As we celebrate woman’s history month, let’s take a look at one of the most accomplished female athletes in the history of sports, Serena Williams.
Earlier this year Serena Williams won her 19th singles Grand Slam Title when she defeated Maria Sharapova in straight sets in the Australian Open. With the victory, Serena is just 3 major championships away from tying Steffi Graft for the most majors by any tennis player in the Open era.
When you consider that Williams will turn 34 later this year, it’s amazing that she is still on top of her game and clearly the most dominant tennis player today. Typically, 34 is considered ancient for an athlete especially in tennis. If you look at men’s tennis, Rodger Federer who is the same age as Williams, hasn’t won a Grand Slam since 2012 and while he is still great, it’s easy to see he is not the same player he once was. However, this is not the case with Williams. As the saying goes, she ages like fine wine.
Who would have thought Williams would be in grasp of becoming the all-time Grand Slam winner when just a few years ago when she was suffering from hematoma and a pulmonary embolism and dropped to the number four ranking in the World. For some athletes, this would derail their career. But in Williams’s case, she seemed to use this as motivation to get back to dominance.
The next Grand Slam is the French Open which begins in May where Williams will be seeking her third singles French Open title. Should she capture this title and sweep the rest of this seasons majors, (Wimbledon & the US Open) she would tie the all-time mark with Graff. This would be a tall task considering Williams has never accomplished this feat in one year. But she did win four consecutive majors from 2002-2003 when she won the French Open, Wimbledon, US Open and the Australian Open. This would be known as the Serena Slam. Barring any injuries, Williams will be the favorite to win the remaining Grand Slams for this year.
Whether she sweeps the 2015 Grand Slams we’ll have to wait and see. But, her resume as it stands right now has her in the discussion of not just the greatest women’s player ever, but in the discussion of most dominate tennis player man or woman. It’s difficult comparing players from different eras as the rules and equipment have changed over the years. But it’s hard to fathom Williams not having success in any era.
Before this decade ends, we will likely see Williams career come to an end. Eventually Father Time with catch up with her as it does for all athletes. This why we need to appreciate her greatness while we still can because we know the end will eventually come. While some may not like her behavior at times, there is no mistaking that she is a once in a generation athlete who is amongst some of the greatest athletes men or women of all-time.
