Serena done for the year

[Rabbit]

Serena is a lock for the Hall of Fame. That said, the company she's keeping on the Grand Slam list isn't the top of the heap. She's currently tied with Evonne Goolagong, Maria Bueno, and Dorothea Chambers. She's way behind Margaret Court with 24, Steffi Graf with 21, and Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova with 18.

I liken her current situation to Navratilova's shortly after she defected to the United States. She was:
a) overweight,
b) hanging with the Hollywood crowd,
c) not terribly interested in investing what it took to win,
d) constantly talking about how good she was, and
e) playing like crap

The big difference that I see between Martina and Serena is that Martina finally quit reading her own press, admitted that she was not a great tennis player in her current condition, and did something about it. That something turned into a new standard for women's tennis with regard to fitness.

The only standard for Serena appears to be the same old "I didn't play my best today, hmmmmmm, probably 32% of what I'm capable of." Serena needs to decide if she wants to be a tennis player or a celebrity and do it quickly. Even those who made excuses for her in the past are starting to be openly critical of her on broadcasts and in the press. The honeymoon is over, it's time for her to put up or shut up. She's becoming a living example of one of McEnroe's favorite lines "the older I get the better I was".

 

[Kevin Patrick]

yeah, but don't you think it's a bit unrealistic for any of today's players being compared to Graf, Martina, Court & Evert? The depth of the women's game has changed quite a bit.
I think Serena's one of the 10 best of all time(& I think most historians would agree) based on accomplishments. Not too shabby.

A big difference with Martina is that Martina wasn't a champion when she was overweight. Serena has already accomplished virtually everything there is to do. So, in her mind she probably thinks she doesn't need to change anything to get back to her form of '02.

 

[Ronaldo]

In 2002 she had the WTA's best abs, in 2005 WTA's most abs

 

[Ravi]

I'd still tap it

 

[gscone]

I'd still tap it

X 2 anyday!!

 

[LendlFan]

Serena is a lock for the Hall of Fame. That said, the company she's keeping on the Grand Slam list isn't the top of the heap. She's currently tied with Evonne Goolagong, Maria Bueno, and Dorothea Chambers. She's way behind Margaret Court with 24, Steffi Graf with 21, and Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova with 18.

I liken her current situation to Navratilova's shortly after she defected to the United States. She was:
a) overweight,
b) hanging with the Hollywood crowd,
c) not terribly interested in investing what it took to win,
d) constantly talking about how good she was, and
e) playing like crap

The big difference that I see between Martina and Serena is that Martina finally quit reading her own press, admitted that she was not a great tennis player in her current condition, and did something about it. That something turned into a new standard for women's tennis with regard to fitness.

The only standard for Serena appears to be the same old "I didn't play my best today, hmmmmmm, probably 32% of what I'm capable of." Serena needs to decide if she wants to be a tennis player or a celebrity and do it quickly. Even those who made excuses for her in the past are starting to be openly critical of her on broadcasts and in the press. The honeymoon is over, it's time for her to put up or shut up. She's becoming a living example of one of McEnroe's favorite lines "the older I get the better I was".

I agree with your premise that it's either put or shut up! I truly believe is she waits too long i.e Monica Seles, she will not be able to catch up. These ladies are starting to get freakin serious about their game especially the one's at the top and Serena plus Venus are going to soon learn they can't just walk into a tourney and take over like the good old days. Maybe Tier I - II - II Level but certainly not the Year End Championships or Majors.

OBTW - Steffi Graf has 22 GS Titles not 21 or we can say 23 if you want

 

[LendlFan]

yeah, but don't you think it's a bit unrealistic for any of today's players being compared to Graf, Martina, Court & Evert? The depth of the women's game has changed quite a bit.
I think Serena's one of the 10 best of all time(& I think most historians would agree) based on accomplishments. Not too shabby.

A big difference with Martina is that Martina wasn't a champion when she was overweight. Serena has already accomplished virtually everything there is to do. So, in her mind she probably thinks she doesn't need to change anything to get back to her form of '02.

Kev ~ As I see it and have said numerous times, Steffi Graf was the most impressionable of the group you listed because she displayed her dominace through three generations of Players as oppossed to Navratilova & Evert.

When Martina & Chris were Queens, we're talking mush ball basically. I'd bet the ball didn't go over the net faster than 30mph. The serves were just to start the point. There was no power in the game at all. Martina didn't have power in her game either but she did bring forth a strong S&V game and her physical athleticism appeared to over-power her opponents. She constantly states that she's a better player now than she was back when. But now she can't get pass 1st Rd. of a Major. Chris was all about Backboard Tennis however Chris was able to hit the corners better than anybody.

Steffi came along while they were on top and brought this forehand that they never dealt with before. Then Steffi used that same power to subdue the next crop i.e Sanchez, Sabatini, Fernandez, Zvereva, Coetzer, Maleeva, Garrison etc. Then if that were not enough, Steffi hung in with Davenport, Hingis, Pierce, Williams, Kournikova etc. And because of her power was able to compete on thier level.

If Steffi Graf were to jump back into the mix tomorrow, I'd bet she would make it to at least the Qtrs of a Major if not the Semis. I wouldn't necessarily pick her to win unless she picked up a few things from her husband.

 

[LendlFan]

I'd still tap it

With what I'm seeing these days ... count me out

 

[Kevin Patrick]

I think the reason Martina can't get past the 2nd round of a major(she won a 1st round match at 2004 Wimbledon) is more due to the fact that she's a hundred years old, not that she doesn't have any power in her game.

Martina N was able to beat Graf & Seles in the early 90s. Her game translates very well against power baseliners.

Remember, in Martina's last full year('94) on tour (playing singles) she was 37. And still came a few games away from winning Wimbledon.

 

[LendlFan]

I think the reason Martina can't get past the 2nd round of a major(she won a 1st round match at 2004 Wimbledon) is more due to the fact that she's a hundred years old, not that she doesn't have any power in her game.

Martina N was able to beat Graf & Seles in the early 90s. Her game translates very well against power baseliners.

Remember, in Martina's last full year('94) on tour (playing singles) she was 37. And still came a few games away from winning Wimbledon.

Kev ~ Martina's last win over Steffi was in 1991. Also her last win at Wimbledon was in 1990 against Zina Garrison and come on pleeeaaasssseeee My mother can beat Conchita Martinez

 

[Kevin Patrick]

True, but that win over Steffi was a big deal I recall. No one gave Martina a shot, she hadn't beaten Graf in 3 or so years.

I'm just saying if she was a bit younger, she could do some damage. And that her longevity & ability to adjust to a different game over many years is just as impressive as Graf's.

I know it's just doubles, but I think it's amazing that Martina can hold her own on a court with Williams, Davenport, Kuznetzova, Molik, etc. at her age.

 

[tennisjunkiela]

yeah, but don't you think it's a bit unrealistic for any of today's players being compared to Graf, Martina, Court & Evert? The depth of the women's game has changed quite a bit.
I think Serena's one of the 10 best of all time(& I think most historians would agree) based on accomplishments. Not too shabby.

AGREED! The depth of women's tennis has definitely changed.
at any grand slam now, any of the following players can win - clistjers, davenport, serena, venus, sharapova, justine henin-hardenne. and once jennifer capriati gets healthy, the wta will have another legit contender.
that's pretty deep compared to the graf era when the major contenders were graf, seles, sanchez vicario and sometimes sabatini. the navritalova era contenders were basically navritalova and evert.

 

[Rabbit]

yeah, but don't you think it's a bit unrealistic for any of today's players being compared to Graf, Martina, Court & Evert? The depth of the women's game has changed quite a bit.
I think Serena's one of the 10 best of all time(& I think most historians would agree) based on accomplishments. Not too shabby.

A big difference with Martina is that Martina wasn't a champion when she was overweight. Serena has already accomplished virtually everything there is to do. So, in her mind she probably thinks she doesn't need to change anything to get back to her form of '02.

I agree about the depth of the women's game. The WTA has gone from 2 players winning everything to about 6 - 8 who can and will win the Grand Slams.

However, I disagree with the whole "been there done that" defense of Serena. If she wants to hang up her sneakers/boots/cat suit, that's fine with me. But she's not talking like that. She's talking like she's still the best player the game has ever seen. IMO, she still has quite a ways to go to prove it. Remember Navratilova own 4 in a row as well. But she had the fortitude and desire to keep playing, even now!

If Serena thinks that she doesn't need to change anything, she's dreaming. Look at what has changed since she was winning everything in sight. Her physical self, her desire, her attitude have all changed. She's living her own Rocky story. I think we're up to Rocky III right about now and she's definetly doing an imitation of Clubber Lang.

 

[Kevin Patrick]

I never got the sense that Serena was interested in any of the records that Graf & Navratilova got. I think she knew it was an unrealistic goal. I remember when she won the Australian Open, she was asked during the press conference how it felt to win 7 majors. She replied, "I didn't know I had 7 majors, that's a lot!"

She was also asked about Graf. She said, "It's not possible for me to get that number." I never got the sense that she was obsessed like Steffi & Martina.
Even during the Serena Slam, she had many offcourt interests. And she really didn't play much then, either. Yes, she's dreaming if she thinks she can win with the semi-casual approach of a few years ago. But many athletes live in their own world & no one can change their mind.

I'm sure when she's on the court, she wants to win. But I don't think she spends one minute off court thinking about numbers/records/goals like say Federer(who seems very aware of all his streaks) or Martina(who had the goal of breaking Billie Jean King's wimbledon record 2 years ago)

You never know how an athlete responds to adversity. Her knee injury from summer '03 was the biggest setback of her career. Sometimes athletes never get back what they had before a layoff. Jmac never was the same player after his sabbatical in '86. Seles wasn't the same when she came back.
Serena may not be either. But she still bagged a major when everyone wrote her off at Australia this year.

And Lendlfan, Martina last beat Steffi in '93. not bad, considering the 12 year age difference.

 

[@wright]

Serena reminds me more of Thunderlips.

 

[sweetiepiedoll]

Who is or was thunderlips???