My earliest childhood memories of women's tennis was of Billy Jean King, there weren't many more memorable at that time. I vaguely remember Margaret Court and then Virginia Wade (probably only because she was/is British) and of course have wonderful memories of the 1977 Wimbledon women's final of which she took. Then there was Yvonne Goolagong (later Cawley) and then followed Martina Navratilova and her famous battles with Chris Evert, there were some wonderful ladies' tennis matches at that time. A later favourite of mine was Stephi Graf, she had a great presence on the court and always covered it well. Back in those days there were regular new additions that seemingly popped up annualy, usually American. Who remembers Tracey Austin and Jenifer Cappriati? The latest big guns IMO were the Williams sisters, all arms and legs (especially Venus) but their rein is surely all but over and as far as I can see there is no other women in the "big gun" catagory and none appearing to emerge, likely to take their crown. Now though there is the odd one who pops up and wins a slam but no one or two is above and beyond the rest, they all seem to me to be on a par with the rest of the pack and not one stands out for me as head and shoulders above the rest as their afor mentioned predesessors did nor are they that young anymore when they do emerge, perhaps making the likelyhood of greatness less. Is it just me thinking this way? Thoughts?
I've never followed women's tennis all that closely but I have noticed that recently there seems to be a lack of players ready to make the step up and become the best. The fact that the world number 1 Wozniacki has never won a slam says it all for me, there is no consistency in the women's game. I still think Serena might have another slam in her but Venus is gone. Theres also still names like Sharapova and Clijsters around but beyond that there isn't much
I don't rate either Sharapova or Clijsters, IMO they come into the "best of the rest" catagory, capable of winning slams but only because there are no women with the killer instinct around right now. As for Wozniacki - who??? Agree about the Williams pair being past their best now but for me the very fact that Serena did so well last year at Wimbledon, her first tournament after a serious illness confirms my fears for the ladies' game at present.
I'm ambivalent about this. On the one hand, it's good to have strong players with strong personalities as it often attracts interest towards a sport from people who wouldn't otherwise show any interest in it. As a kid, McEnroe was the dominant character and you don't get more personality than that! When we played tennis down the park we all wanted to be him and would act out in much the same way (YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!) On the other hand, we complain when it's the same one or two players who are winning everything. The men's game is lucky at the moment in that there are three players (plus hopefully Murray!) who can win the slams. Knowing that it could be Nadal v Federer or Murray v Djokovic or a combination of the four in the final is exciting. I have to admit that the prospect of Williams v Williams wasn't an exciting prospect at Wimbledon.
Last year 3 out of 4 slams were won by first time winners, Li Na, Petra Kvitova and Sam Stosur. I'd be willing to bet that none of them will win one this year. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a few more first time winners this year. It comes back to consistency, no women tennis player has it in them to be consistently good for a whole year or longer. On the men's side the top 4 have been around for a good few years now, you can't see any females having that level of consistency. It just seems that any one player can turn up and have a good fortnight and walk away with a slam title, some people may enjoy that aspect of it, not knowing who is going to win and the fact it literally could be anyone in the main draw but personally I don't The top 5 players in the womens world rankings have 5 slams between them, a few years ago the top 5 could easily have had around 30 between them. The Williams sisters alone have 20 between them. Whatever way you look at it it just seems the womens game isn't what it used to be and I think a lot of people would rather follow mens tennis
There is always that argument yes but personally I'd like to see a couple of consistantly great players and I'm missing that right now. I once thought that Sharapova was going to fill that slot but she is often injured or plain out of form.
why do people make such a big deal that she hasn't won a grand slam? im not a keen watcher of womens tennis but slams have the same number of sets as others which does not make it more physically demanding. the bst players can also be in a regular tournament together which would basically make it a mini grand slam
The grand slams are the ones that matter, if you're going to be considered a great player then you need to have won a grand slam, maybe even a few. Fair enough if a player can win some obscure tournament in Stockholm or Copenhagen but when it comes to the big ones if you can't produce your best when it's needed then the other tournament wins mean nothing. The reason they became tennis players is to win Wimbledon, the Aussie open etc. Without winning them they'll probably never be remembered. Harsh but true
