Comparing men's and women's professional tennis is akin to an apples-and-oranges debate: It quickly devolves and ultimately ends up reaching no consensus or finality. That said, Serena Williams offered statements over the weekend on potentially "equaling" Roger Federer's mark of 17 major championships won. "I thought Roger had 16, but he has 17, so I was like, 'Honestly, Roger, you have to win this much.' It would be cool if I could be even with him. How awesome would it be if I could do it at Wimbledon. But the competition's really tough."
That's Serena-speak akin to Rafael Nadal's faux-meek humility about not being the perennial favorite at Roland Garros, always seeking to downplay expectations and hype. The fact is that the younger Williams sister is—with the onset of her sister's Sjogren's syndrome and general aging—peerless now at SW19. Methinks it would take Petra Kvitova catching a whiff of her 2011 Wimbledon campaign's 222 winners (see video here) for someone to truly challenge Serena on grass now.
Serena certainly has her work cut out for her, and it's fair that she's cognizant of that and doesn't want to become complacent. But the rest of the WTA field has a taller order. The All England Club is this No. 1 tigress's stomping ground, with fortnight ace totals in triple digits sometimes at the AELTC. Consider this: At the 2013 French Open, she rained down 41 aces to fellow champ Nadal's 29—and he plays best-of-five-sets matches while she was pushed to a third set just once in seven matches. The slick grass at Wimbledon will only accelerate Serena's serve and divide her from the rest of the pack.
There are tune-ups to be played, surely, but right now who are your favorites to take the Wimbledon titles?
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