Often, Serena not fun to watch

[Coria]

Serena Williams is a tremendous athlete and a great competitor with outstanding mental toughness. She has supreme power and can overpower ANY opponent in women's tennis. That's why she wins.

But her unforced errors are painful to watch. I used to watch Sanchez and Graf, Martina and Evert, Seles in her prime. They made so few errors and the tennis was enjoyable to watch. There were long rallies. The winners often tripled the unforced errors.

With Serena, it's often either a winner or terrible errors. She plays this brand of power tennis that is hard on the eyes. Yes, she makes some brilliant shots, but her strokes are so inconsistent for someone of her ability and how long she's been playing. She wins so many matches in tight three sets that she should win comfortably in two.

It seems one of every two matches she plays, I'm reading about how she couldn't believe how poorly she played, how she has to play better. It's a credit to her ability to play the big points well that she wins as much as she has. But, her inconsistency is ridiculous at this point in her career. Why doesn't she get a real coach and work on bettering her technique? She was unblievably lucky to win the Australian and the fact of the matter is she should be getting better and better--and she's not. In fact, she played much better in 2002 and parts of 2003 than she's playing now. Her groundstrokes are so "muscled" half the time. She sprays forehands all over the place and dumps so many backhands into the net. I don't know if she doesn't work hard enough or is poorly coached--but with her ability and her tremendous mental ability--she should be MUCH, MUCH better than she is.

 

[lemurballs]

Her game is very different than many on the WTA. Indeed, she has the power to blow her opponents off the court, and so she uses this. However, as you have noted, many times this means "winner", or "error".

Solution?...move her to the ATP tour where she belongs.

 

[Andy Hewitt]

Solution?...move her to the ATP tour where she belongs.

I've always suspected as much

 

[Bertchel Banks]

Solution?...move her to the ATP tour where she belongs.

What purpose will this serve?

She has supreme power and can overpower ANY opponent in women's tennis. That's why she wins.

No. She is yet to over power Lindsay Davenport, or Maria Sharapova, both of these women hit consistently harder.

Davenport, Sharapova, Pierce, Venus, and Dementieva are harder hitters, IMO. While power is part of her game, it's not the key ingredient.

 

[Deleted member 3771]

Thats what I think as well. She was very much on the defensive versus sharapova in the AO. I think she wins mostly because she defends better than the other women. She's able to chase down and counter her opponent's shots with her speed and athleticism-I see that as her main strength.

 

[Coria]

Agreed. Serena probably doesn't hit as hard as those ladies most of the time. But, she is the best athlete of them all. She would destroy those ladies in a physical fitness test. Sometimes, it almost seems Serena's physique gets in her way more than it helps her. She's not fluid on her groundstrokes. Her upper body is so dense that she seems almost robotic at times.

 

[Andy Hewitt]

Yo, she aints neva fun ta watch!

 

[Kaptain Karl]

Poor coaching.

- KK

 

[joehight]

IMO tennis is not her top priority now. She is just using it to further her other ambitions. She wants to win just enough to parlay tennis popularity into other things - and some of these things she may not have the talent for. That remains to be seen. I for one think its too bad for us tennis fans, because she could concievably contest the title of one of the top 5 or 10 best women tennis players in the history of the sport if she were to devote herself to tennis. And get a proper coach.

In spite of all of this. She will certainly make the tennis hall of fame.

 

[Serve-And-Volley]

I think her brand of tennis is interesting to a certain degree. Serena is a good competitor, better than most, just when you count her out she comes back up but still the fact of the matter is if she didn't have her serve and a bigger forehand she wouldn't be the tennis player we have come to know her as. IMO, she is like a female Andy Roddick w/o the serve and big forehand, neither one would be at the top.

 

[davey25]

What purpose will this serve?



No. She is yet to over power Lindsay Davenport, or Maria Sharapova, both of these women hit consistently harder.

Davenport, Sharapova, Pierce, Venus, and Dementieva are harder hitters, IMO. While power is part of her game, it's not the key ingredient.

Pierce hits harder than Serena. ROTFL!! Dementieva certainly doesnt when you factor in the puffball serve, when you are talking about hard hitting you are considering all strokes right?

 

[ferrari_827]

Actually, Lindsay overall hits a cleaner and harder than does Serena. If Lindsay had a bit more foot speed and athleticism, she would clean Serena's clock every time.

I agree with the observation that the main reason why Serena wins is not because she hits hard, but because she can track down and return her opponent's hard shots better than they can return hers. It's her athleticism and speed. Technically, there some players with better overall strokes than Serena, notably Lindsay, but they don't have her foot speed.

 

[GreekBoy05]

IMO Serena is the best EVER

I didnt no beating everybody in matches was b/c you lacked a great game.

Serena and Venus's games are very unique. Why should everybody have the same old boring forehand, serve, volleys etc., It doesnt make much sense.

As their parent's have stated, they want serena and venus to play the type of tennis they made up. We all have our own ways of doing things. \

And for them, they are probably much better players than the ones who criticize them. (Jealousy)

IMO, it is just a matter of time before Serena and Venus are back dominating once again!!!

 

[Camilio Pascual]

Actually, Lindsay overall hits a cleaner and harder than does Serena. If Lindsay had a bit more foot speed and athleticism, she would clean Serena's clock every time. I agree with the observation that the main reason why Serena wins is not because she hits hard, but because she can track down and return her opponent's hard shots better than they can return hers. It's her athleticism and speed. Technically, there some players with better overall strokes than Serena, notably Lindsay, but they don't have her foot speed.

Totally agree, Lindsay has the biggest ground game off both sides relative to the other players since the pre-stabbing Seles. Capriati, at her best, had a very similar mix of a big ground game and speed to Serena.

 

[Bertchel Banks]

I agree with the observation that the main reason why Serena wins is not because she hits hard, but because she can track down and return her opponent's hard shots better than they can return hers. It's her athleticism and speed. Technically, there some players with better overall strokes than Serena, notably Lindsay, but they don't have her foot speed.

I actually think she wins because she's a very smart player. It doesn't take her a long time to figure out how to beat her opponents, then she uses the skills she was taught to ge the job done. Graf, Hingis, Davenport, players who were giving Venus a rough time, Serena was posting solid wins against by the second meeting.

IMO, Venus was standing in her way. Without Venus I think she could've started dominating from the 1999 French Open.

 

[aj_m2009]

Unfourtunately errors are what you get when you play the way Serena plays. Personally I think she plays great tennis. She always goes for her shots and like a couple of you have mentioned, she is able to track down a lot of other peoples shots and get them back. I love the way she plays. Personally I wish I played that way but I am far to inconsistent that is why I use pretty heavy topspin. But I do agree with those of you who said that if Davenport had better speed she would 'clean Serena's clock'. Especially since IMO she is a lot better volleyer than Serena.