Monica Seles has predicted that Serena Williams will become the greatest female tennis player of all time if she can maintain her focus, form and commitment.
The former world number one and winner of nine Grand Slam titles herself believes that Williams is better now than ever and, seemingly at peace with herself mentally, will continue to dominate the women’s circuit to the point of overhauling Margaret Court’s incredible record.
The Australian star of the 1960’s won a staggering 24 women’s singles Grand Slam titles, while Williams, aged 28, has won half this amount with 12. This places her equal sixth in the all-time list alongside Billie Jean King and behind Steffi Graf (22), Helen Wills Moody (19), Chris Evert (18) and Martina Navratilova (18).
Although Williams would need four years at three majors per year just to equal Court’s mark, by which stage she would be 32 years of age, Seles is so impressed by the American’s current dominance that she believes it will happen.
“If Serena can stay fit she’ll beat all the records,” insisted Seles, now 36 years old. “I appreciate she’s got a bit to go yet, and there are some great names ahead of her, but I really think she’ll do it because she has the potential to be the greatest player of all time.
“Serena now possesses every attribute required to be the best, and to stay the best,” said Seles, who won eight Grand Slam titles herself between 1991-3, including all four in 1992, before being stabbed in the shoulder by a crazed Graf fan in Hamburg in 1993. After a two-year break she returned to win the Australian Open in 1996, but never recovered from the mental scar of being attacked and failed to return to her former glory.
“She has a great serve, a sweet return, fantastic movement and all this is combined with awesome power. As if this is not enough no player comes close to being as mentally strong as her.
“We all know that Serena has had some difficult moments in her life during her tennis career, especially the passing of her older sister, as well as some injury and motivational problems.
“But she has her head back on now and has proved how tough she is to bounce back in such style when everyone seemed to have written her off. Serena has become a great champion. When she abused the line judge at last year’s US Open she knew she was wrong and she apologised, but at least it showed how much she still cares.
“Now I believe she’s matured as a woman and has a balanced life. She used to be criticised before for not committing every single minute of the day to tennis, but I believe her other interests have kept her mentally fresh and her love for the game intact.
“I was lucky enough to play against her a few times in the early stages of her career and even then I was being blown away by her power. It was difficult not to see that a great champion was in the making.”
Williams won two Slams last year, including her third Wimbledon title, and started 2010 by winning the Australian Open in emphatic style, and Seles believes that not even the return from retirement of the two Belgians, Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, will stop the American from total dominance.
“I reckon Serena’s playing her best tennis ever right now,” said the former Yugoslav who is now an American citizen. “She seems to have moved up a gear. She’s moved on. You can’t really make comparisons with previous eras, but it’s hard to see any of the greats living with Serena when she’s playing as well as she did in the Australian open.”
Seles, of course, could well have doubled her own Majors number, such was her dominance of the women’s game in the early 1990’s, had it not been for the attack and subsequent depression that saw her become addicted to food and her weight balloon.
“I was number one in the world then a terrible thing happened to me and the stabbing, together with my father battling with cancer, made me very depressed,” she said, speaking at the Laureus World Sports Awards. “That was when I turned to food and suddenly I was carrying an extra 40lbs of weight. It was only really when I stopped playing tennis that I was able to deal with my addiction.
“I’m not one to ask “what if?” The truth is I’ll never know what might have happened. What I do know is that I’d won 8 Grand Slams before I was even 20 years old, so it’s reasonable to assume I might have won a good many more if it hadn’t been for the stabbing. To think about that, however, would be dangerous, depressing and not achieving anything.
“I prefer to go around schools in America and address the rising obesity problem in the country. As I suffered from it myself I know what I’m talking about. I bring a 10lb weight vest with me and ask kids to run around wearing it, pointing out that this, and much more, was the extra weight I carried playing tennis. With the President’s Council in America they’re really looking to combat childhood and female obesity and I’m very committed to helping the cause because I know how much misery it causes.”
Seles is also keen to promote skill over looks in tennis. “I was bombarded with a certain image of a glamorous tennis player when I started out,” she explained. “I went the other way, always wearing a hat because all I was interested in was winning, not looking pretty. It’s important for girls to know this. Sport’s about winning, not how you look, and girls need to understand for their own self-esteem.”
