Women's Tennis?

didn't see a thread for it.

I just noticed a number of articles on the subject of Sharpova's doping bust that refer to her as Serena's biggest rival. I looked up the career head to heads and it stands at 19-2 Williams.

19

to

2

That's like saying that the Russians are the biggest rival the United States has in Olympic basketball.

It's the state of women's tennis--with Henin and Clijsters out of the game, Sharapova basically *is* her biggest rival besides Venus. I also think the record looked a lot better before Sharapova blew out her shoulder.

Women's tennis is...kinda in a weird place these past couple of years. You've had a string of young players capture the number one ranking who couldn't win a slam. You've had a huge number of slams won by veterans who had the best years of their career right before they retired. It's a very unsettled situation in women's tennis where Serena's only real rival is herself. (some edits).

cheeze_pavilion wrote:

It's the state of women's tennis--with Henin and Clijsters out of the game, Sharapova basically *is* her biggest rival besides Venus. I also think the record looked a lot better before Sharapova blew out her shoulder.

Women's tennis is...kinda in a weird place these past couple of years. You've had a string of young players capture the number one ranking who couldn't win a slam. You've had a huge number of slams won by veterans who had the best years of their career right before they retired. It's a very unsettled situation in women's tennis where Serena's only real rival is herself. (some edits).

Serena can make a pretty solid case for being the most dominant athlete in a mature sport in the history of sport. Like you said, her only real rival at this point is herself and whether or not she decides on any given day to take what she is doing more seriously than whatever is distracting her at the moment.

If there is any criticism I have of her (and I have to stretch for this one), it is that as great as she is, it is clear that she is not playing to her potential. That, in and of itself, is pretty amazing.

I think the main criticism would be something she has no control over: she has no rivals in this latter portion of her career because women's tennis has been missing any great players for her to be measured against. Even her 'rival' Sharapova has two French Open titles, and Sharapova once said of herself on clay that she feels like a cow on ice.

Perhaps one of things I find most puzzling is the amount and level of Serena hate among American women's tennis fans. Just today I had a coworker say she hated her because "she's a man".

cheeze_pavilion wrote:

Yup.

That's messed up. This country sucks ass.

Okay. I'm reading now that Sharpova has been the highest paid female athlete for the last 11 years despite being squarely dominated in prison Female Doggo fashion by Williams. Is this all about being the Great White Hype?

Paleocon wrote:

Okay. I'm reading now that Sharpova has been the highest paid female athlete for the last 11 years despite being squarely dominated in prison Female Doggo fashion by Williams. Is this all about being the Great White Hype?

I wouldn't put it that way. She's completed a career grand slam, she arrived on the scene by beating Serena when she was only 17, she was having a fantastic career until shoulder injuries, and has grited out a very impressive career since (the irony is she's benefited from the instability in women's tennis as much as Serena has). She had to change her serve significantly in order to keep her shoulder healthy, and from what I know, she's never had the same effectiveness with her serve. We don't have to demonize her in order to note the massive role narrow and race-based notions of what is and is not attractive in female spokeswomen has played in the difference between their off-court earnings.