Another poster had a thread asking which of Venus, Henin, or Seles should rank #10 all time behind the big 9. I figured a poll between the 3 and which order you would place them in is appropriate.
I had thought I put Henin tops of the 3 but upon further thought I think I go with Venus since even today Wimbledon >>>>> every other event, including the other 3 slams. The only one that comes even close is the U.S Open but even factoring in the U.S Open Venus has won the big 2 slams a whopping 7 times vs a mere 2 for both Henin and Seles.
The case Henin has is she has 4 years she was really the #1 player- 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 vs only 2 for both Seles (91, 92), and Venus (2000, 2001).
The case for Seles is having 2 more slams than the other 2, 9 to 7.
I would probably go with Venus due to winning the 2 most important tournaments 7 times to only 2 for the other two, and being clearly superior both in performance and playing level to both Seles and Henin at both Wimbledon and the U.S Open; even though all 3 have 2 U.S Open titles Venus is clearly higher in peak level, more often in contention, and a stronger overall contender and performer there than the other 2. Heck Henin has an embarassing amount of round of 16 losses at the U.S Open.
Henin is also a highly suspected doper which is a big negative for her compared to Seles and Venus who are not suspected of doping.
Lastly Venus's combined head to head vs the 2 is 17-3. Even if you want to argue she was more prime than both at the time of most of the meetings, which I would agree with, this is utterly emphatic and strongly indicates who is really the "better" player of the 3. Especialy when Henin (in the belief of most people including the late father of rival and good friend Kim Clijsters who openly stated this, as well as the father of rival and friend Maria Sharapova, who also openly stated this) had to resort to PED usage to try and keep up with the Williams, which eventually caused her knee problems and put her out of the game.
I had thought I put Henin tops of the 3 but upon further thought I think I go with Venus since even today Wimbledon >>>>> every other event, including the other 3 slams. The only one that comes even close is the U.S Open but even factoring in the U.S Open Venus has won the big 2 slams a whopping 7 times vs a mere 2 for both Henin and Seles.
The case Henin has is she has 4 years she was really the #1 player- 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 vs only 2 for both Seles (91, 92), and Venus (2000, 2001).
The case for Seles is having 2 more slams than the other 2, 9 to 7.
I would probably go with Venus due to winning the 2 most important tournaments 7 times to only 2 for the other two, and being clearly superior both in performance and playing level to both Seles and Henin at both Wimbledon and the U.S Open; even though all 3 have 2 U.S Open titles Venus is clearly higher in peak level, more often in contention, and a stronger overall contender and performer there than the other 2. Heck Henin has an embarassing amount of round of 16 losses at the U.S Open.
Henin is also a highly suspected doper which is a big negative for her compared to Seles and Venus who are not suspected of doping.
Lastly Venus's combined head to head vs the 2 is 17-3. Even if you want to argue she was more prime than both at the time of most of the meetings, which I would agree with, this is utterly emphatic and strongly indicates who is really the "better" player of the 3. Especialy when Henin (in the belief of most people including the late father of rival and good friend Kim Clijsters who openly stated this, as well as the father of rival and friend Maria Sharapova, who also openly stated this) had to resort to PED usage to try and keep up with the Williams, which eventually caused her knee problems and put her out of the game.
