Chris Evert or Venus Williams' mental toughness, Serena Williams' serve, Navratilova's volleys: Chanda Rubin builds her perfect WTA player
In a conversation with the Tennis Channel, former World No. 5 Chanda Rubin built her "perfect WTA player", picking individual skillsets of some of the most recognizable names in the women's game.
The American chose 22-time Grand Slam champion Steffi Graf's forehand without much hesitation. She had a much harder time settling on the backhand, oscillating between Graf and fellow Major winners Justine Henin and Lindsay Davenport.
Rubin said that while she liked Henin's backhand slice, she had to go with Davenport, who had the cleaner strike off that wing.
"We need the perfect player so I got the Steffi Graf forehand, it's pretty good, right? I have the backhand, I kind of want Justine Henin for the slice, but Lindsay Davenport. I'm gonna make her mad by mentioning, but she had a clean backhand," Rubin said.
Moving on to the mental aspect of the game, Rubin picked Chris Evert and Venus Williams, describing the duo as "tough competitors".
The American picked Venus' sister, 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams, for the serve and Monica Seles for the return.
Rubin rounded off her list by choosing Martina Navartilova for her net skills and Kim Clijsters for her on-court movement, an aspect of the game that, according to the American, was often overlooked.
"The return, Monica Seles, got to go with that," Rubin said. "Mental toughness, baby, Chris Evert or Venus Williams. Venus is a tough competitor out there. Serena Williams, you have got to give her the serve, of course."
"The volleys are Martina Navratilova," she continued. "I mean, yeah, I gotta say that and movement Clijsters. I like that."
Venus and Serena Williams to further drop in the WTA rankings
Serena Williams last played a competitive match at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships, where she was forced to retire from her opening-round encounter against Aliaksandra Sasnovich after suffering a foot injury.
The American's absence from the WTA tour has taken a toll on her ranking. She recently fell out of the top 200 after dropping the points earned during her semi-final run at the 2021 Australian Open and is now ranked at No. 240. The 23-time Grand Slam champion is set to drop another seven places to No. 247 when the updated rankings are released on Monday.
Venus Williams, meanwhile, has not played since losing to Hsieh Su-wei at the Chicago Women's Open back in August last year. She has dropped all the way down to No. 470 with only 93 points in her kitty.
It's unclear when the two sisters plan to return to action.