Periodically in sports we find a team or an individual player that dominates their respective sport and we’re seeing that right now in women’s tennis with Serena Williams. This past Saturday, Williams defeated Garbine Muguruza to win her sixth Wimbledon Title. The Wimbledon victory by Williams was her 21st Grand Slam Championship and she only trails Margaret Court and Steffi Graf on the all-time win’s list for most Grand Slam Titles by a female tennis player. Williams has won the last four Grand Slam Tournaments and she’s completed the “Serena Slam” as far as winning four consecutive Grand Slam events for the second time of her career. And if Williams is able to win the U.S. Open this September, she’ll become the first female tennis player since Graf in 1988 to win all four Grand Slam Tournaments in a calendar year.
Williams is doing this while she has a huge bullseye on her back. Williams has been so dominant that she sometimes doesn’t get the credit that she fully deserves and because of that and her age of 33, her critics are quick to jump on any minute notion of faltering. But Williams hasn’t given her detractors an opportunity to criticize her this season as she hasn’t lost and in the process she’s continued to solidify her position as the top female player on the Women’s Tennis Association circuit although she doesn’t get the full credit that she deserves. In previous eras of women’s tennis, rivals such as Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert pushed each other to be top player of their era. But in this current era of tennis, Williams has been so dominant that she makes good players look ordinary. Maria Sharapova is currently ranked second in the world behind Williams. But in head-to-head competition, Sharapova is just 2-17 versus Williams including losing in straight sets last Thursday in the semifinals at Wimbledon.
Williams will be 34-years old in September and I don’t see her walking away from tennis until she surpasses Court for the most Grand Slam Championships in women’s tennis history. Ever since Williams turned pro in 1995 and won her first Grand Slam Championship in 1999 at the U.S Open, she’s been out for greatness. Williams was quickly able to emerge from the shadow of her older sister Venus who is a good tennis player in her on right and now she’s out to re-write the record books. What Williams is currently doing doesn’t come down the pike that often and as she’s revered off of the tennis court, she should be doubly respected off of it.
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