Serena Williams: Will She Ever Be WTA Number 1 Again? Part 2
Serena Williams was, until last month, the World Number 1 player despite participating in a total of six tournaments this year. However, in October, she was dethroned by 20 year old Danish player Caroline “Sunshine” Wozniacki, and soon enough players such
as Vera Zvonareva and Kim Clijsters began to take over her rankings to push her down to World Number 4. It seems highly unlikely that this player, once the standard for the best player in the world, will ever regain her old ranking.
Part 1 of this feature discussed Serena Williams and her relevance to Wozniacki’s position, as well as the chances of beating Sunshine’s amassed points in 2011. The two players have only met twice on the court, with both matches occurring in 2009 – at that
time, Wozniacki was only 18 years old and not as good a player as she is now.
The first time the two players competed against each other, the Dane held three match points but was unable to seal the deal and lost out to her opponent in the third set tiebreak. In their second meeting at Doha, Wozniacki was forced to retire with an injury;
the final scoreline was 6-4 to Serena, and 1-0 to Wozniacki. Now, Wozniacki is two years ahead of herself and winning any match against her will be no small feat. While her playing style needs improvements in several areas, such as her forehand, net-play and
second serve, she seems to be working on her weaknesses and will definitely prove to be a formidable challenge for Serena Williams when they meet on the court once more.
However, Wozniacki is not the only obstacle which stands in the way of Serena regaining her World Number 1 title. There is also a new World Number 2: Russian pro Vera Zvonareva. She has been one of the big players this year, and although she lacks any big
titles, she was the finalist at two Grand Slam tournaments and one semi final appearance in Doha at the WTA Championships – both significant achievements for a new player. This, and her participation in many tournaments (similar to Wozniacki) may give her
an edge should she ever come up against Williams.
Another formidable opponent for Williams is the new World Number 3 Kim Clijsters, who overtook Williams in the rankings yesterday with her Doha win. While Wozniacki’s ability to challenge Williams may be questionable for many fans and critics, Clijsters
seems like she could pose quite a threat for Serena, and there are few spectators who would disagree. This is backed up by her victory against the American player last year, in the infamous US Open semi-final match where Serena Williams told a lineswoman,
“I’ll shove the ball down your throat”. While Williams would probably have the advantage on grass, a match between these two players could go either way on hard court.
Lastly, another challenger who just might steamroller Williams is WTA’s new kid on the block, Sam Stosur, currently World Number 7. She had some of the most dominating performances in the first half of this year, outdone only by Serena’s Majors record. This
26 year old has the firepower to bring the match home to Serena, and she is the only woman in the game these days who can beat Serena’ serve with her own. Against this player, Serena leads 3-2, but two of those victories came about when Stosur was not yet
ranked in the World’s Top 45. Since the Aussie pro staked a place for herself in the Top 20, the two players have a head-to-head record of 2-1. One of those wins was at the French Open – this was the first time since 2008 that Serena lost the tournament, or
was put down by someone who was not the eventual champion.
All in all, Serena seems to have done her career serious damage with this year’s dropouts – while she might have redeemed herself had she showed up at the Generali Ladies Linz as she was slated to do, the harm done may be beyond repair now. Too many good,
if not great players have eclipsed her position on the charts, and in all likeliness, her days as World Number 1 are over and done with.
Tags: