Stephi Graff last completed a slam in 1988 -- it's a bit like the triple crown in its rarity -- can Williams pull it off at 33 years old in New York?
She's technically the current title holder of all 4 grand slams right now (having won the last US Open). She also did this in 2003. That is just as impressive as simply winning a slam in a "calendar" year, although I'd be surprised if she doesn't win the U.S. Open. All her other competitors are just that intimidated by her now... and there's still nobody out there who can match her power and shot-making ability.
I think that Serena is the favorite for every tournament she enters. She is still beatable but always favored to win. With women's tennis the rest of the rankings don't really matter that much. Any other player can lose and upsets based upon rankings are far more common in women's tennis than in men's. I can't stand Serena though she's been a little better lately as far as being tolerable. I still hope she loses every match she plays. Her sister, Venus is one of my favorites, though. I wish she would win most of the matches she plays. The one thing I can't stand even more than I can't stand Serena is Chris Everett calling a Serena tennis match. It doesn't get more annoying than that.
hands down the greatest female tennis player i have ever seen its crazy that federer and serena were born only a few months apart from each other
http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/4963183/title/the-serena-williams-stats-you-need THE SERENA WILLIAMS STATS YOU NEED NEW YORK, NY, USA - There are a lot of numbers floating around when someone's going for this much history, so we thought we'd put them all in one place - we'll also update this after every one of her matches this fortnight. So here you are - all the Serena Williams stats you need for the US Open! Serena & Grand Slams ~ Serena is trying to win her first Calendar Year Grand Slam (only three other women all-time have accomplished the feat - Connolly in 1953, Court in 1970 and Graf in 1988) ~ Serena has the second-most Grand Slam titles in the Open Era with 21 (Graf 22) ~ Serena has the third-most Grand Slam titles all-time with 21 (Court 24, Graf 22) ~ Serena has the third-most Grand Slam match wins in Open Era with 280 (Navratilova 306, Evert 299) ~ Serena is trying to become the fourth woman in the Open Era to win five Grand Slam titles in a row (Court won six in a row once, Navratilova won six in a row once, Graf won five in a row once) ~ Serena is trying to win her seventh US Open title (wouldn't just be the first Grand Slam she'll have seven of, but also the most US Open titles for a woman in Open Era - currently tied with Evert at six) ~ This is Serena's 19th time being the No.1 seed at a Grand Slam (she's won 11 of the first 18) Serena & Finals ~ Serena is 21-4 in Grand Slam finals, the second-best winning percentage Open Era (Court was 11-1) ~ Serena has won her last eight Grand Slam finals (last loss: Stosur at 2011 US Open) ~ Serena has won her last 15 finals (last loss: Azarenka at 2013 Cincinnati) ~ Serena has won 30 of her last 32 finals (only losses: Azarenka at 2013 Doha & 2013 Cincinnati) Serena & Winning Streaks ~ Serena is on a 28-match Grand Slam winning streak (last loss: Cornet in 2014 Wimbledon 3r) ~ Serena is on a 21-match US Open winning streak (last loss: Stosur in 2011 US Open F) ~ Serena is on a 44-match US hardcourt winning streak (last loss: Azarenka in 2013 Cincinnati F) Serena & 2015 ~ Serena has won more WTA titles than anyone else this year (five) ~ Serena has won more WTA-level matches than anyone else this year (48) ~ Serena is 48-2 so far this year (only losses: Kvitova in Madrid SFs, Bencic in Toronto SFs) ~ Serena is 16-1 in three-setters this year (only loss: Bencic in Toronto SFs, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4) Serena & Age-Related Stats ~ Serena is the oldest woman to win a major in the Open Era (33y & 289d at 2015 Wimbledon) ~ Serena is the oldest No.1 in WTA history (set record when returned to No.1 on February 18, 2013) ~ Serena has the longest winning span between majors of any woman Open Era at 15 years and 10 months between 1999 US Open and 2015 Wimbledon (Evert, Navratilova and Graf had 12-year spans) ~ Serena has won eight majors since turning 30, the most after 30 by far in the Open Era (Court and Navratilova won three each, King and Evert won two each and Jones, Wade and Li won one each) Miscellaneous ~ Serena, No.1, has more than twice as many ranking points as No.2 (first time in WTA history) ~ Serena is spending her 133rd & 134th straight weeks at No.1 during the US Open fortnight (third-longest streak at No.1 in WTA history after Graf's 186 and Navratilova's 156) ~ Serena is spending her 256th & 257th career weeks at No.1 during the US Open fortnight (fourth-most weeks at No.1 in WTA history after Graf's 377, Navratilova's 332 and Evert's 260) ~ Serena has the most career prize money in WTA history ($73.3M - next-most is Sharapova's $35.8M) ~ Serena has the fifth-most WTA titles in Open Era with 69 (after Navratilova, Evert, Graf, Court) ~ Serena is the only player to qualify so far this year to qualify for the eight-woman singles event at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global (Halep and Sharapova next in line) Before & After Patrick Mouratoglou Serena joined forces with Patrick Mouratoglou after falling first round at the 2012 French Open, and the dynamic duo's numbers speak for themselves - here's a comparison of before and after Mouratoglou: Pre-Patrick Mouratoglou win-loss: 523-107 (.830) WTA titles: 41 Grand Slam titles: 13 out of 47 (.277) vs top 10: 111-59 (.653) Post-Patrick Mouratoglou win-loss: 209-15 (.933) WTA titles: 28 Grand Slam titles: 8 out of 13 (.615) vs top 10: 52-5 (.912)
Anything can happen in a long tournament like this, obviously, but it's just really tough to see any of the other women in this draw beating her unless she has a terrible off-day. Few have the weapons needed to beat her, and of the ones that do, you have players like Sharapova, who withdrew (plus Serena owns here) and Azarenka (who isn't back to 100% after a litany of injuries over the last couple of years).
Serena is chasing GOAT status, all her contemporaries have been left in the dust. she would tie Graf in slam count should she win the US Open.
womens tennis is awful. Most of these girls are mentally weak and quit their carreers way too young, because they can't handle the pressure. Many quit before they even hit their prime. Not to meniton the annoying fad of screaming that has made most matches unwatchable. Right now it's night and day with mens tennis that enjoys one of its best eras. Such a shame.
^folks like what they like, i try to resist the temptation to go in the Harden's GF thread and tell 'em it sucks. Serena is arguably the GOAT female athlete. what she's chasing is a spectacular jewel to decorate a record breaking career. kudos to you sistah girl! no forum word sounds diminishes that ...
I'm a huge tennis fan and a woman. Trust me, I would love more than anything else to be able to enjoy the wta. But more and more young talented women players quit at their early 20s. In tennis the prime years are at middle to late 20s. That's more than fair critisism so I don't get your comparison to the ludicrous Harden gf thread? And a champion, ANY champion is always judged also from their competition. Serena's competition is very weak. But she is still amazing. When she retires the wta will have nothing left any more to watch. Only screamers with low skills and mental weakness.
I don't completely disagree with you, but people say the same thing about Fed during the years he won most of his slams. You can only play who is in front of you. The amazing thing to me is Serena is a more complete player now then she was 4 years ago. She moves better and doesn't spray errors when she gets into long rallies.
Serena's talent is amazing. Her grit, determination, work, and mental attitude during the game are truly amazing. That being said, I can't stand Serena's attitude when she loses, and how she'll always claim it was because of an injury or something she did, and never gives the person that beat her credit. She'll give them credit if she beats them and they gave her a tough match. But if Serena loses, she never gives proper credit to the player that beat her. She also lies about her weight saying that she weighs 155 which is less than her sister who is much thinner than her. Serena is in top shape. She shouldn't lie about her weight. Just be honest about it. I hope that she loses every match. I really don't want to hear about her run to the grand slam any more. Though her play is deserving of the title. I just don't like her, and don't want her to win.
agree back in federer's prime, roddick, a washed up agassi, and lleyton hewitt were the best comp for fed until nadal burst unto the scene and then years later murray, and novak during that time period serena was battling the likes of clijsters, henin, davenport, venus, mary pierce, sharapova, dementieva etc who were dominant ball strikers.. so i guess it evens out, fed got won 3 slams a year againist weak, until nadal, murray, and nole came, and now serena is doing it... just happened at different time periods.
that should endear Serena to you 'cause she & Venus (to a lesser extent) are the only players from that generation still in the top 20. bigup Sharapova, the relative youngster & pure hotness! coming straight from the mind of the madman from Compton watching tennis on the telly with a dream. it was wise of Richard to insist his daughters play a reduced schedule. big part of giving it up for Serena is her remarkable endurance. in regions now previously untrod. no need to beat up on her opposition ... they're trying their best.
The discussion in this thread about top players taking advantage of weak eras reminded me of the fact that, if it hadn't been for a strange mid-career stretch where Serena seemed largely disengaged with the sport and had terrible luck with injuries, she might be pushing 30 major championships at this point. Between the 2003 US Open and the 2008 US Open, she "only" won 3 majors, by far the worst stretch of her career. Those were reasonably heady times for women's tennis- Venus was still winning majors, Sharapova was coming up, Henin and Clijsters were threats, and Mauresmo was in the middle of the best run of form in her career- but still, if Serena had been on top of her game during that time, she still would have collected at least a few trophies.
Watching Serena/Venus tonight was a lot of fun. They don't tend to have the best matches against one another (although tonight's match was of pretty good quality), but this really felt like an event. That doesn't happen all that often in tennis. Serena has a favorable draw in the semis with Roberta Vinci, so that will help after a taxing quarterfinal. As I said earlier in this thread, I don't think there is anyone in this field that can beat Serena when she's playing well, but with that being said, Azarenka and Kvitova, either of whom she could face in the final, have the ability to beat her if she has an off day. Azarenka is one of the few who genuinely doesn't seem intimidated by Serena, while Kvitova has the power to hit through her if she gets into a zone.
