pirateofthecarribean
Hall of Fame
RG is Serena's fave tournament. Serena is a clay court specialist. Her coach is French. SF on first try. F on second try. Win on third try. 
Wa chu think?
Wa chu think?
Serena ties Graf on the third try
- Thread starter pirateofthecarribean
- Start date
Nope it will came in Wimbledon or USA.if she somehow couldnt do it this year you can begin to worry.RG is Serena's fave tournament. Serena is a clay court specialist. Her coach is French. SF on first try. F on second try. Win on third try.
mattosgrant
Banned
I think she is more likely to do it at Wimbledon than the French to be honest (I think she do it at Wimbledon this year) but it certainly isn't impossible at the French. The French is the most open tournament since Henin retired. Serena can easily beat anyone out there today on clay, the key for her is consistency on the surface.
pirateofthecarribean
Hall of Fame
It also took Serena 3 tries to tie Navratilova / Evert.
pirateofthecarribean
Hall of Fame
RG is the most physical slam. Serena has the best endurance and slides the best. Also the high bounce means Serena has more time to set up shots. Slower speed and better shot making all go to Serena's favor.
DavenLove94
New User
However RG is where Serena likes to make things complicated for herself. I was honestly surprised she couldnt seal the deal in Australia which is the slam most suited to her game. Serena seems to slowly but surely be declining, at least in the mental department. Anyways, i think she'll win Wimbledon to tie, and USO to surpass.
mattosgrant
Banned
I never really noticed this part originally. Wow were you sniffing glue as you typed that. Serena is an excellent clay courter but fave tournament, clay specialist, bwahahahah!
jm1980
Talk Tennis Guru
That must be why the French is her worst Slam
She'll probably still win it on account of how terrible her competition is
C
Cenarius
Guest
Call me crazy but I sense FO will be the only slam trophy she lifts this year.
Djokovic2011
Bionic Poster
As much as I want to see Serena equal Graf's slam record, it would feel kinda strange if she does it at RG. I've never really viewed her as that great a clay courter and in a way it wouldn't seem right for her to have the same amount of titles as Henin and more than Seles and Sanchez Vicario, all of whom I think were better, more natural clay courters. I don't agree with those detractors who say the women's field has been poor since Henin's retirement in '08 but it has to be said that on clay, it kinda has been. No other way to explain Sharapova winning two titles which, let's be honest, never would've happened in any other era.
Mainad
Bionic Poster
Frankly, I was even more surprised that she couldn't seal the deal in New York last September when all that was standing in her way were 2 Italians, one unseeded and one seeded 25 places below her and neither of whom had ever appeared in a Slam final or even semi-final before!
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
Has she indicated that RG is her fave? She has skipped it 4x whereas she's missed USO and W only 2x. She has performed decently on the clay at RG but has lost in the QF or earlier 10x. About half of those were in early rounds. She has a very respectable a very 83% win rate at RG but this is quite a bit lower than her 88-89% win rate at the other slams.
Huh? What does this mean? Did this happen in an alternate universe?
InsideOut900
Legend
Serena is a specialist in everything
Serve,powergame,movement and court coverage and even the volley until recently. For me she doesn't lack anything but consistency at times,so yeah she didn't care about clay too much it seems
It took her 4 tries to tie Navratilova/Evert, as she lost early at the AO, RG and Wimbledon in 2014 before eventually sealing the deal at the USO.
I completely agree with this.
If we break this down by surface, I do not think that the women's field is weak on hard courts or grass at all. I also like the fact that a lot of younger players have stepped up and progressed to make things interesting. Especially on the dominant modern day surface hard courts, I think that women's tennis looks in good health.
However on clay the women's field has been nothing short of abysmal in recent years. Sharapova winning 2 RG titles in 3 years (and reaching another final in-between) is probably the equivalent to some-one like Tsonga doing that in the men's game, and the best things got for him at RG were his 2 semi-finals in 2013 and 2015.
I suppose that going back in history other than early to mid 90s when there clay court field was superb, with Seles, Graf, ASV, Sabatini and an emerging Martinez, there are many other periods when the standard hasn't been overly great on the surface.
I've generally thought over the years that indoor courts have brought out the best of many of the female tennis players (the European indoor season used to be incredible and exciting to watch), while clay has brought out the worst of many of them.
Rock Strongo
Legend
Huh?
Man of steel
Hall of Fame
Seren didn't willinlgly skip RG. All the times she missed RG was due to injuries.
Man of steel
Hall of Fame
Natural claycourters doesn't mean better claycourters. Especially when serena can hit through the surface better than anyone and with a little added patience in her game can be as good as anyone.
Clay is more mental than any other surface. And when i mean clay i mean RG. It pretty much went downhill after 03 when the feench crowd booed her in her SF match. It took her quite a while to get over that. Not to mention she had real oppoortunities to win RG in 98, 09, 2010 along with 03 to extend her RG title record. She really already should have 4-5 RG titles already.
And lets not forget the fact that she missed 05/06 RG in her prime. Granted she wasn't fit and nowhere near her peak of 02/03 but if she was she would have been the favourtite alongside henin. And knowing serena she definetly would have wanted revenge for that RG03 loss.
Man of steel
Hall of Fame
Naa Us open is most suited to her game. Always has been. Followed by wimby then AO
donquijote
G.O.A.T.
Jokervich
Hall of Fame
She's such a clay court specialist that the French Open is her least won slam.RG is Serena's fave tournament. Serena is a clay court specialist. Her coach is French. SF on first try. F on second try. Win on third try.
donquijote
G.O.A.T.
Also Djokovic's coach Becker secretly has Aussie roots which explains his success in AO.She's such a clay court specialist that the French Open is her least won slam.
Mainad
Bionic Poster
pirateofthecarribean
Hall of Fame
On clay, speed and power are not as important as ground strokes and less errors. That's why Serena is best on clay because Serena is slow and not as powerful but makes less errors than other players. 2 out of 3 RGs since hiring French coach in June 2012. That's pretty darn impressive.
donquijote
G.O.A.T.
OP said Serena's coach is French and that will supposedly help her to win the FO this year.Can you elaborate?
Mainad
Bionic Poster
OP said Serena's coach is French and that will supposedly help her to win the FO this year.
But what are Becker's secret Aussie roots?
donquijote
G.O.A.T.
Rumour is that he once was heard saying 'He's just a two-bob drongo!' about Federer.
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
You are probably right about this. Just found it interesting/curious that she only missed USO and W twice whereas injuries appeared to keep her away from RG 4x. Perhaps she sat out RG a couple of those times to save herself for her true favorite surfaces.
mattosgrant
Banned
Yeah I agree the clay field kind of sucks. It wasnt even a good clay field when Henin was there, and since she has been gone (and roughly since soon after then Kuznetsova, Ivanovic, Jankovic, and some others are no longer big factors) it has been even worse. Credit to Serena and Sharapova though for capatilizing on the situation which is what great champions do. I do think Serena is a better player than Sanchez Vicario on any surface though, even clay. Sanchez almost certainly would not have even gotten to 3 RG titles without the Seles stabbing. Sanchez is definitely more suited to clay than Serena, but technically she is just so inferior as a player Serena still overcomes that. Everyone knows why Seles has only 3 RG titles, and that is not a true reflection of her clay abilities at all, and Henin sabotaged herself with her own early retirement ala Borg.
nolefam_2024
G.O.A.T.
The surface doesn't matter at all. I think NOBODY would have thought Serena would win 2 more French Opens after her decline. There is absolutely no one to challenge her on any slam, any surface. Good for her.
DavenLove94
New User
AO used to always be the slam she could be in any form and win. She definitely has shown higher highs there than any USO run.
Man of steel
Hall of Fame
Well she's always dropped a set or more en route to winning the title at AO. So i don't know about that. None of her AO wins is more impressive than
Us 02, 08, 12 or 13. She ran through the competition in all those years mentioned. And her AO runs in 05 and 07 were more about her winning them because they were at the start of the year when she was fresh even though her fitness was suspect. By the end of the year she'd either be too tired to do well or accumulate another injury at the Us open.
In terms of style of play, Us open suits her more than AO. It the first slam she won and she already reached the finals 3 times at the Us open before she even reaching her first AO final
u mean 4 GS at each major
Man of steel
Hall of Fame
Steffi has 6 RG titles.
I think you meant both would have at least 4 Titles at each major.
PDJ
G.O.A.T.
Aside from her loss to Cornet at Wimbledon (where as the match got tighter she looked laboured running to the net) I've always thought she looks fleet of foot on grass. Plus rarely does she need to hit a second or third volley.
RG she's been made to look slow and lethargic on quite a few occasions.
I agree with you that at her last two major defeats, at times, she's looked positively leaden at some of her forays to the net.
Will she win more. Of course. But the obstacles seem to be less about her opponents (much of a muchness) than her own mental abilities. Ageing is her enemy in this regard.
MLRoy
Hall of Fame
The extra weight doesn't help. And that has nothing to do with age.
Vanhool
Hall of Fame
Cheap trolling. Try harder.
MLRoy
Hall of Fame
Sorry the truth hurts, Mr. Williams. Tell your daughter to lay off the... everything.
Man of steel
Hall of Fame
tell your children to get some proper education to not behave like you....we don't want mini Donald trumps running around the place acting like hooligans
What? Who ever said she has the best endurance? Terrible topic,delete thread,ban OP
Vanhool
Hall of Fame
Better. Here is your reward:
Muscle is heavy, so maybe their is some truth to what you say.
PDJ
G.O.A.T.
I love the OPs threads. They are an endless source of amusement and the Forum is far better for them.
You go Pirate Williams, I'm a huge fan.
PDJ
G.O.A.T.
Is SW unveiling her RG outfit.... that'll knock Maria off the front pagesBetter. Here is your reward:
Muscle is heavy, so maybe their is some truth to what you say.
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