The conversation about who holds the title of greatest athlete of all time is neverending. This debate is a fierce one, with countless suggestions as to who is truly deserving of the title. The names you’ll hear most often come from the NBA or the NFL, but maybe we’ve been looking for the answer in the wrong place. Maybe, it’s not a man from one of those sports, but a woman in tennis..
Serena Williams has always been a natural when it comes to playing tennis. Since she started playing — at only 3 years old — she was often regarded as a prodigy in the sport. At her young age, she trained intensively, competed often and at just 14 years old she began playing tennis professionally. At 17, she won her very first Grand Slam, which at the time, made her the first Black woman to receive that title since 1958. This marked the start of a long list of remarkable achievements that she would go on to make.
Over the span of her now 25 year career, Williams has made a very distinct name for herself. Currently, she has 23 Grand Slam Championship wins under her belt, giving her the second highest number of Grand Slam wins in the history of tennis across all genders. She is currently only two wins away from securing her record for most championship wins of all time. This September, she made an attempt at obtaining her twenty fourth win, ending just shy of the final match after a semi-finals round loss.
Williams has a better record than most, yet she is overshadowed by the lesser records of her male counterparts. If you look up ‘who has won the most Grand Slams in tennis,’ the top results are all for male Grand Slam achievements — nevermind the fact that the two people with the highest number of Grand Slam wins, including Serena at number two, are both women.
It’s not just that she’s overlooked either. For years now, Williams has been on the receiving end of harsh criticisms. Too often, she is made the butt of insensitive, and sometimes, racial jokes, and she hasn’t been granted the same grace that her male competitors get in moments of frustration during matches.
Despite all of this, Williams remains a focused, goal-driven, strong player. When you take into account her achievements on the court in spite of the adversity she has faced, you understand that it’s time that we all start recognizing Williams for the competitor that she is. While I don’t expect the debate over who has the title for greatest of all time to end any time soon, I definitely think Williams’s name should come up in that conversation.
