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Serena Williams pulls out of US Open; Will be hard-pressed to live up to SI’s “greatest ever” claim
Serena Williams, the best player of her generation, will not be playing in this year’s US Open – the last of tennis’s four major grand slam championships this year.
The 28-year-old star, winner of three US Opens and 13 grand slam singles titles overall, is recovering from surgery to repair cuts on her right foot and said in a statement: “It is with much frustration and deep sadness that I am having to pull out of the U.S. Open. My doctors have advised against my playing so that my foot can heal.”
She called missing the tournament “one of the most devastating moments of my career.”
Serena reportedly was hurt by a broken glass at a restaurant while she was in Munich last month – shortly after winning her fourth Wimbledon singles title and before playing in an exhibition match against defending US Open champion Kim Clisters that drew a tennis-record crowd of 35,681 in Brussels on July 8.
Serena, who had surgery in Los Angeles on July 15, has participated in the last 16 major tournaments. The last one she missed was Wimbledon in 2006. Both of her titles this season came at major championships: the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
Serena’s two slam titles this year brought her total to 13 and put her in sixth place on the all-time list of female grand slam winners behind Margaret Court (24) Steffi Graf (22), Helen Wills Moody (19) and Chris Evert (18) and Martina Navratilova (18).
For some bizarre reason, her most recent Wimbledon win led to Sports Illustrated’s tennis writer, Jon Wertheim, to proclaim, in a cover story, that Serena is already “the greatest player of all time.”
I used to think Wertheim could not be touched as a tennis writer and expert but this ludicrous cover story and the flimsy evidence he used to back up his claim really damaged his credibility. You wonder if he had an editor!
The most ridiculous paragraph was this:
Irreverent as it sounds, if you matched tennis’s female legends head-to-head- all at their best, with identical equipment – Williams wouldn’t just beat the others, she would crush them. Graf’s scythelike slice backhand? Williams would bend her knees and tee off on it. Evert’s consistency? Serena would simply overpower Chrissie. Navratilova’s attacking game? Williams would whistle returns by the peerless serve and volleyer before she got to the net. Plus, there has never been a player of Serena’s mental toughness, a refusal to lose that kicks in even in emotional matches against Venus, her sister and best friend.
C’mon!
We’ll never be able to see these matches since only Graf got to play Serena and they went 1-1 in her final year on tour, a year that saw Graf win her sixth French Open title and 22 grand slam title overall. Graf won the grand slam in 1988 as well as the Olympic Gold Medal that year and won three slam titles or more in a single year in five different seasons. Navratilova won three slams – and six in a row – in 1983 and 1984. Serena has achieved this once, in 2003 and by winning in Australia in 2004, achieved what was called “The Serena Slam.”
Another silly statement: Serena plays in a far more competitive and demanding era.
Really? I might agree more if Maria Sharapova, who beat Serena in the 2004 Wimbledon final and also won the 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open, had not spent so much time off the tour with injury. Or if seven time grand slam champion Justine Henin, conqueror of Serena at the 2003 and 2007 French Opens, had not retired for two years at her peak. Or if Kim Clisters not left the game for three years to get married and have a baby. Still, she was able to return and in just her second tournament back, beat Serena in the semifinals to win last year’s US Open. Or if former number one Martina Hingis, winner of five grand slam titles, not retired from the game prematurely. Ditto Jennifer Capriati, winner of three grand slam crowns and conqueror of Serena at the French Open and Wimbledon in 2000 and at the US Open in 2003. Or if Monica Seles, winner of nine grand slams, been able to regain top form after being stabbed in the back by a crazed fan. Or if other current and past top players – including former number ones Dinara Safina, Ana Ivanavic and Jelena Jankovic – still had the nerves to compete at a top level.
Also in this more “demanding” era, such players as Svetlana Kutzenova, Francesca Schiavone, Anastasia Myskina, have managed to be one or two slam wonders. It was also during Serena’s era – in 2006 – that Amelie Mauresmo was finally able to reach her potential by winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
Serena’s most consistent rival has been her older sister, five-time Wimbledon and two-time US Open champ Venus Williams. The sisters have faced off eight times in the finals of a grand slam tournament with Serena holding a 6-2 edge. The SI writer maintains that Serena has had it tougher than past champions because she has had to beat her sister to win nearly half of her slams. But she has managed to dominate Venus much of the time and I would not say facing her sister is more daunting than it was for Graf to face Seles (they were 3-3 in slam finals) or Evert to face Navratilova (they were 10-4 in slam finals in favor of Martina yet both managed to win 18 slam singles titles.
Serena also does not compete well in non-slam events. This year, she has won exactly two tournaments: Australian Open and Wimbledon. In 2009, she won the same two titles and the year-end championships. In all, she has won 37 titles in her career, 13 of which are grand slams. In comparison, Graf won 107 singles titles, Evert won 157 and Navratilova a whopping 167.
Wertheim also uses doubles to boost is claim. Serena has a very impressive with 12 slam doubles titles with Venus as well as two Olympic Gold Medals plus two slam mixed doubles crowns. But Navratilova has her beat in that category with 31 women’s doubles slams and another 10 in mixed doubles.
The doubles argument is even more ridiculous when you consider that the great Billie Jean King, who with 12 has only one fewer grand slam singles titles than Serena and has 18 women’s doubles and 11 mixed doubles titles at the four majors.
The article was so disrespectful of the past champions who have accomplished more than Serena has so far and insulting to fans who follow the game and have any sense of history.
At 28, time will tell if Serena will be at the level of Steffi, Chrissie and Martina but the reality is, she’s just not there yet.
Comments
(All comments are reviewed before being published, and I review submissions several times per day.)
Mike says:
This is a shame, I’ll probably skip he women’s side all together as I have to be honest, I only like Serena on the WTA side the rest of the women are just a huge yawn to follow IMO.
As for her being the “greatest ever” I would say of her generation, the GOAT title is thrown around way too easy these days, just like that alleged rivalry of hers and Sharapova, which never was.
Get well Serena!!
RJ says:
Great analysis, Greg! I think YOU should the tennis writer for SI.
Mike says:
I don’t think Jon’s article is as flimsy as you make it to be. I actually agree with the a lot of the section you touted as the silliest lol. I agree with you that at the end of the day Graf, Court, Navratilova and Evert are way ahead of Serena measuring by the ‘most accepted’ means – # of slams and time spent at #1. However, Jon’s article brings up some very good points. Inter-generational comparisons of athletes is generally difficult as a result of other factors e.g., technology. The athletes today in most sports are better than the ones from previous generation. Given the same conditions, it’s hard to say how a player from a prior generation would fare with current players. Nonetheless from today’s vantage point Serena’s skills compare very favorably against any of those more accomplished female champions – and this is the point Jon was trying to make (of course he did it in an outlandish way to generate controversy). The serve is the most important shot in tennis and Serena’s serve is the best ever hands down. Again, who knows what Navratilova’s serve could have been if she grew up during the same period, but she didn’t and from judging serving technique, placement, power and serving under pressure, Serena is the best. I’d give Graf the edge in forehand. While Evert had the most reliable backhand, Serena has way more power and Serena’s backhand is better than Graf’s or Navratilova’s. Jon also has a very good point about the competition. While you point out that many of Serena’s competitors have been up and down, she has had more formidable competitors than Graf or Navratilova. Till the current generation of female players, the top players were head and shoulders above the rest of the field. Serena has played against way more Hall of Famers than any of the other greats did. She has played against Hingis, Capriati, Davenport, Mauresmo, Venus, Sharapova, Henin who are all future Hall of Famers and overlapped with some of Graf’s contemporaries like Monica Seles, Sanchez Vicario etc. Of course, the counter argument is that someone like Seles is the equivalent of a few of Serena’s contemporaries put together … but of course Graf benefited immensely from Seles being stabbed.
Anyhow, I’m writing all this to say that if you put aside your point of view for a bit and be open to the counter argument, I think you could see some merit in the argument – even if you don’t agree. I definitely don’t agree with Jon’s ‘crowning’ of Serena as the greatest ever but I see some merit in some of the points he brings up. Even if the skills-based head-to-head argument is tenuous and more open to debate than championships and dominance, it is an interesting argument worthy of some consideration
James Whiddon says:
To say that Serena would crush Graf in her prime is ridiculous.
Henin has a winning record against Serena and beaten her at the majors, and yet Henin is smaller and less talented than Graf was in her prime.
How on earth can anyone with any brains claim that Serena is the best ever??
James Whiddon says:
To Mike,
Graf also played against Hingis, even beating her for the French Open title causing her to cry!
Grag also played against Davenport, beat her at the French open. She played against Capriati, Navratilova, Evert, Seles, and even beat Venus at Wimbledon her last year on tour!
Graf had hall of fame competition, while Serena’s main competition has been missing in action.
Also, Serena has not won the French open once.
It’s not even an argument.
Carlo Quidlat says:
Great analysis Greg! As for Mike, the talk about serve is futile. If anything, it even proves why Navratilova is a better server. Have you handled the old Yonex racquets that Martina used? I have. And suffice it to say those old Yonex racquets are “heavy” and have rather “small” swee spot. But despite those technical disadvantages, Navratilova has been known to consistently serve at more than 100 mph! It’s not just the power; her lefty serve & serve placement made her play her style for the longest time. She wouldn’t have had that much success if her serving wasn’t good. Imagine giving Navratilova the “modern” racquet and the “modern” techinique of serving and approach to training. She would easily beat Serena. Besides, Martina’s first volley placement (after a succesfull first serve) was always placed well that opponents leave a very big open court. Now, the power that Serena delivers on the run would only help Navratilova with her volleys. She’ll just used the pace to volley the ball to the open court. Based from experience, it’s easier to volley off a powerful ground stroke than if you were to provide your own pace in trying to punch a volley. Lastly, it’s the intangible that Martina has over Serena. Martina is “aggressive” in nature wheras Serena is not. Too many times, Serena is afraid to go to the net and is just content bashing power groud strokes. Martina’s relentless attack would pressure Serena into endless errors. Serena hasn’t faced an attacker like Navratilova yet. Navratilova has never been bothered by pace. In fact, why did Navaratilova continue beating younger, powerful players like Graf & Seles at age 36 in 1993? eVEN PAST HER PRIME, mARTINA SHOWED AS A GLIMPSE OF WHAT SHE COULD DO AGAINST THE MODERN GAME. HECK, EVEN AT 46, SHE DEFEATED A YOUNG BASELINER AT WIMBLEDON AND TOOK POWER HITTER GISELA DULKO TO 3 SETS. AT EASTBORNE THAT YEAR (2003), SHE TOOK HANTUCHOVA TO 3 SETS AS WELL. MARTINA HAD WAY TOO MUCH GAME & STRATEGY FOR THE ONE DIMENSIONAL POWER GAME OF SERENA PERIOD.