A year without Grand Slam success, is Serena Williams a spent force at Majors?

Serena Williams, winner of 17 Grand Slam singles title, 13 Grand Slam doubles titles and 62 WTA singles titles, no. 1 for more than 200 weeks and oldest player to be ranked no. 1 in the history of the game. That’s a pretty strong case for inclusion in the Greatest of All Time list, alongside Margaret Court, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. Over the years, Serena has been many things and been accused of many others. Unfit… unfocussed… unfriendly… but an undeserving world no. 1? Never. Well, not yet, at least. But if Serena fails to win her 18th Grand Slam title in New York in early September, she would be the no. 1 player in the world without being the current holder of any of the four Grand Slam titles. [caption id=“attachment_1676761” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Can Serena’s year be considered a success without a Grand Slam win? AP[/caption] When Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina and Caroline Wozniacki climbed to the pinnacle of the sport a few years ago, they were all trashed down for the lack of majors in their resume. How could a player who had yet to win a Grand Slam be a deserving world no.1? Surely, Williams’ 17 Grand Slam singles titles would be good enough then to exclude her from that conversation. But let’s side-track for a minute here. The world rankings are based on the results of a player over the past 52 weeks. Sure, you could make an argument that Jankovic, Wozniacki and Safina did not deserve to be ranked no. 1 in the world as they never won a Grand Slam title. But would they have deserved the top spot had they won a major title, let’s say, 36 months before they reached no.1? Heading into the final major of the season in New York, Serena finds herself precariously positioned. The soon-to-be 33-year-old has flopped miserably at the Slams this year, failing to reach the quarter-finals even once. The last time Serena did not win a major in a calendar year was 2011 and you would have to go back to 2001 for the last year she failed to win a major after playing in all four. Yet, she is in all likelihood going to be ranked no. 1 no matter how things pan out in New York. That’s because, she has done consistently well in the non-Slam events, picking up 6 WTA titles this year while her rivals who went on to triumph at the majors this year, have failed to produce big results at the other Slams and non-WTA events due to injuries or lack of consistency. Just 12 months ago, things were looking pretty different for the younger Williams sister. Having won her 17th Grand Slam title in New York, she looked set to surpass Evert and Navratilova, who are tied at 18 Slams, and threatening to dislodge Graf, who has 22 Slams, from the all-time list. But even while her off-court distractions and hobbies have taken a side-step in the past couple of years, a fourth-round in Australia, a second-round in Paris and a third-round at Wimbledon are all that Serena has to show for a season in which she has been ranked no. 1 every single week. And if she leaves New York without the trophy, there will surely be more questions asked than answered.