When it comes to assessing which tennis legend stands above the rest as the greatest to ever grace the court, there is plenty of room for debate. All tennis players and fans of the sport have spent countless hours debating the merits of the true legends to determine which is truly the best tennis player.
Is it Andy Murray? Boris Becker? Steffi Graf? Martina Navratilova? Roger Federer? The correct answer may well be none of the above. The best tennis player in history may well be the most famous in the world right now – Serena Williams. Here’s why.
The Numbers
If we are going to describe an athlete as the greatest of all time, it’s best to start with the numbers. It is perhaps worth noting, first off, that her odds for the biggest tennis event on the calendar, the French Open, are not looking so hot.
According to the latest French Open odds, Serena is on a mere 14/1 shot of winning the women’s singles, trailing behind the likes of Simona Halep and Iga Swiatek. Despite this, we believe that the best place to look is her record rather than her future odds.
Serena has a staggering 23 Grand Slam victories, more than any other active tennis player in the world. She has held a total of 72 World Tennis Association titles, including a jaw-dropping 186 consecutive weeks ranked as the WTA’s top player.
The 39-year-old played and won her most recent Grand Slam while pregnant and holds the most titles ever from both the Australian Open and the US Open (but not the French Open, interestingly enough). She also has the second-highest number of female Wimbledon titles in history, losing out to Martina Navratilova for the top spot.
She has also won the coveted title of Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year award and has topped numerous polls as America’s most beloved athlete. When you take these numbers together, it’s clear that few can compare to Serena Williams.
What Her Peers Think
When assessing the merits of Serena Williams’ fascinating career, it is better to look for advice than from her sporting peers. Roger Federer, arguably the single greatest male tennis player to have ever lived, has repeatedly referred to Williams as the greatest player of all time, noting especially that, unlike many other top players, Serena started from nothing and did not have the luxury of a private tennis coach growing up.
Meanwhile, her long-time rival Maria Sharapova, who has a well-documented and years-long feud with Williams, has nonetheless been graceful enough to admit that Serena is the best player she has ever gone up against.
Finally, let’s see what a more biased source has to say: her older sister, Venus Williams, herself a former Tennis world champion. Venus has described her sister as the “best competitor in the game” on numerous occasions and has said that her sister is the only person she is afraid to play against. You can’t get a much better endorsement than that.
It is clear that few can hope to hold a candle against Serena Williams. Let us know if you agree!
The assertion made by the witer is wrong. she can only be described as the “greatest tennis player” if you exclude men from that description. It would be good if the writer were to respond and confirm that she does not include men in her description of comparable tennis players, or just simply state that serena is the greatest female tennis player, which could be a more accurate statement.
i’m not shouting but this site doesn’t allow lower case.
greatest tennis player? Look at the stats? really? Her stats do not include any matches against men. Would she beat Nadal or Djokovic? would she beat any senior atp player given she was threashed by karsten brasch (203) in 1998. how can she be rated the Greatest if there are 700 men who could beat her, 100 of which would beat her to love.
Even greatest woman player is in doubt. Margaret Court has won more slams, two of them as a mother (Kim Klijsters has also won a slam as a mother). steffi graf arguably had a stronger field of competition where any of half a dozen opponents could have won slams. todays training, diet, equipment, medical and psychological support etc. are all vastly superior to even 25 years ago. one wonders how sw would fair against Margaret Court with a wooden racquet.