Serena Williams: Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Usain, no one comes close to her dominance
You can throw any name out there from any sport and not one will overshadow what this female has done, not only for Tennis but sports in general. Serena Williams is power, grace but most of all she is a mind game. Opponents are defeated the moment they see her name in the draw. When Michael Jordan was at the top of his game guys went at him just because he was the best and they wanted to embarrass him. Most times they did score but they couldn’t stop him. The same with Muhammad Ali and Tiger Woods when they were on top of their respective sports.
But Serena, she’s on a different playing field than the others. Opponents plan to give their best knowing it’s not good enough. It takes a special talent to win as much as she has but it’s something entirely different when you beat someone before the first serve. Williams just won her 23 Grand Slam title Saturday at the Australian Open, putting her one behind Margaret Court (Court won 13 before the Open era) for all time wins.
But it’s more than the Slam titles, it’s the sheer dominance in which she does it.
Who has more titles than her? Forget the era when there were only a handful of players, let’s talk when there are hundreds, fast women, those that take PEDS and how she has stood above them all. Talk about how she was almost forced into retirement due to injuries but came back stronger and more determined. At one point she fell as far as the 100th ranked person in the world, now look at her. One Slam win away from tying the best. These are records no one expected to be broken and she has not just broken them, Williams is in a position to crush them.
Tennis is grueling and the only other person that I can compare her to will be Roger Federer and he’s still five behind. Tiger had a chance and while it’s still time, he’s not mentally ready to get back in the saddle. Jordan was great but the league caught up to him, the same can be said for Jeter as well. The next person that has a chance to wreak havoc is Usain Bolt but how long can he keep up his dominance before age begins to cripple him?
23 titles and that’s just the Grand Slam. What about the singles (72) and doubles (23)? You see where I’m going with this. Who can compete with that?
Mark has been covering Sports and Entertainment for the past six years. His work has been featured on Bleacher Report, ESPN, Fox Sports, Teen Vogue, and many other websites.
