Yes, Serena Williams is awesome. But where are the players to test her?
The last few weeks have seen so many pieces on Serena Williams' supremacy and her credentials as a member of the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) club that if you didn't agree with the declaration you'd be deemed stupid. There is no qualm in acknowledging that there won't be another athlete and competitor like Williams in women's tennis. For a long time. What cements Serena's status as a one-of-a-kind sportsperson is how she, and even her older sister Venus Williams, redefined women's tennis with their entry - Venus in 1994 and Serena the following year.
They came when Steffi Graf was in her twilight years. Serena won her first grand slam, the US Open, in 1999, the year Graf won her last and also retired. It was the era of Martina Hingis, who conquered the court with her intelligent shot-making and fantastic spatial awareness. In their formative years, apart from Hingis, their biggest competitors included Jennifer Capriati, who was a crowd favourite with her fairytale comeback, and Lindsay Davenport, whose serve was a lethal weapon.
What the Williams did was change the way the game was played and ultimately seen. It became all about power play. Shots were struck with such force and came at such speed that you'd be amazed. The serve was impossible to return, the ball almost a blur as it raced past. By 2000, when the Sisters started asserting their dominance, there was no denying that the emphasis on the physical quotient had multiplied. How do you combat the might of the Williams Sisters? It was a question that haunted many of the players. While Venus has faded away with age, when it comes to Serena it still bamboozles many.
That Serena, who is now 33, still possesses many of the talents of her youth and in fact has even strengthened existing aspects of her game - her serve and retrieving skills - are further proof of how we are witnessing a true legend amidst us. Roger Federer is one. Usain Bolt is another. Lin Dan is too. Michael Schumacher will always be one. But where are the women sport icons? That's where Serena steps in.
It is pointless to question Serena Williams' achievements but in the last few years she has also been aided by one of the least competitive, and even least talented, fields in women's tennis. Her biggest opponents are not consistent (Petra Kvitova, Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska), not the same after injury (Victoria Azarenka) and some totally demoralised (Maria Sharapova, who hasn't been able to beat her since 2004). The ones who gave her a good run for her money weren't able to keep up with her, their bodies failing them. How badly does the WTA miss a player like Justine Henin, who gave fans joy and hope, however brief, with her sublime single-handed backhand? When the Williams Sisters were considered invincible, it was the Belgian duo of Henin and Kim Clijsters who demonstrated that it wasn't impossible to fluster the two.
Where are the Clijsters and Henins? There were times when Li Na and Amelie Muaresmo could also be counted on as formidable adversaries. But right now women's tennis just doesn't have a player who has the physical, mental and more importantly intellectual abilities to outclass Serena. Whereas the men's tennis is going through one of its most creative spells with Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka ruling the sport, and rising stars in Grigor Dimitrov, Marin Cilic, Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic and David Goffin, there are barely any players in women's tennis who one can with certainty proclaim as a future star of the game. Look at the current roster and there is hardly anyone who stands a chance to stop Serena from achieving the stupendous feat of winning all four grand slams in a year - last achieved by Steffi Graf in 1988.
Belinda Bencic, one of only two players to defeat Serena this year in a competitive match, is a Swiss player who has shown signs that she can be counted as a future star. Can she do what her compatriot Roger Federer did 14 years ago when as a 19-year-old he defeated Pete Sampras at Wimbledon, ending his 31-match winning run at his favourite grand slam? Bencic is only a year younger and has done it before. So why nor bank on her? But then there is Serena. A league apart, a player who has her eyes focused on making history, yet again. The only way Serena can be defeated is if the occasion gets to her and the game falls apart. Given that the US Open is her home slam and she has won the last three editions, something tells us it's unlikely to happen.