Alright Serena!!!

[lanieer]

Not that I disagree with Serena being the greatest of all time but I do have an issue with the negative comments of Steffi Graf. I love the fact that she retired before she hit the down slope like someone like Willie Mays and David Ortiz. Steffi could have possibly won another three or four Grand Slams as she only had Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. Steffi retired at the young age of 32. She was a tremendous athlete. I am sure that when Serena beats her 22 GS Steffi will be there because she always had a tremendous amount of respect for Serena. There really has not been a great rivalry since Chris and Martina in the women's game.

 

[alexrgct]

It is true that over a protracted period of time, Sanchez Vicario was Graf's primary "rival". However, she did have Monica Seles, who she beat in the 1992 Wimbledon final (before the stabbing), as well as in the 1995 and 1996 US Opens (after Monica returned). Graf can also be credited with dethroning Martina Navratilova as world #1, as well as kept Martina Hingis from completing a career slam at the 1999 French. In short, she had some excellent competition.

Martina and Chrissy certainly had a great rivalry, the greatest in women's tennis even, but if nothing else, Serena had Venus. She's also had five-time major champion and career slam winner Maria Sharapova (a rivalry Serena has owned, notwithstanding Wimbledon 2004). She also did well to fight off now-largely-irrelevant Victoria Azarenka. No, Vika's not an historically great player...but she may have earned historically great bona fides without Serena in the mix.

To the extent that we bemoan a lack of rivalries in women's tennis, I guess the counterpoint to that is that such a lack is attributable how peerless Serena has been.

And to think how many majors Serena would have won had she stayed healthy and focused from 2004 through 2007, as well as post-Wimby 2010 through the 2012 French Open...

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

Not that I disagree with Serena being the greatest of all time but I do have an issue with the negative comments of Steffi Graf. I love the fact that she retired before she hit the down slope like someone like Willie Mays and David Ortiz. Steffi could have possibly won another three or four Grand Slams as she only had Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. Steffi retired at the young age of 32. She was a tremendous athlete. I am sure that when Serena beats her 22 GS Steffi will be there because she always had a tremendous amount of respect for Serena. There really has not been a great rivalry since Chris and Martina in the women's game.

She retired at 30, not 32.

ASV was her main rival during the 93-96 period.

Graf did not win majors in 97 or 99, as she was injured a lot. Hingis and Davenport stepped up, followed by the Williams Sisters. That's what made the 1999 French (champion) and Wimbledon (runner-up) so magical.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

After Seles, I considered Gabby Sabatini to be Steffi's main rival.