Serena in a class all of her own

There have been lots of mixed opinions regarding Serena here in the past. Great champion yes, but some say arrogant, others perhaps a bullying style of play and still others point to her recent outbursts in slams when things weren't going her way.

Nobody though can deny that she's playing some awesome tennis right now. Current Wimbledon, Olympic and US Open titles followed by destroying the field last week in Istanbul to win the year end finals without breaking sweat, never mind looking like dropping a set.

All done seemingly with a new found maturity (she is now 31, after all) and a game which suggest even more improvements in her serve, movement and consistency rather than just relying on overpowering her opponent. Seems to me it's more difficult than ever for any of the top players to beat her and the head to head stats make interesting reading (I've also included her top opponents from the past for completeness):

vs. Azarenka, 11-1
Capriai, 10-7
Clijsters, 7-2
Davenport, 10-4
Graf, 1-1
Henin, 8-6
Hingis, 7-6
Kuznetsova, 6-2
Mauresmo, 10-2
Pierce, 5-1
Seles, 4-1
Sharapova, 10-2
Williams Venus, 13-10

The ones that stand out are Venus who used to know how to beat her but would be very unlikely to do so again, Henin who for a while managed to frustrate her and Hingis who comes closest of all to having had the answers to Serena's power. Graf (and any other low number of matches contested out there) doesn't really count as the 1-1 scoreline was way back in 1999 when Serena was starting out and Graf about to retire.

Hingis perhaps shows the way to beat Serena by using guile to cope with her power and moving her round to expose weaknesses in that department. The only current player who could possibly do that though is Radwanska and she hasn't beaten Serena in any of her 4 meetings so far. If, as seems likely, Serena is now at the peak of her fitness, moving better than ever and playing with supreme confidence it seems inevitable that many more slams are yet to follow.

Of the current competition Azarenka has only beaten her once in twelve attempts and Sharapova hasn't beaten her since 2004. Venus is unlikely to pass on any tips of how to do it so don't expect either of them to beat her again any time soon.

Since winning her first slam in 1999 only injury, family tragedy and lack of focus in the middle of her career seem to have stop her eclipsing all others. If she remains motivated and fit then a reasonable schedule until Rio and the US Open in four years (if that's her plan) begs the question just how many more slams? The first player ever (male or female) to do the Golden slam in singles and doubles it's difficult to see just who is capable of standing in her way if the desire is still there.

Thanks for this, to be honest it's interesting to look at the results from the year end tournament which I didn't even realise was going on. She looks by far the best at the moment, number one in all but name. She is the only true great around at the moment, and doesn't really have the great rivalry she might benefit from to be even greater. I supposed the sister rivalary was the main one in her career, or other rivalries that are now gone. It's an indictment of the current era that she continues to dominate despite sporadically lacking commitment. I think she could have been number 1 earlier if she had really wanted it, but looks like she's on the way there.

"Outbursts" is being generous though when you look at exactly the words said, it's pretty clear to me what an unpleasant person she is. Hiding in the panic room when the drug testers come calling is not exactly clever either.

Some very astute assessments of Serena. I've said before that Venus, possibly, and Serena, definitely, should have been well past the 20 Slam mark by now.
Yes, they've had injuries, illness and personal tragedy, but both have tended to cherry pick their tournaments and drift in and out of the game at times.
Now, both seem to realise you're a long time retired and Serena in particular seems years more mature now as a person. She could yet reach the 20-slam mark and is heading back to number one without anyone really looking like stopping her.
A good finish to her career - and it's certainly happening at the moment - could well dispel theories that she did not do justice to her enormous talent. Personally - I've never liked her. But a terrrific player.

Shows how good Martina Hingis was, a girl without anything special in her game but a really clever head on her shoulders.

Quite a few opinions too.

Yes Hingis achieved alot from a slight frame, it was all timing, angles and court craft with her. She effectively retired far too early at 22 effectively (albeit through bad ankles) - she's only 32 years old now yet seems to have left the game decades ago!

She was 6-7 in H2H vs S.Williams and 17-17 against the "Williams Sisters".
She was 5-4 up in slam matches against them too.

So Hingis was pretty adept given the new guys cant hold a candle to Serena. And Hingis achieved most of this by age 22...then disappeared before a brief flirt back on tour in 2006. She won 43 titles...and Serena even now only has 46!

Serena BTW has won 48 out of her last 50 matches. Is she better than ever, or is the competition poorer?

If I had to put money on who would end their career with the most slams out of Serena or Fed I think I'd go for Serena on the basis of her current trajectory (she's got 15 to his 17).

Brilliant though her career has been, you can't help feeling what might have been with Serena.

Yes, she had the chance to get the most slams...particularly given the competition has been weaker these past 3-4 years really. And as mentioned above, bad ankles stopped Hingis blunting her progress. Henin retired early...as did Clijsters. She couldnt have had a better opportunity. On the other hand was she unlucky to have a sister!?

I think she'll end on 17-18 slams.

Serena has skill,power, athleticism and in depth knowledge now on how to play the game.

Venus at the prime had the knowledge how to beat her sister, but with ever passing year Serena getting better and better and Venus dropping her levels it became one way traffic for Serena.

Yes the competition is not great at the moment but its not weak either, any champion would find it difficult to beat the current version of Serena. If she is motivated and stay fit 20 slams is not out of her reach, I more or less got with Lyd in that, she might end up just short of 20 slams in the region of 18-19.

Serena has achieved plenty.

It is Hingis who is the underachiever.

She was one match (a French Open loss to Majoli) away from doing the calendar year grand slam as a 16 year old!! And after those 3 slams she only ever added 2 Australians, and never won the French.

She should have had 10-20 slams. I know there were injuries but I believe psychologically there were probably some, perhaps subtle, issues as well.

Serena Williams has a lot of talent, but Hingis was another level entirely. One of the best doubles player's I've ever seen, and a real natural.

Although some of her comments during her career weren't too smart either.

Serena's renaissance of late has come at a time when there have been two genuine quality players - Azashrieker and Sharapova - at the top of the women's game and some fairly useful performers (Kvitova, Radwanska) around too.
It all adds up to a healtheir state for women's tennis and contrasts with the comparatively poor period when Sharpova was injured and a succession of, shall we say, "unworthy" number ones appeared.
Agree that Serena is likely to get more slams than Fed as I think she'll have a stellar 2013. Grand Slam for her, perhaps?

Good comments on Hingis HB. I think she simply started her career too early and burnt out before she was able to take it better into her stride. Dont the WTA block younger players from starting on the tour now? Hingis was 14 when she started I believe? If she had been properly held back until 17-18 it would have benefitted her. I think the niggling injuries started to eat away at her success and confidence, plus she rebelled against all the tennis she had as a youngster. It was too much pressure, too soon. We saw similar with Capriati. Shame because she is probably one of the most naturally talented players of the Open Era.

Given Serena has missed a fair bit of tennis maybe her career can last longer...? Just a matter of her ambition and health/fitness over time now...because when she's on her game there is no-one to hold a candle to her presently, she's just blowing most of the young players away in almost embarrassing fashion.