Serena vs. McEnroe Fantasy Match

Serena vs. McEnroe


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C

Chadillac

Guest
Please make the poll results public. Topics like this always shows a posters credibility in reguards to the sport
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
Because Serena is an ego maniac and not classy.

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Wise you are, mister Luke Skywalker avatar. Much to learn heftylefty has.
 

xFullCourtTenniSx

Hall of Fame
Tennis must be the only sport were idiot observers even contemplate that women can be competitive with men.

I don't think I've ever heard this in other sports.

Oh, and Kim Clijsters once admitted she could barely win a point in practice against her then-boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt.

Former #1 and probably still then top 10 player is very different from 700 ATP. 700 ATP probably would've felt similar, but would probably reach game point.

ANOTHER thread? Oh my god we've had so many already. Anyway, who cares. McEnroe is just trying to stir up headlines for his lame book. He's again and again using Serena to promote this book. Dude needs to give it a rest.

He wasn't trying anything. He was hard baited by the reporter and responded honestly, though a bit overly blunt for some of the uninformed super PC people out there. He was asked if he thought Serena was the best tennis player ever, and he'd be lying if he didn't quantify that with "female", because she is undoubtedly the best female player to ever play in many people's minds, but doesn't hold a candle to top male players (and it was already fairly well known that she got beat by a chainsmoker journeyman).

The reporter was either an idiot trying to pick a fight or trying to create an article/interview that would stir up the PC and feminist kids out there to get attention.

Hasn't Martina played against Connors and won a decent number of games than what Serena accomplished against the no name drunkard ?

Let's be honest, Martina only won that many games because of the handicap rules and Connors bet a million he wouldn't drop more than 8 games, which is a lot of pressure to put on yourself with a handicap you've never played with before (maybe playing right-handed he'd feel more comfortable). Serena was playing a fair game and the guy probably felt bad and dropped a game after being up 5-0. Or the alcohol finally kicked in.


Honestly though, I don't think McEnroe at his current level would beat Serena. I'm not entirely sure he could beat Sharapova. I can see it being close. I could easily be wrong. Tursunov would beat Serena (he still plays?!). Either way, I think it's time to revive battle of the sexes, without any handicaps. I'm fine with calling Serena great. I'm fine with calling her amazing. I'm fine with calling her greatest female player of all time. It's not my personal opinion, but I would be fine saying it. I'm fine with calling her a legend. I am not fine with calling her the best tennis player ever. There are hundreds better than her this year alone. There were thousands of players better than her over the course of history. Imagine if Federer, Nadal, or Djokovic were allowed to play in the WTA. Even Murray would have 50 majors by now.
 

Gazelle

G.O.A.T.
Former #1 and probably still then top 10 player is very different from 700 ATP. 700 ATP probably would've felt similar, but would probably reach game point.

The difference is probably not always as big as it looks like. Some ATP-700 guys are bright prospects climbing up the ladder and might be top 50 in little time. And even the ones who don't rise much...wasn't Willis ranked 700 last year? And he got to 4-6 against Federer. I'd be surprised if Serena got to 4-6.
 

TennisLBC

Professional
That's actually a negative. Look at the list of players she's beaten in slams. A lot of players with mediocre careers. No tier 1 players (like Evert, Navratilova, or Graf). A few tier 2 players. A few tier 3 players. Serena has not had a real rival to prove herself against. And even the most adamant Serena supporters will admit her competition the last 6-7 years, (where she picked up the biggest chunk of her slams as an elderly player), has been sub par at best.
Graf played Evert and Navratilova at the end of their careers. If you want to count them as tier 1, fine. And lets not forget Monica Seles who was cheated out greatness and would have cut into Graf's Slam count. That leaves you three players. That's it.

Serena was played Justine Henin, Martina Hingis and another ATG in her sister Venus. All three player are better that Sabatini and Sanchez-Vicario who were Graf premier rivals. t. So, Serena has faced more prime champions that Graf. This does not make Graf less great. But there is a huge effort on this board to dismiss whatever Serena as accomplished and to move the goalpost when it comes to who's great without looking at anyone else opponents.

If you going to put Serena's achievements under a microscope, do it for everyone. If you don't like, okay have at it, but don't go out of your way not to be fair.

By the way. You know Serena and Steffi split in head to head, right?
 
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Mick

Legend
I watched a match the other day on the tennis channel where McEnroe beat Jim Courier.
So, McEnroe is still quite good at his age (58)

This scandal is all the reporter's fault. She wanted him to say Serena is the tennis player who ever played the game and this is simply not true.
McEnroe simply responded honestly.
______

Garcia-Navarro: We’re talking about male players but there is of course wonderful female players. Let’s talk about Serena Williams. You say she is the best female player in the world in the book.

McEnroe: Best female player ever — no question.

Garcia-Navarro: Some wouldn’t qualify it, some would say she’s the best player in the world. Why qualify it?

McEnroe: Oh! Uh, she’s not, you mean, the best player in the world, period?

Garcia-Navarro: Yeah, the best tennis player in the world. You know, why say female player?

McEnroe: Well because if she was in, if she played the men’s circuit she’d be like 700 in the world.


Garcia-Navarro: You think so?
______

If it was true, then Serena should be competing on the men's tour. And if she did, IMO she would lose in first round of every tournament she enters.

Top 4 (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray/Wawrinka) > ATP Players > Serena > WTA players
 
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xFullCourtTenniSx

Hall of Fame
@TMF Graf have been declared a great tennis player regardless of her gender and rightfully so. Why Serena not afforded the same consideration?

Who's saying Serena isn't a great tennis player? She's great. She's just not the greatest tennis player of all time. That title belongs to one of the holy trinity (Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic) or Laver. Nobody that knows anything about tennis would claim that Graf was the greatest tennis player of all time. Greatest career/resume perhaps, but greatest actual player? Nope.

The difference is probably not always as big as it looks like. Some ATP-700 guys are bright prospects climbing up the ladder and might be top 50 in little time. And even the ones who don't rise much...wasn't Willis ranked 700 last year? And he got to 4-6 against Federer. I'd be surprised if Serena got to 4-6.

Wow. You're right. 772. Give that man a drug test! But let's be honest here, we're surprised a guy ranked outside the top 700 took Federer to 6-4. The second set was 6-3 too, so it wasn't really a fluke.
 

Mr.Lob

G.O.A.T.
Graf played Evert and Navratilova at the end of their careers. If you want to count them as tier 1, fine. And lets not forget Monica Seles who was cheated out greatness and would have cut into Graf's Slam count. That leaves you three players. That's it.

So you're going to "give me" Graf, Navratilova and Evert as tier 1 greats??? Monica Seles was cheated out of a very important part of her career, but she is still considered great, and a big rival to Graf. Greats push other greats to higher heights...like Navratilova with Evert. Can't say for sure what would have happened with the Graf/Sales rivalry. You didn't mention the Navratilova vs Evert rivaly, both of whom Id rank higher than Graf in level of competition. You had two of the greatest ever fighting over slams for well over a decade. Take out Navratilova, how many slams does Evert win? Take out Evert how many does Navratilova win? Take out Nadal or Fed, how many slams does the other win. They win big. Take out any single player Serena played against, she's still around the same number of slams.


You can now address Serena's level of competition the last 6-7 years. Roberta Vinci?

Yes, "young" Serena split with "old" Graf.
 
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rh310

Hall of Fame
Serena has played and defeated more Slam winner than any other player. So how strong was Graf competition?

Her tennis record against her peers is better than anyone else's against their tennis peers, man or woman.

That's great, but there are limits to what you can do with it because the peers are bifurcated by gender.
 
I watched a match the other day on the tennis channel where McEnroe beat Jim Courier.
So, McEnroe is still quite good at his age (58)

This scandal is all the reporter's fault. She wanted him to say Serena is the tennis player who ever played the game and this is simply not true.
McEnroe simply responded honestly.
______

Garcia-Navarro: We’re talking about male players but there is of course wonderful female players. Let’s talk about Serena Williams. You say she is the best female player in the world in the book.

McEnroe: Best female player ever — no question.

Garcia-Navarro: Some wouldn’t qualify it, some would say she’s the best player in the world. Why qualify it?

McEnroe: Oh! Uh, she’s not, you mean, the best player in the world, period?

Garcia-Navarro: Yeah, the best tennis player in the world. You know, why say female player?

McEnroe: Well because if she was in, if she played the men’s circuit she’d be like 700 in the world.


Garcia-Navarro: You think so?
______

If it was true, then Serena should be competing on the men's tour. And if she did, IMO she would lose in first round of every tournament she enters.

Top 4 (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray/Wawrinka) > ATP Players > Serena > WTA players

Yeah, but he shouldn't have made the statement-he should have said you cannot compare men & women, just like you can't in athletics, boxing etc.
 

Mick

Legend
Yeah, but he shouldn't have made the statement-he should have said you cannot compare men & women, just like you can't in athletics, boxing etc.

Well, McEnroe is Mr. "You Can't Be Serious!" :)

Below is the response from Andy Roddick:

ESPNW: WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON SERENA WILLIAMS HITTING 23 MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIPS?

AR: IT’S AMAZING. I’VE KNOWN SERENA SINCE WE WERE 8 OR 9 YEARS OLD. TO SEE HER GO FROM THE GIRL I USED TO PRACTICE NEXT TO ALL THE TIME TO BECOME THIS ICON — AND NOT JUST ONE OF THE GREATEST WOMEN ATHLETES OF ALL TIME, BUT ONE OF THE GREATEST ATHLETES OF ALL TIME, IT’S AMAZING. WATCHING HER MARCH HER WAY THROUGH THE HISTORY OF OUR SPORT HAS BEEN A PLEASURE. SHE’S ALWAYS BEEN A FRIEND FIRST, AND IT’S HARD FOR ME TO DISASSOCIATE THAT FROM WHO SHE HAS BECOME, BUT IT’S BEEN AMAZING TO SEE.

ESPNW: IS SHE THE GOAT, MALE OR FEMALE?

AR: I DON’T THINK IT IS A QUESTION. I THINK IT IS A MATTER OF CORRECTING RHETORIC. SAYING SHE’S THE BEST WOMAN ATHLETE SHOULDN’T BE TAKEN AS OFFENSIVE AS LONG AS SHE’S IN THE CONVERSATION WITH THE GREATEST MALE ATHLETES OF ALL TIME AS WELL. WE NEED TO ENTER HER INTO THE CONVERSATION WITH JORDAN AND ALI. I THINK THAT’S WHERE THE RESPECT LIES, AND WHERE THE CONVERSATION NEEDS TO GO, AFTER THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF WHAT SHE’S DONE FOR WOMEN IN SPORTS.
 

THUNDERVOLLEY

G.O.A.T.
My points in red. Her accomplishments are great . . . among her peers. The hard truth is: she would still be "the greatest female player" on a gender-neutral/unisex tour. She would not be the greatest player without qualifying that status.

Her peers are all tennis players, since its one sport, not two. Moreover, its greatest events and the achievement for wining (the majors) are not now, or ever considered unequal.

There is no doubt John McEnroe is suffering with male irrelevancy crisis issues; he knows male players of today & tomorrow are never going to be the super-player required to surpass Serena, so again, he--utterly frustrated (if not feeling a bit psychologically castrated) attacks Serena (and his focus is on the inability of the current top males--Nadal, Djokovic & Federer--to surpass her, as he says nothing of former great females, nor is he attempting to inflate his weakened ego issues by challenging them...telling). Worth noting again, John McEnroe cannot get out of his own way, instead, choosing to create more negative chapters for his life that--unfortunately--outnumber his achievements. With each, passing month the number of "peers" with respect for his voyages into self-interested "commentary" shrink. Fitting, considering the subject.

He cannot alter what is historical fact: Serena's record is superior to the top men of her era--and most of other eras, with the exception of the Grand Slam winners. He can cry, spin, argue or wonder why the future of men in tennis is bleak, but it will not erase Serena's superiority over his male champions who will never touch her record, or the obvious burn of Serena leaving him in the dustbin of sports history, and those who have transcended the sport.
 

Mr.Lob

G.O.A.T.
Well, McEnroe is Mr. "You Can't Be Serious!" :)

Below is the response from Andy Roddick:

ESPNW: WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON SERENA WILLIAMS HITTING 23 MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIPS?

AR: IT’S AMAZING. I’VE KNOWN SERENA SINCE WE WERE 8 OR 9 YEARS OLD. TO SEE HER GO FROM THE GIRL I USED TO PRACTICE NEXT TO ALL THE TIME TO BECOME THIS ICON — AND NOT JUST ONE OF THE GREATEST WOMEN ATHLETES OF ALL TIME, BUT ONE OF THE GREATEST ATHLETES OF ALL TIME, IT’S AMAZING. WATCHING HER MARCH HER WAY THROUGH THE HISTORY OF OUR SPORT HAS BEEN A PLEASURE. SHE’S ALWAYS BEEN A FRIEND FIRST, AND IT’S HARD FOR ME TO DISASSOCIATE THAT FROM WHO SHE HAS BECOME, BUT IT’S BEEN AMAZING TO SEE.

ESPNW: IS SHE THE GOAT, MALE OR FEMALE?

AR: I DON’T THINK IT IS A QUESTION. I THINK IT IS A MATTER OF CORRECTING RHETORIC. SAYING SHE’S THE BEST WOMAN ATHLETE SHOULDN’T BE TAKEN AS OFFENSIVE AS LONG AS SHE’S IN THE CONVERSATION WITH THE GREATEST MALE ATHLETES OF ALL TIME AS WELL. WE NEED TO ENTER HER INTO THE CONVERSATION WITH JORDAN AND ALI. I THINK THAT’S WHERE THE RESPECT LIES, AND WHERE THE CONVERSATION NEEDS TO GO, AFTER THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF WHAT SHE’S DONE FOR WOMEN IN SPORTS.

Andy Roddick, the guy who married a swimsuit model. Laying it on thick for the p/c crowd.:rolleyes:
 

xFullCourtTenniSx

Hall of Fame
Her peers are all tennis players, since its one sport, not two. Moreover, its greatest events and the achievement for wining (the majors) are not now, or ever considered unequal.

There is no doubt John McEnroe is suffering with male irrelevancy crisis issues; he knows male players of today & tomorrow are never going to be the super-player required to surpass Serena, so again, he--utterly frustrated (if not feeling a bit psychologically castrated) attacks Serena (and his focus is on the inability of the current top males--Nadal, Djokovic & Federer--to surpass her, as he says nothing of former great females, nor is he attempting to inflate his weakened ego issues by challenging them...telling). Worth noting again, John McEnroe cannot get out of his own way, instead, choosing to create more negative chapters for his life that--unfortunately--outnumber his achievements. With each, passing month the number of "peers" with respect for his voyages into self-interested "commentary" shrink. Fitting, considering the subject.

He cannot alter what is historical fact: Serena's record is superior to the top men of her era--and most of other eras, with the exception of the Grand Slam winners. He can cry, spin, argue or wonder why the future of men in tennis is bleak, but it will not erase Serena's superiority over his male champions who will never touch her record, or the obvious burn of Serena leaving him in the dustbin of sports history, and those who have transcended the sport.

If her peers were to include the ATP, nobody would know the name Serena Williams.
 

Pre980

Rookie
Her peers are all tennis players, since its one sport, not two.
You can NOT be serious!? lol
Let me correct you--her peers, among whom she's competed, are female tennis players. Yes, it's one sport, but, as has already been mentioned here and cannot be denied, players are bifurcated by gender, which wholly benefits the WTA (a separate entity from the ATP, btw); otherwise, she would have precisely zero titles to her name.

Edit: To be clear, I'm using the word "peers" in this context to mean "WTA players" since Serena is, herself, a WTA player and competes for titles against other WTA players. She doesn't compete against ATP players (lucky for her) and the one time she did, she was beaten like a drum by world #202.
 
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Thundergod

Hall of Fame
Man, looking at some of these comments on one of the Youtube videos is painful. There really are a good amount of people who think Serena wouldn't do too poorly against the men. They are literally shellshocked at the number 700(or any number higher than 200 I would guess).
 

Gazelle

G.O.A.T.
Man, looking at some of these comments on one of the Youtube videos is painful. There really are a good amount of people who think Serena wouldn't do too poorly against the men. They are literally shellshocked at the number 700(or any number higher than 200 I would guess).

That's what you get when a sport only showboats the top 10 and the rest are considered mere place fillers. People think they are losers who can barely swing a racket. Many of those dumb guys commenting on youtube are probably fan of a local football club, and worship football (soccer) players that might very well (virtually) be 700 in the world.
 

Pre980

Rookie
Moreover, its greatest events and the achievement for wining (the majors) are not now, or ever considered unequal.
Really? You do realize that Serena was a big part of the "equal prize money" push, right? Meaning that, for a looong time, women were not paid the same as a man for winning a major.
. . . Serena's record is superior to the top men of her era
No. Again, Serena hasn't competed against men (except for that pesky Braasch stain on her official h2h record against ATP players, which undeniably stands at 0-1).
 
D

Deleted member 3771

Guest
Really? You do realize that Serena was a big part of the "equal prize money" push, right? Meaning that, for a looong time, women were not paid the same as a man for winning a major.
No. Again, Serena hasn't competed against men (except for that pesky Braasch stain on her official h2h record against ATP players, which undeniably stands at 0-1).

Serena and the women worried about the women earning as much as the men should all hire female coaches, trainers and hitting partners to give as many female coaches, trainers and hitting partners the same opportunities to earn as much as the male coaches, trainers and hitting partners
 

Mr.Lob

G.O.A.T.
I watched a match the other day on the tennis channel where McEnroe beat Jim Courier.
So, McEnroe is still quite good at his age (58)

This scandal is all the reporter's fault. She wanted him to say Serena is the tennis player who ever played the game and this is simply not true.
McEnroe simply responded honestly.
______

Garcia-Navarro: We’re talking about male players but there is of course wonderful female players. Let’s talk about Serena Williams. You say she is the best female player in the world in the book.

McEnroe: Best female player ever — no question.

Garcia-Navarro: Some wouldn’t qualify it, some would say she’s the best player in the world. Why qualify it?

McEnroe: Oh! Uh, she’s not, you mean, the best player in the world, period?

Garcia-Navarro: Yeah, the best tennis player in the world. You know, why say female player?

McEnroe: Well because if she was in, if she played the men’s circuit she’d be like 700 in the world.


Garcia-Navarro: You think so?
______

If it was true, then Serena should be competing on the men's tour. And if she did, IMO she would lose in first round of every tournament she enters.

Top 4 (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray/Wawrinka) > ATP Players > Serena > WTA players

Don't think those old timers matches are totally legit. Goal is to entertain the crowd. Courier probably playing around too much and Mack snuck in for the win.
 
A

Attila_the_gorilla

Guest
I don't know! I just said that maybe because women in that sport have such thin, petite and flexible bodies it could be an advantage in certain exercices. I'm not an expert on gymnastics.
Well, rythmic gymnastics is exclusively a female sport, there's a lot of flexibility and style points etc. And though not a sport as such, but pretty much all the good contortionists are women. They can get into tiny boxes and that sort of stuff.
 

marc45

G.O.A.T.
you want to get on Mac's bad side?...say it's about accomplishments in determining a great player, and Serena won all the majors, whereas you were up 2 sets at the French to Lendl, then...
 

70後

Hall of Fame
One musical composition, two musical instruments, two recitals, each with their own merits. Each piano or cello recital of that composition can only be compared with a recital by another piano or another cello. If somebody said that the piano is superior as a musical instrument to the cello or violin, or vice versa, because of one contrived excuse or another, that would be absurd.

Same with mens and womens tennis. That is my position.
 

THUNDERVOLLEY

G.O.A.T.
Really? You do realize that Serena was a big part of the "equal prize money" push, right? Meaning that, for a looong time, women were not paid the same as a man for winning a major.

What are you on about? The biggest prize specifically means the majors--as in the event and the achievement being equal. No one was talking about prize money. The achievement and the event is never considered as having separate value distinction, and with that, there is no separate sport.

No. Again, Serena hasn't competed against men (except for that pesky Braasch stain on her official h2h record against ATP players, which undeniably stands at 0-1).

Same sport. Same achievements, and Serena's record is superior to every male playing today, and very likely endless tomorrows to come, much as that pains McEnroe as he cannot take pride in males being the best of several generations.
 

TennisLBC

Professional
LOL. So you're going to "give me" Graf, Navratilova and Evert as tier 1 greats? Monica Seles was cheated out of a very important part of her career, but she is still considered great, and a big rival to Graf. Greats push other greats to higher heights...like Navratilova with Evert. Can't say for sure what would have happened with the Graf/Sales rivalry. You didn't mention the Navratilova vs Evert rivaly, both of whom Id rank higher than Graf in level of competition. You had two of the greatest ever fighting over slams for well over a decade. Take out Navratilova, how many slams does Evert win? Take out Evert how many does Navratilova win? Take out Nadal or Fed, how many slams does the other win. They win big. Take out any single player Serena played against, she's still around the same number of slams.


You can now address Serena's level of competition the last 6-7 years. Roberta Vinci?

I hope you stretched those hamstrings out for that reach.
Navratilova owned Evert after she laid off the cheeseburgers. From 1980 to the end of their meeting Navratilova went 32-12. That's not two top tier players going back and forth. We're talking Sharapova level pigeon. So Evert is not as Tier One as the myth may suggest. I would take Justine Henin and Martina Hingis over Evert; no experts would. And while are on myths; the idea that somehow the WTA was deeper "back in my day" needs to end. There was always been a huge gap from the top player and the rest of field. Period. With Evert there was a gap. Then Martina created a gap and so on. To think that facing more than one champion is somehow a negative mental gymnastics of the highest order.
 

Pre980

Rookie
What are you on about? The biggest prize specifically means the majors--as in the event and the achievement being equal. No one was talking about prize money. The achievement and the event is never considered as having separate value distinction, and with that, there is no separate sport.
Are you really maintaining that prize money (historically, the discrepancy between men's and women's prize money amounts) is/was not indicative of the value placed on the separate events?? If so, please just stop now. Please. Additionally, I've offered ample evidence that they're not different sports, but they are different events--parsed by gender. Nobody can be this dense, honestly.


Same sport. Same achievements, and Serena's record is superior to every male playing today, and very likely endless tomorrows to come, much as that pains McEnroe as he cannot take pride in males being the best of several generations.
^^^ this is absurd and nonsensical
 

Mick

Legend
Connors vs. Martina

I some years ago, played a personal battle of the sex match with this USTA 4.5 woman.
The handicap I gave her was she would have a 30-0 lead on every game.
I managed to beat her by playing a pushing game because at 0-30 deficit I could not afford to have any error.
The final score was 6-4 or something close to that.

I think she choked because she wanted to beat me so bad.
In practice, she had played much better than how she played in the match.

It would be fun to play her again but she never forgave me for beating her that time :eek:
 

Mr.Lob

G.O.A.T.
I would take Justine Henin and Martina Hingis over Evert; ;

How long have you been brain dead? My condolences. LOL. :p

You're obviously cherry picking from the Evert/Navratilova rivaly. Out of 90 matches Navratilova held a 43-37 h2h. The majority of their matches played on faster/indoor surfaces that favored Navratilova. Evert held the edge in finals that went 3 sets. Evert did better won clay than Navratilova on grass. For a period of about 6 years, Navratilova or Evert won every slam final but 2. Considered one of the greatest rivalries in the history of tennis... to everyone but you. Navratilova does hold a big edge in slam finals h2h and her doubles career was superior.


Some people say Serena is the greatest tennis player of all time...period. But, I don't think the greatest of all time would choke against a player (Vinci) ranked 43rd in the world, with a Calendar Year Grand Slam, AND history, at stake. But, Serena can certainly come back and win more slams, maybe a CYGS, after giving birth. The WTA is full of, here todays...gone tommorows... as the record clearly shows.

Now, for the third time, who has Serena beaten in the last 7 years? :rolleyes:
 

Pre980

Rookie
One musical composition, two musical instruments, two recitals, each with their own merits. Each piano or cello recital of that composition can only be compared with a recital by another piano or another cello. If somebody said that the piano is superior as a musical instrument to the cello or violin, or vice versa, because of one contrived excuse or another, that would be absurd.

Same with mens and womens tennis. That is my position.
I see the point you're trying to make here, but it falls a little short. The equivalent of comparing the instruments in your example would be like comparing the rackets that players use. Comparing the performer of the composition would be like comparing the tennis players. Nobody could reasonably say that the piano is superior to the guitar, etc. But one could say that the pianist (the player) was superior to the guitarist (the player) if they were playing the same composition and one played it more accurately and more skillfully than the other.
 

Steady Eddy

Legend
The notion that a woman could never be considered the greatest player because of absolute level is an inference you've drawn. It's not something Mcenroe said. Nowhere does he say that the greatest player must necessarily have been the best player....which would exclude females.
The greatest player not necessarily the best player? :confused:

So what makes them the greatest? How they dress?
 

Chopin

Legend
It's unfortunate that McEnroe is being criticized out of context for offering his expert opinion to a legitimate question. The underlying premise of his response--that the "greatest" player should also be among the best in terms of level of play--is legitimate. Someone else might wish to define "greatness" in a different way and people can have fun (or not!) debating the topic.

However, Mac's response of #700 in the world is a legitimate response; it's not hyperbolic, it's not uninformed, it's not sexist. That doesn't mean his response is correct, but I've read some terrible, sloppy commentary from people who clearly know nothing about tennis (remember: whatever you think of McEnroe, he's undeniably an expert)--they don't know what the NTRP is; they don't understand the various tiers of players on tour; they're not aware that Williams' longtime practice partner Aleksandar Bajin (now with Azarenka) had a career-high of #1149 (why would Serena practice with a guy for 10 years that never cracked the top 1000? youtube them practicing!); and they're not aware that many top female players have spoken about men's versus women's tennis, including Serena herself. They also ignore the question of why there isn't one tennis tour as opposed to respective men's and women's tour. Incidentally, I suspect that some of these people might not be aware that many of us would not consider Serena to be a good role model on the court because of her behavior at the 2009 U.S. Open, 2011 U.S. Open and other situations, in the same way that some of us wouldn't consider McEnroe to be a good role model for his tirades. Enough!

Serena is an amazing player and an all-time great for the sport as a whole; I think it's possible to respect that and McEnroe's opinion at the same time.
 

ForumMember

Hall of Fame
Being a woman is not a handicap. You know this, right?
I know. But the reality is certain set of people are born with lesser physical abilities than other and both people born with certain disabilities and women (in comparison to able men) fall in those sets of people. If you are trying to ignore this fact you are running away from reality. You want to create a seperate stream of competition for women where they are protected from stronger set of ppl but at the same time you want this stream to get absolutely same level of glory in all kind of direct and indirect forms. Then why Tennis of disableds sholud not be accorded same glory?
 

rmontro

Rookie
I don't think there's anything wrong with making distinctions by gender. Saying Serena is the greatest tennis player ever is like saying a high school football team is better than an NFL team, just because they had a better record.

And Mac wasn't crying about it, he's a huge fan of Serena. It's the reporter who was pushing the issue.
 

Mr Feeny

Hall of Fame
Fed hits flat? What? Are you high?
That that was the first thing that came to my mind when I read that. Does this fella watch tennis? It's as if some of this board haven't watched a single match in their lives and can't tell you what skin tone these players have, yet they're on here embarassing themselves with ludicrous posts.
 

mika1979

Professional
So you're going to "give me" Graf, Navratilova and Evert as tier 1 greats??? Monica Seles was cheated out of a very important part of her career, but she is still considered great, and a big rival to Graf. Greats push other greats to higher heights...like Navratilova with Evert. Can't say for sure what would have happened with the Graf/Sales rivalry. You didn't mention the Navratilova vs Evert rivaly, both of whom Id rank higher than Graf in level of competition. You had two of the greatest ever fighting over slams for well over a decade. Take out Navratilova, how many slams does Evert win? Take out Evert how many does Navratilova win? Take out Nadal or Fed, how many slams does the other win. They win big. Take out any single player Serena played against, she's still around the same number of slams.


You can now address Serena's level of competition the last 6-7 years. Roberta Vinci?

Yes, "young" Serena split with "old" Graf.
Serena is a part time player for the past six or seven years yes the tour sucks but she still wins giving zero effort. Graf would be on like 12 to 15 slams had Monica not gotten stabbed, pre stabbing monica won 8 slams in 3 years. And was younger and better. Serena over Steffi easy
 

70後

Hall of Fame
I see the point you're trying to make here, but it falls a little short. The equivalent of comparing the instruments in your example would be like comparing the rackets that players use. Comparing the performer of the composition would be like comparing the tennis players. Nobody could reasonably say that the piano is superior to the guitar, etc. But one could say that the pianist (the player) was superior to the guitarist (the player) if they were playing the same composition and one played it more accurately and more skillfully than the other.

I think the equivalent of the racquets the players use to musical instruments would be brands of the same musical instrument. e.g. Steinway piano to Schumann piano. The performer though is the individual player, not the genders of tennis players. One could say that a grade 8 pianist would be more accurate, more skillful at playing a relatively difficult musical piece than a grade 1 beginner violinist with the same piece, and that a female WTA pro will be better at correctly playing a forehand stroke than a male who only just picked up a racquet. But a grade 8 pianist vs grade 8 violinist, with comparable levels of mastery of their respective instrument, one can’t say which player is better at the given piece with their respective instrument. So greatest of men vs greatest of women is unanswerable.
 

Pre980

Rookie
I think the equivalent of the racquets the players use to musical instruments would be brands of the same musical instrument. e.g. Steinway piano to Schumann piano. The performer though is the individual player, not the genders of tennis players.
The performer is the individual player regardless of gender. Brands, types, etc. are really irrelevant in this comparison.
One could say that a grade 8 pianist would be is more accurate, more skillful at playing a relatively difficult musical piece than a grade 1 beginner violinist with the same piece, and that a female WTA pro will be better at correctly playing a forehand stroke than a male who only just picked up a racquet.
Well, yeah, but that isn't relevant. We're talking about professional tennis players here; not pros vs. joes.
But a grade 8 pianist vs grade 8 violinist, with comparable levels of mastery of their respective instrument, one can’t say which player is better at the given piece with their respective instrument.
Yes, one can make a distinction about which player performed the composition more skillfully.
So greatest of men vs greatest of women is unanswerable.
That's not the topic anyway, lol.
 

THUNDERVOLLEY

G.O.A.T.
To continue the shame and personal failure of one John McEnroe, his own daughters have rejected his nonsense:

John McEnroe: 'My Girls Don't Think I Can Beat' Serena Williams - Notoriously outspoken tennis champ says daughters were angered by his NPR remarks

Key points:

John McEnroe had more than angry fans to answer to when he made disparaging remarks about fellow tennis champ Serena Williams during a recent interview with NPR: His daughters weren't too pleased either.

The seven-time Grand Slam winner, who is father to Emily McEnroe (with ex-wife Tatum O'Neal), Anna McEnroe, Ava McEnroe and stepdaughter Ruby Meyers (with wife Patty Smyth), told Stephen Colbert during The Late Show Tuesday that his sexist remarks "didn't go over big" with his daughters.

"My girls don't think I can beat her now," McEnroe said. "I thought I could beat her." In 2015, the retired athlete famously told Jimmy Kimmel that he believed he could take on Williams in a showdown; he speculated at the time that his daughters thought otherwise.

"That doesn't mean I don't think Serena is an incredible player," he said at the time. "I do, but the reality of what would happen would be I think something that perhaps it'd be a little higher, perhaps it'd be a little lower. And on a given day, Serena could beat some players. I believe because she's so incredibly strong mentally that she could overcome some situations where players would choke ’cause she’s been in it so many times, so many situations at Wimbledon, The U.S. Open, etc. But if she had to just play the circuit – the men's circuit – that would be an entirely different story."

So, you need choking players in order for a supreme player to win. That must explain much about the ATP.

Next, McEnroe appeared on CBS This Morning, showing the world he's been mastering all there is to know in the field of obstetrics:

McEnroe further fanned the flames Sunday when he refused to apologize for his remarks, only saying on This Morning that he didn't mean to upset the pregnant athlete. "I don't want anything to go wrong with Serena because she's pregnant," he said. "I don't want to upset her or whatever it was.

The worst of it all was in the original interview, where McEnroe--seeing the self-imposed shroud falling on him--tried (in limp fashion) to walk back his idiotic statements with:

"She's pregnant, so maybe I should play her now – I'd have a better chance," McEnroe said, soliciting a mixed reaction from the audience. "But, either way, I wish her the absolute best. She's the best thing that's happened to American tennis in the last 10 to 15 years."

...and now, he's created trouble with his own children.

Good job, Parent of the Century.
 
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