Is Serena on the path to becoming the greatest tennis player of all time?

steenkash

Hall of Fame
1) 23 Slams
2) 2 of every Slam title
3) Most weeks at number 1/Most consecutive weeks at number 1
4) Olympic gold in 2000, 2008, 2012
5) Most single matches won on WTA

Surely, she is the greatest tennis player of all time?
 

ibbi

G.O.A.T.
1) 23 Slams
2) 2 of every Slam title
3) Most weeks at number 1/Most consecutive weeks at number 1
4) Olympic gold in 2000, 2008, 2012
5) Most single matches won on WTA

Surely, she is the greatest tennis player of all time?
Serena doesn’t have the most weeks at number 1. She’s third :unsure:and she’s tied for the consecutive weeks record. Also, she has 3 of every slam title.
 

Graf1stClass

Professional
If Serena wins another slam, she will be the greatest singles player of all time. Doubles is so fundamentally different that it should not be counted in my opinion.
 
So, does that mean Mayweather is not one of the greatest boxers of all time, because he was never a heavyweight?
The rules in boxing are the same for all weight categories.

The point is that male sports and women sports are different categories. As McEnroe said, Serena would probably be unable to take 1 match in 100 from any Top 500 male player.
 

norcal

Legend
Men's and Women's tennis is different.
Just think of all the fake maladies Joker could come up with if he were pregnant/gave birth!
 
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maratha_warrior

Hall of Fame
So, does that mean Mayweather is not one of the greatest boxers of all time, because he was never a heavyweight?

Do you really believe Novak Rafa AO 12 , Fed Rafa AO 17 , WB Novak Rafa 18 , WB Fed Novak 2019 can be compared to Serena's 2 hour long slam wins ??

Men tennis and women tennis are different categories .let's keep them separate . Let's not compare them .
They are not playing against each other .
Serena Osaka aren't having her matches against Nadal Djokovic .

Serena can become Greatest woman tennis player for sure .
 

anarosevoli

Semi-Pro
1) 23 Slams
2) 2 of every Slam title
3) Most weeks at number 1/Most consecutive weeks at number 1
4) Olympic gold in 2000, 2008, 2012
5) Most single matches won on WTA

Surely, she is the greatest tennis player of all time?
Lol almost everything wrong... Graf has 4 of every slam title, more number one weeks, better w/l ratio, Golden Slam, more titles. Williams has one slam more in a much longer career and has less of everything else. Graf still GOAT, even if Serena wins the AO.
 

steenkash

Hall of Fame
Do you really believe Novak Rafa AO 12 , Fed Rafa AO 17 , WB Novak Rafa 18 , WB Fed Novak 2019 can be compared to Serena's 2 hour long slam wins ??

Men tennis and women tennis are different categories .let's keep them separate . Let's not compare them .
They are not playing against each other .
Serena Osaka aren't having her matches against Nadal Djokovic .

Serena can become Greatest woman tennis player for sure .

If GS for women were 5 sets, then she would have 5hr length matches too.
 

srimes

Rookie
So, does that mean Mayweather is not one of the greatest boxers of all time, because he was never a heavyweight?

Yes.

Absolute best means across all classes. Mayweather has an incredible record but he wouldn't make it at heavyweight. Serena would be unremarkable if she played ATP.
 
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anarosevoli

Semi-Pro
And don't forget that the youngest one needs to surpass the others clearly to be considered GOAT, simply because it's much easier for her: The others didn't know which number to beat and didn't spend many years concentrating only on beating that number, extending their career and leaving out all other tour events. They also didn't know slams would be rated even higher today than then (nobody would skip AO today). They also didn't have the chance simply because physio/medicine wasn't on today's level where +35 year olds can compete.
 

FRV4

Hall of Fame
I don't think you can say that since Serena managed to win 23 slams while basically uncontested. Meaning see managed to lose many slams. I don't really follow WTA though and don't know too much about it. Fed, Nadal, and Djokovic managed to basically divide 60ish slams between themselves. Still, Serena will definitely be the GOAT female player, and many will argue her to be the greatest tennis player of all time, even if I disagree.
 

upchuck

Hall of Fame
If she gets to 24 then yes, she will be the greatest tennis player ever (male or female) in my book.
 

BorgTheGOAT

Legend
Actually in shock how many posters here jump on this greatest of all (male or female) crap, only because this stupid reporter who wanted to trigger Mac brought this up once. Men and women sport cannot be compared.
 

BorgTheGOAT

Legend
So, does that mean Mayweather is not one of the greatest boxers of all time, because he was never a heavyweight?
Judith Polgar is by an astronomical distance the best woman chess player of all time even though she never ever competed against other females. Reason is she was so far ahead that she exclusively played men tournaments where she actually reached No.8 in the world, but could not get close to the top dogs Kasparov and Kramnik. So being No.8 on the men’s side tops every possible achievement on the women’s competition. In tennis such a scenario is impossible but imagine a female player who could play on the ATP and reach No.8 (without ever winning a slam or winning against a Big 3 member). She would instantly be crowned best female player of all time and I guarantee nobody would see Serena as greater only because she won 23 more slams against lower competition.
 

big ted

Legend
1) 23 Slams
2) 2 of every Slam title
3) Most weeks at number 1/Most consecutive weeks at number 1
4) Olympic gold in 2000, 2008, 2012
5) Most single matches won on WTA

Surely, she is the greatest tennis player of all time?

i think the only thing thats actually true in here is # of slams and olympic medals lol
 

darkprince49

New User
She not better than Court or Graf! You can only play who’s in front of you, and this why you shouldn’t compare era’s.
I started playing tennis juniors in 1970 with wood, then aluminum. In the 80‘s graphite and so on. There is a Hugh difference in racquet technology and in the last 20 years strings have taken Hugh step forward but, at the end of the day greatness is greatness!
 

big ted

Legend
Three most commonly cited GOAT criteria:
1. Slam Count: Court
2. Weeks at #1: Graf
3. CYGS: Court and Graf

Serena holds none of the records - you need to earn the GOAT title, not have your activist husband protest for it.

maybe the OP is her husband lol
 
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darkprince49

New User
Three most commonly cited GOAT criteria:
1. Slam Count: Court
2. Weeks at #1: Graf
3. CYGS: Court and Graf

Serena holds none of the records - you need to earn the GOAT title, not have your activist husband protest for it.
She didn’t win all four in the same year! End of conversatio!
 

Arak

Legend
When I started watching tennis back in the late 80s, everyone was talking about winning the Grand Slam, winning all 4 slams in the same year.
 

Rainalkar

Rookie
She didn't hit a single (decent) tweener in her entire career (prove me otherwise). She may be accomplished, but not a tennis genious. Also, there are many arguments against her being the greatest female player.
 

zipplock

Hall of Fame
1) 23 Slams
2) 2 of every Slam title
3) Most weeks at number 1/Most consecutive weeks at number 1
4) Olympic gold in 2000, 2008, 2012
5) Most single matches won on WTA

Surely, she is the greatest tennis player of all time?
False. She only competed against half the field.
 

lisea

New User
Wait - on the internet, including tennis warehouse they are promoting Serena’s new t- shirt collection which includes a t - shirt stating that she is the world’s greatest athlete. So it must be true that she is the greatest tennis player
 

darkprince49

New User
Where's the post that had the size of the draws for all the AO's that Court won? In one of them there were 11 women in the draw.
Like I said, you play whose in front of you! Tennis is skewed by the fact that it is white country club sport! I played junior tennis in the 1970 and you weren’t going great unless you had rich parents! Other countries support their promising jr with a Federation. You make Court, Evert, Martina 25 and armed with modern racquet strings an training they would dominate!
 
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Like I said, you play whose in front of you! Tennis is skewed by the fact that it is white country club sport! I played junior tennis in the 1970 and you weren’t going great unless you had rich parents! Other countries support their promising jr with a Federation. You make Court, Evert, Martina 25 and armed with modern racquet strings an training they would dominate!

Hey man, just want to say that it's great you old folks are still around!
 

NonP

Legend
Kids, Navratilova is the greatest now, forever and ever, man or woman. Grown-ups understand there's more to greatness than just numbers.

And even by that limited metric it's pretty much a toss-up between Margaret, Chris, Martina and Serena. This notion that a single extra major is such a gigantic tiebreaker for these gals with 18-24 under their belt is just monumentally silly.
 

Phoenix1983

G.O.A.T.
Kids, Navratilova is the greatest now, forever and ever, man or woman. Grown-ups understand there's more to greatness than just numbers.

I generally respect your posts, but this one sounds a bit patronising. Also, her obnoxious personality and desire to always claim herself as the greatest (when most other former champions seem content in their lives) offsets her trailblazing, for me anyway.
 

upchuck

Hall of Fame
Men and women don't compete. To say a woman could never be the greatest ever at a sport because of the built-in physical advantages of men is sexist.

When making cross-gender comparisons, you have to look at the big picture. Serena with 24, after everything else she's achieved and done, would be enough to make her the greatest ever in the sport's history. Her stature would warrant it too. This isn't like NBA vs WNBA. The WTA has enough visibility and star power that we literally could collectively look at an achievement like that and say, yes, she's the greatest.
 

Red Rick

Bionic Poster
Men and women don't compete. To say a woman could never be the greatest ever at a sport because of the built-in physical advantages of men is sexist.

When making cross-gender comparisons, you have to look at the big picture. Serena with 24, after everything else she's achieved and done, would be enough to make her the greatest ever in the sport's history. Her stature would warrant it too.
"Men and women don't compete, so I'm now gonna assert I can still directly compare them."
 
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