Is Serena Williams the greatest female tennis player of all time?

Serena Williams has taken women's tennis to the next level. Like the greats that have come before her, she has raised the bar with the athleticism and power she brings to the game, her serve is arguably the greatest weapon the women's game has seen.


Serena's career so far has seen her win 35 grand slam titles, top the world rankings for a total of 247 weeks and win a career golden slam.
Williams is continuing to dominate in her mid 30s and shows no signs of slowing down. In the open era her 20 grand slam singles titles is only surpassed by Graf, however, Serena's career singles titles tally at 67 is considerably short of Navratilova's 177 and Graf's 107.

Although she still has a way to go to match some the other great player's stats, her dominance over her current rivals is unarguable. Challengers such as Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka, Kim Clijsters, Martina Hingis and her own sister Venus Williams have all been well beaten over her career.

Probably Serena's main rival, Justine Henin, retired from the game in 2008 still ranked as world number one. After two years Justine returned to the game before her second retirement due to an elbow injury in 2011, leaving a 4-3 career winning record against Serena in grand slam events. Since Justine's retirement, no other female player has looked to truly challenge Serena's reign and maybe a great rivalry will be the only thing missing from her career.

The road to greatness

To compare these greats is problematic. It is not Margaret Court's fault not all her competitors travelled to the Australian Open, it does not seem right to diminish Steffi's records due to Monica Seles' forced absence from the game or to penalize Serena for a lack of a true rival — a player can only beat who is in front of them to make their mark in history.
Can Serena continue to dominate and surpass all records? Even if she does not, can she be considered the best? It is likely we will not have to debate these issues for much longer, if she stays healthy, is clever with her scheduling and continues to be hungry for success there will be no stopping her, and the question of who is the greatest will be answered emphatically.

Source: Marshable