Friday, September 09, 2016

Serena Williams Loses Bid for 23rd Major and Her No. 1 Ranking


I'm willing to concede that Serena Williams is better than Steffi, Martina, Chris and Monica. But that doesn't mean I can't see that Serena is beatable at 34, and that she is mostly winning these days because no one has the mental fortitude to finish her off. Kudos to Karolina Pliskova for following Roberta Vinci, Angelique Kerber and Garbine Muguruza in not only outplaying the (former) world number one, but then holding her nerve long enough to actually win the match. By reaching three Grand Slam finals in one year, Kerber has proven herself to be the first real contender since Justine Henin -- 10 long years ago. Here's hoping for a competitive final, although the women's game has already come out a winner no matter the outcome.


3 comments:

James Dwight Williamson said...

The game does move on but without a doubt, Serena Williams is the greatest Women's tennis player of all time. It would be a shame for her to let her mental game, prevent that from being carved everywhere in stone!

Anonymous said...

serena is nursing a knee injury from the 2nd round, and pliskova is having that good of a tournament - not a good combo for serena this year.

Kenneth M. Walsh said...

@Northalabama: Yes, but not everyone who has lost to Serena has been 100% either. It's her mental game that has slipped A LOT, but so few people are able to capitalize on it. In fact, Pliskova did the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM necessary to win -- but did just that.