rome Tier I tournament where she beats #8 ranked Conchita Martinez in straight sets, only to lose in straight sets to Venus in the next match. Nevertheless, Serena next Top 10 win came at 1998 Filderstadt Tier II tournament where she beats #3 ranked Novotna. Ended the 1998 season ranked #19 with a main draw Career Win/Loss record of 29 -13 = 69% and a total of 7 different Top 10 wins. The fastest rise to the WTA Top 10 Status in the history of the rankings.
3. By the time of Finals of 1999 Miami Tier I tournament at the end of which Serena Williams first reached the WTA Top 10 status of the rankings, that which constituted the fastest rise to the WTA Top 10 Status in the history of the rankings. She puts up the first of that season’s two longest winning streaks (she had a 16 & a 15 matches win streaks in 1999); wins back to back titles at Paris and Indian Wells for maiden titles, splits two different matches with identical score lines against the established female GOAT – Steffi Graf (1 - 1 H2H); and became the lowest ranked player to win a Tier I titles while beating 3 Top 10 ranked players (including Pierce & Graf). At the time of the 1999 Indian Wells Finals Steffi Graf was on a 21 straight Finals win streak that was broken when she ran into a rookie player in the form of Serena Williams, who was suffering from right knee tendonitis):
http://youtu.be/GmPm7gJSd6g
(please pay keen attention to whole commentary of this match).
She reached a third consecutive Finals in Miami after beating 3 top 10 ranked players consecutively (#3 Seles, #9 Coetzer, #1 Hingis). But only to be stopped by Venus in the Finals for the title.
Serena Williams, while establishing the fastest raise to the WTA Top 10 of the ranking system due in part of the Quality Points features of the ranking system back then, had an unprecedented total of 14 different wins against Top 10 ranked players (#7, #4, #3, #9, #10, #8, #3, #9, #2, #8, #7, #3, #9, #1) before she reached Top 10 ranked status for the first time. Furthermore, not only did Serena wins her first Grand Slam title at the 1999 US Open while beating World’s #4, #2, and #1 ranked players, but she ended the 1999 season with a most peculiar career Head to Head record for a rookie player in the history of WTA:
3 – 3 against the World’s #1 ranked player;
3 – 1 against the World’s #2 ranked player;
3 – 0 against the World’s # 3 ranked player;
4 – 0 against the world’s #4 ranked player.
At the end of the 1999 season she was ranked # 4 with a main draw Career Win/Loss record of 71 – 20 = 78%.
By the way, Serena detractors should feel free to view this as the appropriate time to show us where and when there was ever another rookie player with a superior record at that stage in the history of the WTA.
4. Lastly, at the time of 2000 Wimbledon tournament Serena had two primary goals – win a second Grand Slam and qualify by rankings for the 2000 Sydney Olympics in singles competition. Having missed the 2000 French Open due to a knee injury she suffers at Amelia Island early in that year (the same lingering injury that leads to her having surgery in 2003), Serena in dazzling fashion drops just 13 games to the Wimbledon Semi-Finals (the fewest since Chris Evert in 1983). Only to fold up in straight sets to Venus in the Semi-Finals match. Serena cried like a baby in utmost frustration. Folks, it is at this point in time the rumors of family match fixing became the loudest, promulgated by the likes of Elena Dementieva. The rationale behind the match fixing notion was that Serena beats down the rest of tour only to lose relatively easy to Venus. And, honestly the record supported that fact, because Serena record against the rest of the WTA tour was better than Venus’s record against the rest of tour-why Serena almost always loses to Venus and could never bring her best against Venus? These rumors helped to feed into the circumstances surrounding the 2001 Indian Wells debacle. But, the match fixing notions that grew out of the results of the Williams sisters matches are preposterous, because the dynamics between a match up with Venus and Serena in the earlier years were much more than tennis.
WHEN SERENA WILLIAMS GETS AN EPIHANY THAT CHANGED HER TENNIS CAREER!
After Serena Williams had her breakthrough year on the WTA tour in 1999 she then went through a period (2000 – 2001 Canadian Open) when her talent was really questioned. She was deemed a “one Slam Wonder”. It was said that she will never become #1 ranked in the world. It was said that she will never be greater than Venus. It was said that she will never be greater than Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport. It was said that Jennifer Capriati has her number (owns her) - all which are absolutely repudiated today.
In that period of time, in which her mother Oracene once referred to Serena as her troubled child, Serena was blowing matches in which she leads, losing to players she should not have(lesser caliber players), and most importantly had a losing rivalry against Jennifer Capriati (4 straight losses). But, just about the time when Serena Williams blew 6 match points in a losing effort against Monica Seles at the 2001 Los Angeles tournament she gets an epiphany that she took with her into the 2001 Canadian Open: “I am tired of losing to lower ranked players. I want to raise my ranking because I am tired to see players who are not better than me ranked above me. I want to help Venus become #1 in the world”. And, the rest, as they say, is history.
Now, it imperative for those of you here who talks about peaks in Serena’s game to pay keen to attention to this. The Serena of the so-called 2002-2003 is really the Serena of 2001(Canadian Open) to 2003 (Wimbledon). What is most noteworthy is that in the time (1 week) between 2001 Los Angeles tournament and the 2001 Canadian Open Serena did go anywhere to get special tennis training. She did not hit the gym to lift extra weight. She did not employ the services of a Sports Psychologist. Instead, she simply flipped a switch in her head to create a mindset of determination (the part of her enormous talent called the will to win). It was Sports Illustrated’s Jon Werthiem who wrote of Serena’s will to win in the following fashion:
“[Fitness is overrated. I just spoke with Oracene Williams, Serena's reluctant coach. Unprompted, she admitted that Serena needed to improve her fitness. After this display in Melbourne, I say, "Why?" If she's in sub-optimal shape, it sure didn't show here. She never tired, even playing three-setters in heat. She got to every conceivable ball. She moved fine. And she sure didn't lack power. Granted no one else is blessed with Serena's singular game and gifts, but maybe today's players need to spend less time running sprints and more time with a sports psychologist trying to channel Serena's will to win]”. Bold added for emphasis.
After having this epiphany Serena ended the 2001 season from the beginning the Canadian Open 15 – 1(loss to Venus at the USO). In an interview she gave in Germany at the time the 2001 Tour Championship Serena Williams, having the same mindset of determination, declared her primary goal for the 2002 tennis season: “I want to be like Steffi Graf, winning all four Grand Slam titles in a year”(the calendar year Grand Slam). It was an ankle injury at the 2002 Sydney Tournament, which prevented Serena from playing in the 2002 Australian Open, and so the calendar year Grand Slam was no longer feasible in 2002. Nevertheless, upon returning to the tour after two months of injury recovery the most talented female tennis player ever provided for herself and her fans the very best next thing – “The Serena Slam”.
Finally, Serena has a 35 – 5 = 87.5% against the WTA top 10 from the time of 2001 Canadian Open to the 2003 Wimbledon after which she left the tour for 8 months on account of knee surgery. There can hardly be any reasonable doubt that Serena Williams is the most talented female tennis player we have ever seen.
It a failure to recognize this fact that is consequential to the many follies people proffer around here and elsewhere in tennis fandom against the greatness of Serena Williams tennis game. Folks, there are rational tennis professionals (who are able to count from 1 – 22 or to 24 and who know the difference between 22 or 24 and 14), like Monica Seles, John McEnroe, Cliff Drysdale, Jon Werthiem, who have already deemed Serena Williams the greatest female tennis player ever, not merely because of her Grand Slam titles count, but in totality the nature of her game (tennis skills sets, athleticism, and physique) she brings to the sport. Moreover, even so it should be noted that there on going debates as to whether or not Serena Williams is not only the greatest female tennis player ever, but the greatest female athlete ever (ESPN Sports).
Additionally, it is a failure to recognize that Serena Williams is the most talented female tennis player ever that is consequential to realization among many fans, even some in Camp Williams Sisters, that Serena is the better of two sisters even by the year 1999, in spite of all evidence that points it. But, Serena Williams had ONE major problem during her formative years on the WTA Tour, which is the psychological problem most younger siblings suffer against an older sibling – how to beat her big sister Venus. This problem of Serena inability to get on with the beating of her older sister has help skewed the line between who is the better of the two sisters up until the 2002 season, the differences in their Grand Slam successes at the time, notwithstanding.
There can be no doubt that Venus and Serena, through their growing up, practice sessions together and their relationship, forced each other to be as good as they are. Serena, who we all now know wears her ego on her sleeves, goes into every match on the tour with the belief that she can win, except in her matches against Venus up to the year 2002. For example, at the 2001 US Open Serena played some brilliant tennis against #6 Henin, next played a barn burner of match against #3 Davenport, and next beats the World’s #1 in Hingis as if she stole her purse the day before, but lo and behold she folds up like a $3.00 suitcase in the Finals to Venus. So much so that when they met the net at the end the match Venus is heard asking Serena, “What happened?” She just was not able to produce the killer instinct against her big sisters and until she was able to do so we would never have seen the player she is today, as poster RVD points out in one of his current thread here.
Let us examine how the presence of Venus has impeded Serena’s progress during her formative years of Serena on the tour. [Note: it is the presence of Serena in the post 2001 season of their careers than has impeded Venus’s progress to much more greatness]. But first, let me lay the foundation to how really talented this women is even so as a rookie player.
Serena like Venus before never played on the tennis Junior Circuit since age 9. Nevertheless, she was enjoined to the WTA tour as Pro in 1995, played one qualifying match in that year in losing effort; did nothing on the tour in all 1996; played six qualifying matches without any tour ranking and then got an initial ranking of #448 while qualifying for the 1997 Moscow Tier 1 tournament in October 1997 where she made her first main draw, losing in R32; then increased her ranking to #304 and got entry to the main draw of the 1997 Chicago Tier II tournament, where she beats the Worlds #27, #7, and #4 ranked players, Elena Likhovtseva, Mary Pierce, and Monica Seles , respectively. In the 1998 Sydney Tier II tournament even though Serena was ranked #96 she still had to go through qualifying to the main draw. She won three qualifying matches for entry into the main draw where she beats the World’s #13 (Testud) and #3 (Davenport) only to lost to ASV in the semifinals. Serena record in qualifying matches is 9 – 4 = 69.2%.
ROOKIE SERENA WILLIAMS VS. THE WTA TOP 10:
[Note: Before Serena ever played her first Grand Slam match on the WTA tour she already beats the #7, #4 and #3 players from the top 10 of the WTA ranking, and raised her personal rankings to #53 in the world with only 20 matches (13 qualifying & 7 main draw) on the tour]. This is unprecedented!
1. In Serena first Grand Slam tournament, the 1998 Australian Open, ranked # 53 her first match is against a top 10 ranked player #9 (Spirlea). Serena wins, giving her now a total of 4 Top 10 wins. But, in the next match she is stopped by Venus.
2. Serena next Top 10 win came against #10 Spirlea at the 1998 Miami tier I tournament where she lost to #1 Hingis is tight three set match by 4-7 tie-break in the third set. Then, her next Top 10 win came at the 1998 Rome Tier I tournament where she beats #8 ranked Conchita Martinez in straight sets, only to lose in straight sets to Venus in the next match. Nevertheless, Serena next Top 10 win came at 1998 Filderstadt Tier II tournament where she beats #3 ranked Novotna. Ended the 1998 season ranked #19 with a main draw Career Win/Loss record of 29 -13 = 69% and a total of 7 different Top 10 wins. The fastest rise to the WTA Top 10 Status in the history of the rankings.
3. By the time of Finals of 1999 Miami Tier I tournament at the end of which Serena Williams first reached the WTA Top 10 status of the rankings, that which constituted the fastest rise to the WTA Top 10 Status in the history of the rankings. She puts up the first of that season’s two longest winning streaks (she had a 16 & a 15 matches win streaks in 1999); wins back to back titles at Paris and Indian Wells for maiden titles, splits two different matches with identical score lines against the established female GOAT – Steffi Graf (1 - 1 H2H); and became the lowest ranked player to win a Tier I titles while beating 3 Top 10 ranked players (including Pierce & Graf). At the time of the 1999 Indian Wells Finals Steffi Graf was on a 21 straight Finals win streak that was broken when she ran into a rookie player in the form of Serena Williams, who was suffering from right knee tendonitis):
http://youtu.be/GmPm7gJSd6g
(please pay keen attention to whole commentary of this match).
She reached a third consecutive Finals in Miami after beating 3 top 10 ranked players consecutively (#3 Seles, #9 Coetzer, #1 Hingis). But only to be stopped by Venus in the Finals for the title.
Serena Williams, while establishing the fastest raise to the WTA Top 10 of the ranking system due in part of the Quality Points features of the ranking system back then, had an unprecedented total of 14 different wins against Top 10 ranked players (#7, #4, #3, #9, #10, #8, #3, #9, #2, #8, #7, #3, #9, #1) before she reached Top 10 ranked status for the first time. Furthermore, not only did Serena wins her first Grand Slam title at the 1999 US Open while beating World’s #4, #2, and #1 ranked players, but she ended the 1999 season with a most peculiar career Head to Head record for a rookie player in the history of WTA:
3 – 3 against the World’s #1 ranked player;
3 – 1 against the World’s #2 ranked player;
3 – 0 against the World’s # 3 ranked player;
4 – 0 against the world’s #4 ranked player.
At the end of the 1999 season she was ranked # 4 with a main draw Career Win/Loss record of 71 – 20 = 78%.
By the way, Serena detractors should feel free to view this as the appropriate time to show us where and when there was ever another rookie player with a superior record at that stage in the history of the WTA.
4. Lastly, at the time of 2000 Wimbledon tournament Serena had two primary goals – win a second Grand Slam and qualify by rankings for the 2000 Sydney Olympics in singles competition. Having missed the 2000 French Open due to a knee injury she suffers at Amelia Island early in that year (the same lingering injury that leads to her having surgery in 2003), Serena in dazzling fashion drops just 13 games to the Wimbledon Semi-Finals (the fewest since Chris Evert in 1983). Only to fold up in straight sets to Venus in the Semi-Finals match. Serena cried like a baby in utmost frustration. Folks, it is at this point in time the rumors of family match fixing became the loudest, promulgated by the likes of Elena Dementieva. The rationale behind the match fixing notion was that Serena beats down the rest of tour only to lose relatively easy to Venus. And, honestly the record supported that fact, because Serena record against the rest of the WTA tour was better than Venus’s record against the rest of tour-why Serena almost always loses to Venus and could never bring her best against Venus? These rumors helped to feed into the circumstances surrounding the 2001 Indian Wells debacle. But, the match fixing notions that grew out of the results of the Williams sisters matches are preposterous, because the dynamics between a match up with Venus and Serena in the earlier years were much more than tennis.
WHEN SERENA WILLIAMS GETS AN EPIHANY THAT CHANGED HER TENNIS CAREER!
After Serena Williams had her breakthrough year on the WTA tour in 1999 she then went through a period (2000 – 2001 Canadian Open) when her talent was really questioned. She was deemed a “one Slam Wonder”. It was said that she will never become #1 ranked in the world. It was said that she will never be greater than Venus. It was said that she will never be greater than Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport. It was said that Jennifer Capriati has her number (owns her) - all which are absolutely repudiated today.
In that period of time, in which her mother Oracene once referred to Serena as her troubled child, Serena was blowing matches in which she leads, losing to players she should not have(lesser caliber players), and most importantly had a losing rivalry against Jennifer Capriati (4 straight losses). But, just about the time when Serena Williams blew 6 match points in a losing effort against Monica Seles at the 2001 Los Angeles tournament she gets an epiphany that she took with her into the 2001 Canadian Open: “I am tired of losing to lower ranked players. I want to raise my ranking because I am tired to see players who are not better than me ranked above me. I want to help Venus become #1 in the world”. And, the rest, as they say, is history.
Now, it imperative for those of you here who talks about peaks in Serena’s game to pay keen to attention to this. The Serena of the so-called 2002-2003 is really the Serena of 2001(Canadian Open) to 2003 (Wimbledon). What is most noteworthy is that in the time (1 week) between 2001 Los Angeles tournament and the 2001 Canadian Open Serena did go anywhere to get special tennis training. She did not hit the gym to lift extra weight. She did not employ the services of a Sports Psychologist. Instead, she simply flipped a switch in her head to create a mindset of determination (the part of her enormous talent called the will to win). It was Sports Illustrated’s Jon Werthiem who wrote of Serena’s will to win in the following fashion:
“[Fitness is overrated. I just spoke with Oracene Williams, Serena's reluctant coach. Unprompted, she admitted that Serena needed to improve her fitness. After this display in Melbourne, I say, "Why?" If she's in sub-optimal shape, it sure didn't show here. She never tired, even playing three-setters in heat. She got to every conceivable ball. She moved fine. And she sure didn't lack power. Granted no one else is blessed with Serena's singular game and gifts, but maybe today's players need to spend less time running sprints and more time with a sports psychologist trying to channel Serena's will to win]”. Bold added for emphasis.
After having this epiphany Serena ended the 2001 season from the beginning the Canadian Open 15 – 1(loss to Venus at the USO). In an interview she gave in Germany at the time the 2001 Tour Championship Serena Williams, having the same mindset of determination, declared her primary goal for the 2002 tennis season: “I want to be like Steffi Graf, winning all four Grand Slam titles in a year”(the calendar year Grand Slam). It was an ankle injury at the 2002 Sydney Tournament, which prevented Serena from playing in the 2002 Australian Open, and so the calendar year Grand Slam was no longer feasible in 2002. Nevertheless, upon returning to the tour after two months of injury recovery the most talented female tennis player ever provided for herself and her fans the very best next thing – “The Serena Slam”.
Finally, Serena has a 35 – 5 = 87.5% against the WTA top 10 from the time of 2001 Canadian Open to the 2003 Wimbledon after which she left the tour for 8 months on account of knee surgery. There can hardly be any reasonable doubt that Serena Williams is the most talented female tennis player we have ever seen.
