Wimbledonian Achievement

Another major from Wimbledon is in the record books, and, after the dust had settled from the gentlemens’ and ladies’ finals, two things became pretty bloody apparent. One, Roger Federer proved still one more time that he currently is not, probably has never been, and now very likely will never be again considered to be worthy of the title of the greatest men’s tennis player of all time. And two, Serena Williams just might have proved once and for all that she is very much entitled to being called the greatest women’s tennis player of all time.

Roger Federer may have had a nice window of a career somewhere between about 2003 and 2012. He won 17 majors during that time. He had a few years when he won three out of the four majors. During those years (2004 through 2007), he really was the best player in the world. During other years during that window of his career, he was somewhere near the top of the heap, but he happened to be playing at the same time as Rafael Nadal, who kind of owned Federer most of the times he played him.

Federer may have won 17 majors between ’03 and ’12, but during the years of ’05 to now, Nadal has been allowed to win 14 majors under Federer’s watch. You can’t be the best player of all time when at least one person “owns” you, especially the way Nadal owns Federer on Roland Garros clay. If someone wants to say that Nadal is the BEST player of all time on the clay surface, you won’t get a whimper of protest for that statement.

And further, as Federer has continued playing (past his prime years), it seems another player has come to “own” him, that being Novak Djokovic. Djokovic has now won nine major titles during the “era of Federer.” While Federer may have won six out of seven Wimbledons between 2003 and 2009, he has slowed down to a crawl since, winning only a solitary Wimbledon (and major) during the last five years. You can’t be the best player of all time when you are consistently getting schooled during the last half dozen years of your career.

Federer may be playing well enough to make a Wimbledon final (no small task), but it appears his window of winning majors is over. It appears that the skills that made him nearly unbeatable for the previous decade have now eroded enough to make him very much “beatable” whenever he plays the elite players. And that is sad, for he was one of the most gracious champions who ever played. To see him win one more time would be something special, but as long as Djokovic or Nadal (or any one of a few others) are there to play him in a final, it appears his “era” is over.

Serena Williams, on the other hand, is starting to put together one hell of a resume as the greatest woman player of all time. It started out when she won a major as a young child in 1999, and 16 years later, (with the career of Federer fading far sooner, like maybe after about ten years) Serena Williams is now playing as well as or better than she has ever played. 21 majors and counting. And when she is playing at her best, that level of excellence is probably better than ANYONE else has ever played.

She has a more powerful serve than anyone else (maybe more powerful than anyone who has ever played). She has more powerful strokes than anyone else. She has a mental toughness that can pull her out of all of the difficult spots she sometimes faces when she is only playing her B or C quality game. She simply has a better game of tennis than anyone on the planet, and probably is better than any of the others who played before her (including Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Margaret Court… anybody).

Remember this. As difficult as it is to win a major in women’s tennis, as competitive as it might be with all of the great players from Russia, Europe and all over the rest of the world, Serena Williams has won the first three majors of 2015, a decade and a half AFTER she started her career. A good five years AFTER Federer has hit the wall, Serena Williams is one win away from winning THE SLAM.

THAT, my friends, is the stuff you have to do to be called the best player of all time.