Serena battling challengers, Father Time
There is no mystery that the number 24 ranks high among the reasons Serena Williams still wants to do this, even at a stage of her life when tennis and motherhood both occupy her time and her body isn’t as cooperative as it was even a few years ago when she was cranking out Grand Slam tournament titles at a record pace.
Right now, the quest for one more Slam that would tie Margaret Court’s record is still on. But Saturday’s third-round loss to 20-year-old Sofia Kenin in the French Open was perhaps the most stark reminder yet of the reality of the situation.
With her 23 majors, Williams has a clear claim as the greatest women’s tennis player of all time. But at 37 with a creaky knee, a light tour schedule that leaves her short on match preparation and deteriorating form (of late) when she does show up to play, it should now be considered an upset if Williams can match Court, much less surpass her.
Two things about that. Court having more Grand Slams, if that’s the way Williams’ career finishes, should be totally irrelevant. Foremost among those reasons is that Court won 11 of those titles in the Australian Open, completely dominating in the 1960s when few of the world’s top players even bothered to make the long trip. It doesn’t diminish what a great player Court was in her era, but it absolutely skews the Grand Slam count.
Second, it would be unwise to completely count Serena out, particularly at Wimbledon. Even with ideal preparation and circumstances, winning another French Open was probably going to be beyond her reach at this point given how challenging the clay has been throughout her career. On the grass, where the rallies are shorter and her serve can still be a big factor, she’ll always have a chance.
Saturday’s 6-2, 7-5 loss to Kenin, who had never been past the third round of a major, seemed like a moment that revealed what kind of challenge Williams now faces.
It’s not just the young stars like Naomi Osaka, Sloane Stephens and Garbine Muguruza who have shown the poise to win Grand Slams and the ability to absorb Williams’ power in pressure moments. Now, to win a title, you have to also get through a whole generation of oncoming talents early in these tournaments like Kenin and 17year-old American Amanda Anisimova, who also advanced to the Round of 16 on Saturday. And they’re not afraid of her. It is already an incredible accomplishment that Williams came back from a pregnancy and childbirth that caused potentially life-threatening complications to make both the Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals last year. Though the odds seemed long that she could mount that quick of a comeback, she was able to reach a level last summer that made it seem like more majors were coming in 2019 and beyond.
But this year, Williams’ best tournament was her first: A quarterfinal loss to Karolina Pliskova in the Australian Open. Since then, she’d played only 31⁄2 matches coming into the French Open with one midmatch retirement to Muguruza at Indian Wells and injury withdrawals in Miami and Rome.
Even Williams, as cleanly as she still hits the ball, can’t just show up and pound forehands from the middle of the court and expect to win big matches. Opponents won’t let her get away with that.
To beat these women in the big tournaments, Williams needs to play more on the regular tour. She pretty much acknowledged that in her postmatch news conference Saturday by suggesting she might enter one of the Wimbledon warm-ups on grass this month.
At the same time, knee injuries like the one that forced her to pull out of three tournaments this spring aren’t as easy to come back from when you’re nearing your 38th birthday. They seemed to have a compounding effect on Williams, who said in Rome that the injury also limited her ability to do cardiovascular training.
With a month until the start of Wimbledon, there’s time for Williams to get in better shape and tune up her game. If her movement isn’t significantly improved from what we saw in Paris, it’s unclear how much that will matter.
That’s where we are halfway through the 2019 schedule with a larger-than-ever group of women who have the game to win Grand Slams and a declining Williams who will be hardpressed to turn back the clock.
Tennis has had a funny way of giving the legends one last magical run, even when they’re past their prime. Perhaps that’s coming for Serena, allowing her to cross off the last item on an all-time career resume.
For now, it looks like time might be the one opponent she’ll have trouble beating back.