Serena Williams: A tennis cyborg sent to eviscerate all opponents

Poor Lucie Safarova. The veteran from the Czech Republic could have been forgiven for thinking an elusive singles grand slam trophy was within her grasp. The 28-year-old had never made a singles grand slam final before but found herself up an early break in the deciding set in the French Open final. She was riding high on momentum having recovered from a 1-4 deficit in the second set, while her opponent was noticeably ailing from the flu. Unfortunately for Safarova, she was playing against a phenomenon. As she has done repeatedly throughout her legendary career, Serena Williams overcame adversity and summoned her resounding best when the pressure was at its most intensive. She defeated Safarova after conjuring an incredible turnaround to win the last six games and record her 20th grand slam, and third French Open title. [caption id=“attachment_2283202” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Serena Williams celebrates after winning the French Open. AP[/caption] Williams is inching closer to Steffi Graf’s open era record of 22 grand slams. She is already arguably the greatest women’s tennis player ever, considering her longevity – she won her first grand slam in 1999 – and the depth of the sport these days with players being spawned from virtually every part of the globe. In grand slam finals, Williams is 20-4 - the best percentage in either the men’s or women’s game. Williams turns 34 later this year – an age where even the great ones generally struggle or have already retired – but she’s seemingly getting better. She has now won seven grand slams in the past three years. Williams’ overall record is 32-1 this year and she has claimed both grand slams. She will be the hot favourite at the upcoming Wimbledon, where she is a five-time champion. If Williams does indeed win there, then she would have once again achieved the ‘Serena Slam’ by holding all four slams concurrently. There is every possibility that Williams could win all four slams this year, and no player has won the calendar grand slam since Graf in 1988. It’s essentially the only achievement that is not on her resume. Despite the never ending accolades and endless superlatives, Williams has often had a dubious standing amongst tennis fans and the broader sports community. Her brashness – both in on-court histrionics and outlandish attire – has often been frowned upon by the traditionally conservative tennis fraternity. Her temperamental demeanor at times fuels the criticism. Sometimes she appears disenchanted, or even perhaps just merely bored by her dominance, and consequently her game shockingly spirals into a meltdown. This was evident in the second set of the final when she let slip a 4-1 lead with a barrage of double faults and unforced errors coming from nowhere. Some critics loath Williams’ playing style with her relentless slugging from the baseline being the prototype for a generation to essentially mimic a game built around sheer grunt rather than grace. Powerfully built, Williams is an athletic marvel and the most imposing women’s tennis player ever. Much like LeBron James in the NBA, her brutish physical attributes are just too overpowering for her opponents. But it’s unfair to label her merely as brawn. Williams’ athleticism is underrated; she’s nimble and moves around the court exceedingly well. Precise footwork enables her to be in the perfect position to unleash her deadly groundstrokes. Williams’ arsenal also contains arguably the most lethal serve ever seen in women’s tennis and a competent volley, on the rare occasion she does venture to the net. Williams has a knack of improvising her shots, a testament to her concentration and ability to see the ball late. She showcased this during the final with an astonishing one-handed left hand shot to save a point that appeared to be lost during a pivotal moment late in the match. Not long ago - by the mid-2000s - after a period of outrageous success where Serena had overtaken rivals Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport and sister Venus, it appeared she started getting disillusioned by the sport. She only won one grand slam during a four-year stretch from 2004-08 and struggled with injuries, depression and motivation. Williams played intermittently, skipping numerous events bar the big tournaments. She appeared to have other priorities and her ranking even shockingly slipped to near 100 in 2006. It seemed probable she would fade away from tennis and possibly venture into a career of fashion while basking in the celebrity lifestyle. What few realised, including perhaps Serena herself for some time, was that she was most content when obliterating opponents on the court. The only athlete I’ve seen more ruthless was basketball legend Michael Jordan, who was famous for winning while psychologically destroying his rivals. Williams is wired similarly. She’s basically a tennis cyborg sent to eviscerate all opponents. Impressively, Williams has conquered a whole new generation of players who are bred to counter her firepower. No one has come close to challenging her supremacy and ability to bully from the baseline. Maria Sharapova, generally regarded as the next best player over the past decade, has lost 16 straight times to Williams. Like Jordan, Williams seems to relish any slight, however trivial, and use it to motivate herself. The last time Sharapova beat Williams was at the Wimbledon final in 2004. Many heralded the then 17-year-old Russian as the next dominant player on the women’s circuit and a heap of attention was suddenly directed at tennis’ new glamour player. You feel Williams took that personally, vowing to never ever lose to Sharapova again. Williams’ utter domination over her ‘rival’ is one of the most astonishing feats in sports. Williams’ edge is her aura and resolve. She isn’t scared by the spectre of defeat. She thrives when on the brink. Williams almost never plays conservatively; she’s always backing her instincts in the sheer belief that her innate attacking will pay dividends. It doesn’t matter if she’s ill, injured or simply playing poor tennis, Williams routinely finds a way to win. Much like her complete supremacy in 2002-03, Williams again finds herself clearly the dominant force in women’s tennis. It’s hard to think of another athlete in any sport rediscovering their peak more than a decade later. Incredibly, Williams continues to widen the gulf between herself and the rest. There have been so many remarkable sportspeople this millennium, including Federer, Messi, Tiger, Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps and LeBron. Serena Williams may well trump them all.