Serena Williams- the greatest female athlete of all time?

In every sport, there are greats. People who dominate the sport for a period of 4-5 years.  A period when they are the undisputed number 1s in their sport. But, it is extremely unlikely that at the age of 33, more than 10 years after you first crushed every opposition, you dominate the sport once again. This is exactly what Serena has been doing the past 1 year. And this is why she is not only the best ever female tennis player, but also the greatest female athlete of all time.

When she won her first slam at Flushing Meadows as a 17 year old in 1999, defeating Kim Clijsters, Conchita Martinez, Monica Seles, Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis in succession, the world was shocked, surprised and thrilled in equal measure. Women’s tennis had an African-American champion after 40 years. 16 years and 20 grand slam titles later, she is still defeating the who’s who of women’s tennis, where as her opponents of 1999 have long gone into oblivion.

The first phase of her dominance came in 2002-03, when she held all the four slams. And the playing field included champions like Henin, Clijsters, Capriati, Hingis, Mauresmo and her sister Venus. But, all opponents were steamrolled with ridiculous ease. Serena Slam was completed.

Serena Williams has now won 20 Grand Slam singles titles

In the next 4-5 years, Serena was not at her best. She was flirting with a full time career in fashion. A And by the beginning of 2007, her ranking had come down to 81. But, despite being unseeded, she thrashed Sharapova in one of the most one sided finals in women’s tennis history to win the Australian Open.

Although she kept winning the odd slam in the next few years, but the next true period of dominance began in 2012. From 2012, she has been dominating women’s tennis in the same way as she had done a decade earlier. This, after surviving near death, and being on the wrong side of 30. And competing against a set of players who are from a different generation altogether.

Just a look at her stats will leave you stunned. In Grand slams, she has won 20 singles titles, 13 women’s doubles titles and 2 mixed doubles titles. Apart from that, 1 Olympic singles gold and 3 Olympics doubles gold. There is a saying that the true greats raise their game in the big matches and against the best opponents. Serena has won 20 out of 24 finals she contested in grand slams. And she has a 17-2, 10-1 and 8-1 head to head record against Maria Sharapova, Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic, the other 3 women to have been ranked number 1 in the last 7 years. And she has nerves of steel. 3 of her 20 victories in the finals have become while facing a match point. When Serena plays, it does not take long for the impossible to become inevitable. No one, not even the great Roger Federer can boast of such a record.

She has never been given the accolades she deserves. The one thing going against her is she is playing at a time, which is also the golden era of men’s tennis. So, every time she wins, there is also one of Nadal/Federer/Djokovic winning. And with it, Serena’s wins never gets the coverage they deserve. Even at Roland Garros this year, Wawrinka’s superb show rightly stole all the limelight. Not that any of it matters to Serena. Come Wimbledon, and after 12 years since first doing it, she may be holding all the four slams once again. And that will be the single biggest achievement in all of sports.