Serena Declared Greatest Of All Time By S.I.

Jon Wertheim stepped in it with a Sports Illustrated cover story declaring "She's the best ever" and annointing Serena Williams as the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT) in Women's Tennis. Just last year, Roger Federer had been widely declared the GOAT in Men's Tennis after winning the French Open but has since fallen to a paltry #3 in the World rankings.

Wertheim's statement was controversial primarily because Serena is not even in the Top 5 of women with most Grand Slam singles titles.

He responds:

Wait—how can that be? Doesn't Williams still trail five players—Margaret Smith Court (24), Steffi Graf (22), Helen Wills Moody (19), Chris Evert (18) and Martina Navratilova (18)—in major singles titles, the usual benchmark for excellence? Yes, but Williams plays in a far more competitive and demanding era. (Plus, none of the others had to play her sister in a Grand Slam final.) She has also won 12 major women's doubles titles, two major mixed doubles titles and two Olympic women's doubles gold medals. She has earned Grand Slam titles on all surfaces. She has been winning them since she was 17.

The Busted Racquet blog took on Wertheim's claim and came up with following list:

10. Justine Henin — Seven Grand Slams, 43 titles, 82% win percentage

9. Evonne Goolagong — Seven Grand Slams, 68 titles, 81% win

8. Venus Williams — Seven Grand Slams, 43 titles, 80.5% win

7. Monica Seles — Nine Grand Slams, 53 titles, 83% win

6. Billie Jean King — 12 Grand Slams, 84 titles, 82.2% win

5. Serena Williams — 13 Grand Slams, 37 titles, 80% win

4. Margaret Court — 24 Grand Slams, 92 titles, 91% win (unofficial)

3. Chris Evert — 18 Grand Slams, 157 titles, 90% win

2. Steffi Graf — 22 Grand Slams, 107 titles, 88.7% win

1. Martina Navratilova — 18 Grand Slams, 167 titles, 86.8% win

I must say that I agree with this list, especially the Top 5. For me, Martina Navratilova will always be the best player ever, and I'm happy to see her namesake, Martina Hingis denied the Top 10.

WIMBLEDON 2010: Serena Wins Lucky 13th

Serena Williams defeated Vera Zvonareva 6-3 6-2 to win her 4th Wimbledon title, 13th major title and 2nd grand slam title of the year. In a high quality, but rarely competitive match, Serena out-served, out-hit and out-moved her Russian opponent, erasing memories of her shocking loss to Maria Sharapova here six years before. By claiming her 13th major title, Serena moved to #6 on the all-time women's singles titles list, with only the truly greats of the game ahead of her at 18 (Americans Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert). In the modern open era, Steffi Graf is at the top with 22 major singles titles from 1987-1999.

Serena is 28 years old and has won 5 of the last 8 major titles (2008 US Open, 2009 Australian Open, 2009 Wimbledon, 2010 Australian Open and 2010 Wimbledon). She has a very good chance of repeating that effort over the next two years to at least tie her countrywomen at 18.
Interestingly, she only had to face her sister Venus (who is already 30 years old) twice in a major in that time period and won once.

How many do you think Serena will end her career with?

Serena Williams Now #1 for 100 Weeks

Serena Williams has become the 7th player to spend 100 weeks at #1, following in the footsteps of other players such as Steffi Graf (377), Martina Navratilova (332), Chris Evert (260), Martina Hingis (209), Monica Seles (178) and Justine Henin (117).

There have been 19 players to ever hold the World #1 ranking since 1975. Serena's sister, currently ranked at #4 has spent 11 weeks at #1.

Celebrity Friday: Martina Navratilova

Martina Navratilova, probably the greatest player male or female to ever play the game of tennis, announced this week that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The prognosis of the 53-year-old living legend is good since she has a noninvasive form of the disease, called ductal carcinoma in situ or DCIS.

Navratilova said she had not intended to go public, but realized that she could do a lot of good letting people know about her condition and the treatment options.

Good luck, Martina!

FRENCH OPEN 2009: Kuznetsova Wins 2nd Major Title

Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Dinara Safina 6-4 6-2 to win her second major title, the 2009 French Open, in Paris on Saturday. Safina is the World #1 and will remain there on Monday. She has appeared in 3 major finals, 2008 French Open, 2009 Australian Open and the 2009 French Open and lost all 3. She also lost the Gold Olympic medal match to Elena Dementieva in Beijing in August 2008.

Kuznetsova won the 2004 US Open and lost the 2006 French Open final and the 2007 US Open finals to Justine Henin. She is now at 2-2 in major finals, with a surprising 11 wins and 18 losses overall in WTA tour finals.

On to Wimbledon!