Words by The Urban Journal
Her loss to Naomi Osaka raised questions about retirement – but with a record as good as hers, no one should rush to rule out Serena Williams just yet.
Game, set, match. A shake of the umpire’s hand, a wave to the crowd, a short walk to the changing rooms, training, working hard, only to go again the next match. That, in summary, has been the story of Serena Williams’ 25-year tennis career. And the rewards? 23 Grand Slam titles.
Few names in tennis – and in sport, mind – carry more recognition than hers. Few garner more respect. Few inspire others as much as Serena Williams has over the past 25 years.
She came from humble beginnings; the streets of Compton, California, to be precise. Her tally of 23 Grand Slam titles is impressive, but her remarkable comebacks after narrowly missing out on major triumphs are arguably more so. Last week, she would – once again – come close to a 24th Grand Slam trophy. Her opponent – a 23-year old rising star, Naomi Osaka – was to perform with the elegance, determination and poise we’ve all come to recognise as traits of Serena Williams. Her dancing feet, strong returns and dazzling serves proved simply too much for the 39-year-old legend of the sport.
As a result of that defeat, critics voiced their opinions – from the absurd to the disrespectful – about why it’s time for Williams to hang up her racket. This time, though, such opinions might have caused Serena a little more distress than usual; she left the press conference in tears after questions about retirement. But those tears are far from a sign of a defeated champion. Instead, they demonstrate what so many of her fans – from fellow tennis stars and presidents to amateur players and school children –know for sure: Serena Williams will be back.
In a one sense, suggestions and questions regarding the end of her long career have some merit. After all, Serena has won everything there is to win in tennis. She hasn’t anything left to prove. Bowing out now, at the top of her game – like so many others have done – wouldn’t hurt her legacy one bit.
But to become what you and I call the GOAT of your respective sport (or what our parents and grandparents might refer to as ‘the cream of the crop’), you must strive for more than everyone else. GOATs are desperate to break the barriers of normality, keen to redefine the very meaning of greatness, and impatient to rise back up after a fall.
They are, as part of their DNA, determined warriors. Their battlefields range from the hard grass courts of Wimbledon to the elusive corners of a Grand Prix. They won’t settle for average, or be content with what everyone else sees as a job well done. It’s why Kobe Bryant is fondly remembered by millions across the globe, why Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi continue to defy the odds of age and why Lewis Hamilton starts every race as if his whole life depends on it.
It is, too, why Serena Williams, without a doubt, will be back.
At her best, Williams has an ability to find her inner talent and steely determination when she needs it most. Since returning to tennis after maternity leave, she’s found it difficult to recreate that magic. Her performances, on the whole, have been impressive – but for such a results-driven star, she’ll be itching and desperate for more titles.
Given her recent struggle for trophies, her matches – including her antics and gestures off the court – receive careful analysis. Her frustrations, which are obviously a part of the sport, are overly-criticized, her comments overly-assessed. At various points in her career, she’s been painted as something she’s not: aggressive and egotistic. Continuing to win through it all, though, has made her success all the more impressive. But at 39, the gruelling tennis schedule will begin to take its toll on Serena – biology, it seems, is the only thing GOATs haven’t been able to redefine.
After the game against Osaka, her reflective pause, smile and wave at the admiring crowd drew comments suggesting this “might be the last time we see her here on Rod Laver Arena.” Her response was to not to give much away. She’s not in a rush to announce any retirement plans – and if she was thinking about it, she’s definitely not about to tell the world. She will go out, like all other GOATs, on her own terms.
Perhaps, like others, you’re ready to move on from Serena. Her exciting opponent, Osaka, deserves all the attention and praise for a brilliant start to what looks set to be a glittering career in the sport. But this isn’t the changing of the old guard just yet. Serena is still a world-class tennis player. That determination is still there, the serves and returns still as powerful as ever.
Osaka is a star in her own right, a dominant force on the court. In time, she’ll be recognised as one of the greats. If you watched the match, you might have wondered where she gets it all from. Her determination, ability to find her inner genius and obvious thirst for success. The answer, according to Osaka herself, was not far away from the action. In fact, she was just across the court.
So, if I were you, I would expect to hear the old line “game, set, match, Williams” very, very soon.
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