Impact of Serena Williams' girl power will reverberate for decades to come | Michael Arace
Serena Williams on Tuesday announced that she will “transition” away from tennis after the U.S. Open, which begins at the end of this month.
With the announcement, the GOAT discussion went into full roar. And when it comes to the greatest women’s tennis player of all time, there is no clear answer. It’s an argument that began with Suzanne Lenglen and Helen Wills Moody in the 1920s and 1930s, continued through Maureen Connolly’s mid-century heyday and went right on roiling through the end of the last century. It roils yet.
Australian Margaret Court won more Grand Slam singles titles (24) than any woman, ever. Court also holds the record with 64 major titles, including 19 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles and 21 mixed doubles titles. Yet, even with a Grand Slam sweep in 1970, her GOAT argument carries an asterisk: Half her career was played prior to the Open Era, which began in 1968.
Germany’s Steffi Graf had the greatest sustained concentration of power. Graf won each major – Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open – at least four times. No other woman, or man, has done that. From 1987-99, when she retired at age 30 as the No. 3-ranked woman in the world, she won 107 singles titles (third most in the Open era), 22 major singles titles and spent a record 377 weeks at No. 1 in the world – including a record 186 weeks at No. 1.
Martina Navratilova, who defected from Czechoslovakia and now holds dual American and Czech citizenship, has a trophy case that might be second only to Court’s. In her prime, Navratilova was ranked No. 1 in singles for 332 weeks (second only to Steffi) − and No. 1 in doubles for 237 weeks (second to no one). She won her first major in 1974. She won her last major, a mixed doubles title at the 2006 U.S. Open, just prior to her 50th birthday.
I would be remiss if I did not jam Chris Evert’s name into this list.
Williams’ resume is like an amalgam of all of them.
Williams’ 23 singles majors are more than any other woman in the Open Era. She also has 14 major doubles titles (playing with her big sister, Venus).
She won her first major, the 1999 U.S. Open, four days before her 18th birthday. She won her last major, the 2017 Australian Open, at age 35. In between, she had a six-year run where she won 10 of 17 majors.
She spent 319 weeks as the No. 1-ranked player in the world and 186 consecutive weeks at No. 1, tying Graf’s record.
Is Williams’ the GOAT? That seems to be a secondary consideration when considering the legacy she will leave. It is a legacy she will add to until her time on this earth comes to an end.
From Wills Moody, who shocked the establishment by wearing knee-length skirts, through Billie Jean King, who fought for equal pay, through Navratilova, a proud lesbian and LBGQT activist, women tennis players have pushed their sport, and our culture, progressively forward.
Williams has carried the load into the 21st century.
In her words, “I’d like to think that thanks to opportunities afforded to me, women athletes feel that they can be themselves on the court. They can play with aggression and pump their fists. They can be strong yet beautiful. They can wear what they want and say what they want and kick butt and be proud of it all.”
Thank you, Serena.
Williams is stepping away the game primarily to grow her family − her 5-year old daughter, Olympia wants a big sister – and secondarily to grow her venture-capital company, which targets aspiring female- and minority-run businesses.
Her announcement came in the form of an article she dictated to Vogue magazine. It is a terrific piece. Each paragraph has the power of her serve, which may be the greatest in the history of her sport.
Take the second paragraph:
Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family. I don’t think it’s fair. If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family. Maybe I’d be more of a Tom Brady if I had that opportunity. Don’t get me wrong: I love being a woman, and I loved every second of being pregnant with Olympia. I was one of those annoying women who adored being pregnant and was working until the day I had to report to the hospital — although things got super complicated on the other side. And I almost did do the impossible: A lot of people don’t realize that I was two months pregnant when I won the Australian Open in 2017. But I’m turning 41 (on Sept. 16), and something’s got to give.
On behalf of my daughters, and their daughters, and their granddaughters and so on, and on, thank you, Serena.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Is Serena Williams the GOAT? Is that the right question here?
