Is Serena Williams really a bigger athlete than Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal & Novak Djokovic in the 21st century?
Serena Williams of the United States is quite possibly the greatest female tennis player of all time, probably only rivalled by Steffi Graf in that regard. She has won 23 Grand Slam titles and spent 319 weeks as the World No. 1. She also won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in 2012.
Williams brought about a change in women's tennis with her raw strength that she shared with her elder sister, Venus. Serena was recently placed second on the list of greatest professional athletes since 2000 by ESPN, ahead of Federer (sixth), Djokovic (11th) and Nadal (12th).
Michael Phelps, the Olympic hero from the United States in swimming, was adjudged the topmost athlete, with footballer Lionel Messi coming third.
On Federer, ESPN said:
"It's not unusual for a professional athlete to feel emotional during their final match or game before retiring. But what is unusual is when everyone else in the competition is equally emotional about it."
They said about Djokovic:
"To many, the feat secured his position as the sport's greatest of all time, but, like a true competitor, he was far from satisfied."
And about Nadal:
"While Nadal has had success on all surfaces throughout his career, he was rightfully deemed the 'King of Clay' because of his dominance on the dirt."
Is Serena Williams greater than any of the Big 3?
As great as the American is, one cannot ignore a basic fact that women's tennis cannot be compared with men's. Winning a Grand Slam over the best-of-five format - as is the case with men - takes a lot more effort than doing so over the best-of-three format.
Hence, what the Big 3 have achieved in their career is simply staggering. There might not be another era ever again in tennis that will have three players retiring with 20 or more Grand Slams. Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have set the bar so high that the future generations will always find it hard to even go near it. Therefore, the achievements of Big 3 are better than Willams'.
Each member of the Big 3 had to contend with the other two
Each of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic had the other two to contend with for the better part of their careers. Then there were Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka, whose Grand Slam tally of three each would have gone up much higher had it not been for the Big 3.
Williams, with due respect to her, did not have to endure such stiff competition. Among her competitors, there was Venus, who was an early bloomer, and there also was Maria Sharapova, who had a terrible head-to-head against Serena. Justine Henin, who was the best clay-court player of her generation, made things difficult for Serena on the surface but retired quite early.
Venus Williams, Sharapova and Henin managed to win seven, five and seven Grand Slam titles, respectively, which, while impressive, do not even begin to approach Serena Williams’ tally
Serena Williams did not have to contend with a rival like Graf, who retired when the former's career was at a nascent stage. As a result, one can easily conclude that in terms of competition too, the Big 3 faced a much more difficult task than the American. Even then, both Djokovic's Grand Slam tally (24) and weeks at No. 1 (420+) are higher than Serena's respective tallies.
Serena Williams’ place at the top of women's tennis is virtually guaranteed forever. However, that does not make her better than the Big 3, whose achievements remain significantly higher than hers.