As much as I love womens tennis does anyone ever really have tough competition. Not to say there aren't a lot of very good players, but the gap between the dominant players of history and their generational competition, other than 1 or 2 exceptions that tend to be brief, tends to be extremely large. Mens tennis is pretty much where you find tough competition for a GOAT candidate, womens it is practically a foreign term.
Lets just look at each for the heck of it though:
Graf- dominated late 80s with Navratilova as strong competition still on medium fast courts, and Sabatini as legitimate competition perhaps (and even that is questionable at best). Had real tough competition in the early 90s with peak Seles, a peaking Sabatini, and a now past her prime but still formidable Navratilova, especialy going through a slump period where her own tennis was below par for her. Competition in the mid 90s was quite weak with only Sanchez Vicario as real competition (and more due to the matchup than actual ability).
Seles- During early 90s where she won nearly all her slams had limited competition with a poorly playing Graf who she only had to play 7 times in 3.5 years, and didn't even have to play to win 9 of her 12 biggest titles. Sabatini and Sanchez were easy matchups for Seles, so not tough competition as they were for Graf.
Navratilova- lol, next
Evert- dominated 75-77 with a very old Court and King who were semi retired, and Navratilova not that good a player yet. Had one really tough opponent in Goolagong, but nobody else really. Had quite tough competition in 78-81 with an improved Navratilova, peak Austin, and an emerging Mandilikova at perhaps what would be her career peak in 80-81. Then as incredibly weak as 82-86 was, had it tough in the sense she had a GOATing Martina denying her so many titles, and considering her own slump and poor form in 82-84, and being old by 84-86 did very well to keep winning majors. She would probably be my choice if I had to pick someone in the irrelevant question of "competition" for GOATs in womens tennis.
Court- she and King rarely had any years they were healthy, active, playing regularly, and in top form at once. Their best years of tennis kept alternating and pretty much never coinciding, and often one dominated with the other barely playing (or off tour awhle entirely). 1966 and 1971 would have been the closest but Court didn't even finish the years, and was already dealing with pregnancy/illness by Wimbledon. 1973 is the only full year that comes close I guess, but they didn't even play in a slam that year. Bueno had serious healthy problems, but is probably the closest thing Court had to a consistent rival. Had decent competition with Ann Jones who was good on both clay and grass, and I guess Nancy Richey mostly on just clay. Then there is the whole Australian Open joke of that era, where half her slams came.
Lenglen- lol, next.
Wills Moody- had tougher competition than Lenglen but still nothing that even merits an analysis on.
Connolly- With Brough and Du Pont old and well past their best, and Gibson a long way from matured, only real competition was Hart.
Serena- never had to face any of Hingis, Davenport, Henin, Clijsters, or Venus in top form the years she was dominating and winning multiple majors, except for maybe Venus in 2002.
Venus- During her best career period (2000-2002) where she won over half her slams, Capriati won 3 slams in 13 months.
As you can see there really isn't a good choice for this. I guess Serena, Evert, or Graf if one had to choose, but really there isn't anyone that is a good winner of this.
And how the hell does Navratilova have 7 votes. Are some of you drunk. Just for starters Evert crushes her in this question as Evert was on top over a way tougher field from 74-77 and 80-81 than Navratilova from 82-87, and even in 82-87 Evert had it way tougher having to face Martina who was a nightmare opponent for her most of that time (and denied her so many additional slams), unlike Martina who only had to face Evert who was her pigeon by then.
I'm curious, was Chrissie as "generous" 'gifting' Martina those wins when she "left:" the tournament, such as the '82 French, '83 Wimbledon, or didn't even show up '83 Australian?! Is Martina's record so fabulous because she beat "prime" Kathy Jordan or "prime" Andrea Jaeger (2x) ??
