Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs & Andrea Petkovic compare the American's prime to peak Aryna Sabalenka
Serena Williams' ex-coach, Rennae Stubbs, and former WTA pro, Andrea Petkovic, recently discussed whether Serena Williams in her prime years would've been taken to the distance by a "peak" Aryna Sabalenka. The two insisted that the 23-time Major winner's variety and resilience set her apart as they recounted two separate stories that attested to her greatness.
Sabalenka is currently the most in-form player on the women's circuit, having won every hardcourt Major tournament since 2024. The Belarusian also clinched her first-ever year-end World No. 1 finish last year and won the recently concluded Miami Open in March in dominant fashion.
Against that background, Rennae Stubbs fielded questions surrounding a prospective match-up between the peak versions of Serena Williams and Aryna Sabalenka during the latest episode of her podcast, "The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast". The Aussie, who served as Williams' coach towards the end of the latter's career in 2022, found the idea of Sabalenka challenging Williams in her prime years egregious as she pointed out a few flaws in the World No. 1's game.
"I said no, and the reason I said was because sometimes with Aryna, the serve is a bit unpredictable," Serena Williams' former coach Rennae Stubbs said on her podcast (from 35:10 onwards). "She also does give you some random free points... but Serena at her peak was serving you off the motherf****ing court."
The former player-turned-coach then recounted facing off against the Williams sisters in the first round of the 2003 Wimbledon women's doubles competition. The 54-year-old claimed that the 23-time Major winner's clinical clutch-serving in the deciding set of that match proved her mettle.
"We get up, love-40, and we're like, 'Motherf***er, come on, we're going to be up 4-2. And then we get to come back tomorrow and hopefully serve it out,'" Rennae Stubbs said as she looked back on her encounter against Serena Williams at 2003 Wimbledon (37:03). "Oh no, [Serena serves] ace out wide, ace down the T, another virtually unplayable serve, back to deuce in like 3 seconds.
"She just went bang, bang, bang, and then probably aced one more time and they won the game, 3-3, f***ing good night. And we came back and lost 6-3 in the third. It's like, Serena Williams could do that."
"Serena Williams understood the game like nobody else" - Andrea Petkovic
During the interaction, former World No. 9 Andrea Petkovic also chimed in on the topic as she claimed that Serena Williams' court sense and serve prowess made her superior to Aryna Sabalenka. The German recalled facing Williams in the second round of the 2014 Italian Open, where she ultimately lost 2-6, 2-6.
Petkovic was admittedly impressed with how Williams adjusted her tactics on serve in a savvy fashion, thereby rubbishing the age-old myth about her needing to "overpower" opponents to win matches.
"I played Serena many times, but I lost to Serena in the year that she was going for the 'Grand Slam'... And the reason I will go with Serena (over Peak Sabalenka), that's what's so misunderstood about her game - she had a lot of variety, and the serve is the perfect example for that," Andrea Petkovic said on Rennae Stubbs' podcast (from 38:35 onwards)... "What Serena did, she started the match serving only the slider out wide on deuce court. Yeah, 3-4 times in a row, I'm standing 5 meters behind the baseline because I'm expecting the 7000 mph serve.
"So I go forward to the line, and she goes, 'Boom, boom,' two big T-serves, and then another one down my body, almost kills me. It could've been over at 2-2. She almost killed me... She understood the game like nobody else that I played, she was the smartest player. She didn't overpower you, she hit a little angle-out, then she crushed the ball."
Williams and Sabalenka, meanwhile, only played against each other once in their overlapping years on the WTA Tour. The 23-time Major winner came out on top of her lone career meeting against the then-22-year-old, defeating her 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the fourth round of the 2021 Australian Open.