Why is Serena still a favorite to win U.S. Open?

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Johnnymike81

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www.google.com

Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic Are Favorites To Win The U.S. Open

Defending champion Novak Djokovic and 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams are the favorites to win the US Open beginning Monday.
www.google.com www.google.com

This article, but I think it’s still relevant. It makes sense Djokovic would be a favorite given his recent record. Of course a bad shoulder ended that.

Serena is a different story. I get why many WANT her to win so she can break yet another record, but does that mean she should be the pick to win? She hasn’t won a single tournament since maternity leave. She’s gotten to the finals of three tournaments, but lost all three. And let’s be real, none have been close. Not saying she’s still not better than 90 percent of the field, she wouldn’t get that far if she wasn’t, but it doesn’t seem she’s mentally or physically as tough as she was three years ago.
 
She's made more major finals than anyone else since coming back, right? Yes, she's lost them all, but two of them were to experienced winners of previous majors (none of those here) and one was to a wunderkind force of nature (Andreescu is the only one of those here, I figure it'll be one of the two of them who comes out on top).
 
With the draw simply caving in, Serena's got to be the favourite. Players who could have hurt her here like Halep, Osaka, Pliskova are all gone. I give Svitolina or Andreescu a chance if they got to her but the favourite's got to be Mom.
 
You can be the favorite and still a long shot to win it, pre-tournament. Like, she could have been, say, a 4-1 favorite, but the field is still an 80% favorite to beat her.
 
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MeatTornado said:
Look at the remaining players and tell me who you'd be more comfortable putting money on.
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Andreescu. She’s more athletic and Ami don’t see her freezing. Bencic or Svitolina if they don’t freeze. Point being she’s consistently had easy draws. I’m sorry but Sharapova isn’t Sharapova of 10 years ago...or five.
 
Serena is the favorite because she has consistently made slam semis and finals, and no one else has. She's had another cup cake draw. Fresher. She's in better shape. But more importantly...she's pi$$ed off at having been in a pattern of choking and losing slam finals.... AND wants to erase the memory of her "YOU OWE ME AN APOLOGY...SAY IT" match, from last year.
 
She gets to pick everything except her opponent.

The us open should be held accountable for their lack of integrity. The tournament director isnt supposed to be rooting for a player.

If players have an intergrity unit, tournaments should as well.
 
According to Tennisexplorer.com, Serena Williams has been an underdog in exactly 3 matches since 2012. That's 3 out of the 356 matches she has played.

Osaka 2018 Miami
Barty 2018 RG
Osaka 2019 Canada

The oddsmakers don't like to make Serena an underdog. She certainly isn't going to be an underdog against anyone left in the draw, so she has to be the favorite in the overall tournament.
 
Service Ace said:
Threads like this perfectly demonstrate how stupid most people get when even Serenas name is brought up. If you can't see how she is the prohibitive favorite then you're beyond salvation.
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I’m not saying she will go down as the greatest player of all time. I’m not even saying she shouldn’t be favored to get to the final, after all she’s gotten to almost all she’s competed in since her return. I’m just saying given her recent track record it seems a bit odd that even BEFORE the tournament began she was picked as the favorite. I mean if the past two years tell us anything picking the winner of any tournament on the WTA side of things is risky.
 
I think people get carried away when she blows opponents out of the water like today but the reality is,she hasn't really beaten anyone of note in slams for a long time. Slam draws have just fallen clear for her and then when she faces someone of decent quality,she gets exposed. Not sure whether it will happen here,there is a real lack of experience in comparison with Halep and Kerber who beat her in Wimbledon. She is the favourite,but not an overwhelming one I don't think...
 
Midaso240 said:
I think people get carried away when she blows opponents out of the water like today but the reality is,she hasn't really beaten anyone of note in slams for a long time. Slam draws have just fallen clear for her and then when she faces someone of decent quality,she gets exposed. Not sure whether it will happen here,there is a real lack of experience in comparison with Halep and Kerber who beat her in Wimbledon. She is the favourite,but not an overwhelming one I don't think...
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What does anyone of note means?
 
Well, Djokovic is certainly not a favourite anymore.

Regarding Serena, I'd have to call her the favourite now just because I don't trust anyone to beat her. Andreescu MIGHT be 2nd favourite, but that's very debatable and even if they played in the final I could easily see Serena winning either by outplaying Andreescu or a combination of Andreescu being extremely nervous/the crowd being ridiculously pro Serena. Osaka held up to all the crap last year, but that doesn't mean anybody left in this tournament will this year.

In fact, this might be her best slam to try for #24 just because the crowd will be a bunch of buffoons.
 
Johnnymike81 said:
www.google.com

Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic Are Favorites To Win The U.S. Open

Defending champion Novak Djokovic and 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams are the favorites to win the US Open beginning Monday.
www.google.com www.google.com

This article, ... but it doesn’t seem she’s mentally or physically as tough as she was three years ago.
Click to expand...
in the semi's and finals if she gets there it has become a tall task for her. She looks very good in early rounds and less impressive later. This is typical of an aging champ.
 
Serena is the most consistent player in WTA.
Of course she is favorite BUT that doesn’t mean she will win.
Elina has been really consistent too I would like to see her win and Monfils win on the other side :cool:
 
Belinda Bencic has as much raw ability as anyone on the women's side. If she is able to cope with the moment old, tired, heavy one trick pony Serena should
be run to death. In fact that's true of any of the women left in the draw. The trick is putting Williams on defense.
 
Lozo1016 said:
According to Tennisexplorer.com, Serena Williams has been an underdog in exactly 3 matches since 2012. That's 3 out of the 356 matches she has played.

Osaka 2018 Miami
Barty 2018 RG
Osaka 2019 Canada

The oddsmakers don't like to make Serena an underdog. She certainly isn't going to be an underdog against anyone left in the draw, so she has to be the favorite in the overall tournament.
Click to expand...
Good stat. Thx
 
a10best said:
in the semi's and finals if she gets there it has become a tall task for her. She looks very good in early rounds and less impressive later. This is typical of an aging champ.
Click to expand...
The only final she was not impressive in was Wimbledon 2018, Wimbledon 2019 Halep played her butt off and so did Osaka at the USO 2018. Since her return she has made more slam finals than anyone.
 
Johnnymike81 said:
www.google.com

Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic Are Favorites To Win The U.S. Open

Defending champion Novak Djokovic and 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams are the favorites to win the US Open beginning Monday.
www.google.com www.google.com

This article, but I think it’s still relevant. It makes sense Djokovic would be a favorite given his recent record. Of course a bad shoulder ended that.

Serena is a different story. I get why many WANT her to win so she can break yet another record, but does that mean she should be the pick to win? She hasn’t won a single tournament since maternity leave. She’s gotten to the finals of three tournaments, but lost all three. And let’s be real, none have been close. Not saying she’s still not better than 90 percent of the field, she wouldn’t get that far if she wasn’t, but it doesn’t seem she’s mentally or physically as tough as she was three years ago.
Click to expand...
Here is some more information for you in case you still doubt why. In 2004 when Sharapova beat her at Wimbledon, the media declared the changing of the guards. At that time Serena was only 22 y/o with 6 slams and she went on to win another 6 slams. In late 2010 Serena was battling illness and injury and this time the media declared her washed up and Serena proved them wrong again by winning another 11 slams. Now the media is not going to make the same mistakes and they are including her as one of the favorites to win.
 
deaner2211 said:
The only final she was not impressive in was Wimbledon 2018, Wimbledon 2019 Halep played her butt off and so did Osaka at the USO 2018. Since her return she has made more slam finals than anyone.
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The thing is those opponents won't play their butt off if they can't get to the balls she hits. SW's pace, angles, or serve used to be too much for finalists.
Still, she has been far more consistent than players who were expected to compete for slam titles like Sloane, Madison, Kalep, Kerber and Muguruza.
When you take a step back and look at her 20 year run at such a high level getting to slam finals, it is so, so impressive.
What player in any individual sport has done that? She gets props from me for still having a great serve, movement, and using more angles in her game.
 
Did you watch her last match. She is hands down the favorite. She wasn't playing near this well in any of the 3 slams she lost badly in the final.
 
deaner2211 said:
The only final she was not impressive in was Wimbledon 2018, Wimbledon 2019 Halep played her butt off and so did Osaka at the USO 2018. Since her return she has made more slam finals than anyone.
Click to expand...

Serena was awful in the Wimbledon final no matter how great Halep played, but she was never that impressive at Wimbledon anyway. She did well to take advantage of her easy draw to make the final there. Her feet barely moved, she was missing all kinds of easy balls, and even her serve was off.

The only one of those matches she even played mediocre was the U.S Open final vs Osaka. I am not worried though, her form all around is way better than any of those other events.
 
deaner2211 said:
Here is some more information for you in case you still doubt why. In 2004 when Sharapova beat her at Wimbledon, the media declared the changing of the guards. At that time Serena was only 22 y/o with 6 slams and she went on to win another 6 slams. In late 2010 Serena was battling illness and injury and this time the media declared her washed up and Serena proved them wrong again by winning another 11 slams. Now the media is not going to make the same mistakes and they are including her as one of the favorites to win.
Click to expand...

Except that in 2004 and 2010, Serena was not 37 years old.
 
Serena may well be the favorite, but that's more because she's more likely to beat Svitolina than Andreescu is to beat Bencic. If Andreescu reaches the final and her nerves don't rattle there, she's been playing better than Serena during the hard court season. Andreescu can hit just as hard and moves better. Her only weakness is her serve.
 
tylerbrisco said:
I think if Serena plays as well as she did the other night she wins guaranteed, even over Andreescu.
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You're not accounting for how the opponent across the net affects play. Wang has no major weapons. Wang is not Andreescu, who is 38-4 on the year.
 
zvelf said:
You're not accounting for how the opponent across the net affects play. Wang has no major weapons. Wang is not Andreescu, who is 38-4 on the year.
Click to expand...

Duh, I know Andreescu is better than Wang. Still if Serena is as sharp as she was that day she will win guaranteed, even against a much tougher opponent.
 
Serena doesn't have the female equivalent of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer to stop her on the women's tour. No legendary players, no real great talents. Just a bunch of silly little mugs who baseline bash erratically and can't string more than a few wins together.
 
zvelf said:
Serena may well be the favorite, but that's more because she's more likely to beat Svitolina than Andreescu is to beat Bencic. If Andreescu reaches the final and her nerves don't rattle there, she's been playing better than Serena during the hard court season. Andreescu can hit just as hard and moves better. Her only weakness is her serve.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately,that alone is enough for Williams. Andreescu is a great talent,but she is going to be on the back foot if she's not serving well. I think she can do it though,I think all the players remaining can. They just have to believe it...
 
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