The rankings system has her relegated, inexplicably, to the No. 2 spot. But Serena Williams has been the best player on the planet for a decade, and she's showing it again at the U.S. Open.
These days, when journalists want to know what’s going on in a pro’s life, they know where to go. Not press conferences. That’s, like, so 2008. Twitter, of course, is where the action is. That point was made once again last Friday during ESPN’s telecast of the U.S. Open. Venus Williams was sitting in the booth, talking to the ESPN gang about her most recent victory, when she was informed that her little sister Serena had just tweeted about a sartorial conundrum of the highest order. Serena, we all learned, had made reservations for dinner, but when she arrived at the restaurant she realized that her Nike shoes and sweats didn’t exactly fit the dress code.
“Omg most embarrassing moment in my life!” Serena tweeted to her roughly one million followers. “We had reservations @ a restaurant we did not know it was fancy. And they r giving us jackets to wear!”
Serena’s fashion faux pas is about the only thing that has gone wrong for her during the Open’s fortnight. In between firing off illuminating tweets—in another food-related disaster, she reported finding a “looooonnnnngggghh hair” in her food, “soooo gross!!!!!”—Serena has done what she almost always does at majors: win. Sometimes her tennis is a bit shaky, sometimes her shock-and-awe game is a thing of beauty. But, as Brad Gilbert likes to say, it’s what’s up on the scoreboard that counts. And by that measure, there is no better player on the women’s tour right now than Serena Williams.
With Oudin mania sweeping the game, Serena has been uncharacteristically outside the media’s spotlight. So, in case you’re not caught up on Serena’s progress thus far, here’s the Cliff’s Notes version: She hasn’t dropped a set, and she’s displayed her customary clutch shotmaking on the big points. That’s in stark contrast to the dodgy performances by many other players in the field. While Serena is closing out matches without fuss, others are finding new and stomach-churning ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Consider the ungodly number of double faults the women are serving up. Dinara Safina hit 35 of them in three matches, putting her at the top of this ignominious list. Second is Maria Sharapova with 32 double faults in three matches. Venus is up there, too, at No. 4, with 26 in four matches. Serena? As of the second Tuesday, she hadn’t even cracked the Top 20, even with five matches under her belt.
It’s not as if Serena’s playing it safe, either. On the strength of her natural throwing motion, she can consistently blast serves without getting a case of concrete elbow. Not surprisingly, she has dominated at the Open when she’s gotten her first serve in, winning 81 percent of those points time (that percentage, by the way, is tops in the women’s draw). Why is she such an exceptionally good server? Her mechanics are sound, that’s plain to see. But, according to John McEnroe, the secret to her success might not be all that secret after all. “Hey, coincidence,” he says, “She works on her serve a lot more than the other girls.”
And while this Open has seen Russian after Russian fold like so many lawn chairs after Labor Day, Serena’s resolve almost never wavers. She’s a master at pressuring her opponents, which forces them to come out of their comfort zone merely to survive, something Flavia Pennetta learned in the quarterfinals. And then Serena applies her thumbs to the windpipe.
If Serena hands out any gimmies in the form of unforced errors, it’s not because she’s afraid to lose. It’s because she’ll do anything to win. In this respect, she has a lot in common with the U.S. Open’s original street fighter, Jimmy Connors. Like Jimbo, Serena’s approach to hitting any shot, from a serve to a forehand to a swing volley, is tennis at its most fundamental—see the ball, hit the ball. Her strokes aren’t textbook, but hitches and excess movement do not hinder them, either. They were forged with one thing in mind, getting results.
And yet if Serena defends her U.S. Open title, which would give her a third major victory on the year and a fourth in the last five Slams, one key result will continue to elude her: the No. 1 ranking. Those who rush to the defense of Safina deserving the top spot will point out that she’s played more tournaments. Fair enough. Last year, the Russian had a record of 55-20, compared to Serena’s 44-8. This season, Serena has competed in 13 tournaments, just three fewer than Safina has entered. Serena’s win-loss record is 38-10; Safina’s is 52-12. But now consider this: Since April 2008, Serena’s record at majors is 37-3. During that same period, her record at 16 WTA events is 35-14, with her last title coming in Charleston in 2008.
Say what you will about the WTA computer, but there’s no disputing that Serena’s been the game’s best player over the last decade (11 majors) and the most consistent performer in Grand Slam tournaments over the past year and a half. Her exemplary record is often overlooked by the drama that Serena, a self-professed drama queen, creates herself. She can be abrasive, cocky, rude and downright contentious, as when she threatened to settle a score with Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the locker room after she accused the Spaniard of cheating her at the French Open. (Turns out that Serena let her racquet do the talking in their rematch last week.)
But after watching chokers and pushers for the past week, Serena proves there’s at least one woman who hasn’t forgotten how to win—ruthlessly if possible, but any way will do. There have been others of Serena’s pedigree, stars like Justine Henin and Sharapova, who exude that winning mentality. It’s rumored that Henin is mulling a comeback, and if Sharapova can stay healthy she could return to her former Grand Slam glory.
Until then, there’s Serena. What does she have to say on the subject of her legacy? Her Nike “Delicious” T-shirt, which she announced to her fans on Twitter, pretty much said it all: Can’t Spell Dynasty Without Nasty.
James Martin is the Editor-in-Chief of TENNIS. Follow him on Twitter.