Serena: Then vs. Now

Le plus grand

"I can't say it's the best. I can't say it's not the best. I don't know. I really don't know."

Serena just capped off a monstrous season taking home her ELEVENTH title by battling through Li Na's fast start and reeling off the final 9 games of the finals of the Year-End Championships, winning 2-6, 6-3, 6-0. She finished the year going an (adjective) 78-4, including an (adjective) 21-2 against Top 10 opponents. She completely (verb)ed the field in such thorough fashion unseen by anyone recently on the WTA Circuit.

So why is Serena unsure whether 2013 was her greatest year? Because of the year that initiated the "Serena Slam." In 2002, Serena won all of the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open (she missed the Australian Open due to injury), beating her sister Venus in each of those finals. So was 2002 better than 2013, a season in which she won "just" two Slams? The short answer is a resounding N-O, but I'm willing to show my work. Below are a few comparisons:

2002 Serena wins best dressed

Win-Loss Record: In 2002 Serena finished the season 56-5 (91.8%). Her win percentage this season is an (adjective) 95.1%. She won 22 more matches and suffered one fewer loss. First set, 2013 Serena, and a breadstick at that.

Record against Top 10 opponents: this is one stat where 2002 Serena and 2013 Serena are relatively equal, with 2002 Serena posting an 18-2 record against Top 10 foes. If you look closer, however, her two losses were to Victoria Azarenka, the #2 player in the world and Serena's closest competitor. By contrast, she was 9-0 in 2002 against Venus Williams and Jennifer Capriati, the #2 and #3 by the end of the season, respectively (and both were #1 at certain points of the year). Her 2002 season featured three fewer wins, but was definitely more top heavy compared to 2013 should you weight them accordingly. Blame it on Bastad and the weakened Rogers Cup draw. Second set, by a hair, 2002 Serena.

2013 Serena wins best weave

Titles: the big tiebreaker for most people, and we clearly can't go just by the numbers. Serena held up eight trophies in 2002, three less than this season, but three of those were Grand Slams. Her other five titles consisted of two Tier I tournaments and three Tier II tournaments. 2013 Serena, however, bagged a YEC, FIVE "Tier I" titles, and three "Tier II" titles. (For consistency's sake, I've equated the modern Premier Mandatory and Premier 5  tournaments as "Tier I" and all the others as "Tier II.") 

Say what you want about Serena winning "only" two Slams this year, she got rather unlucky in Australia and faced the toughest grass court specialist when she was ousted from Wimbledon. Her YEC title helps make up for her missing Slam. Even if you want to put the YEC at the same level as a Tier I event, she still TRIPLES her number of titles in comparable tournaments. In my opinion, her complete dominance throughout the entire year, at every stop on the calendar, gives 2013 Serena the match.

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Of course, Serena sees winning Slams as the be-all and end-all concerning most debates (and yes, Serena, you and a handful of people are ahead of Margaret Smith Court in the G.O.A.T. debate, no matter how many pre-Open Era Australian Opens she won...), but I hope she reads between the lines when comparing her 2013 with her 2002. Not a single person this year believed they could catch her during a lull, whether it be the clay swing or in Asia when Serena is usually vulnerable. Never has she been more dominant and feared from the very first ball of the season to the very last. That intensity, desire, and focus from January through October is what made all the difference.

Baby Daddy

"I never got the chance to play him; I'm sad already." -Grigor Dimitrov upon hearing the false news that Roger Federer is retiring.

Like father, like son

TURN THAT FROWN UPSIDE DOWN, GRIGOR.

Guys, it's happening. Papa Fed vs. Baby Fed. Today. In Basel. When I saw the draw for the Swiss Indoors, I nearly wet myself. Could their inaugural encounter have been set up any better?

That being said, it's really tough evaluating this match because each have major points going both for and against them. Dimitrov is coming off his first-ever ATP title in Stockholm (aww) and has played remarkably well in his first two rounds, beating Stepanek and Dolgopolov in easy straights. However, when will exhaustion start to creep in? After winning Stockholm on Sunday, Grigor played his first round on Wednesday evening and will have to play for the third night in a row. Federer, who hadn't played since flaming out in Shanghai, began play on Monday and has had a rest day after each of his tournament matches thus far. There really is no place like home.

Other things going right for Roger: the crowd will have his (increasingly creaky) back 100%. To the extent that the twelfth man phenomenon exists in tennis, Basel might only be second to Wimbledon when it comes to the fans cheering on their guy. You saw how much the crowd got into Fed's match versus Istomin in the previous round when Roger found himself down a set and multiple break points down in the third. Still, how much can hometown support help when you face a guy you've never played before, who's style is foreign to you (when you look outside of the mirror), and when he's on a bit of a win streak? Roger has much to think about, especially since he's not playing his best, although he did well to come back against Istomin.

Who knows how they will come out. I'm sure Roger will be feeling the pressure and will try his darnedest to postpone any torch passing from happening today. Grigor has absolutely nothing to lose when he takes the court against one of his idols and should be able to play quite freely. I believe Federer will tighten up if this becomes a closely contested match, and I think it will be nail-biter. I'm picking Dimitrov in three very tough sets.

So...who ya got? Agree or disagree with my pick? Leave a comment and tell me why I'm dead wrong! This match is going to be glorious.

Slammed Shut

Istanbul and London are right around the corner for the Top 8 women and men, but let's take a moment to look back on four tournaments that supercede the WTA Year-End Championships and the ATP World Tour Finals.

What the heck happened in Melbourne, Paris, SW 19, and New York, you ask? Well, take a seat, grab a drink, and read this recap of the Grand Slams of 2013!

Australian Open

Defending champions pre-tournament with their 2012 trophies.
New photo shoot deemed unnecessary.

What happened: see last year's Australian Open. Actually, that's a slight on Oz 2012, which was a really exciting tournament. This year's Australian was a bit of a yawn. Djokovic won for the third straight year, defeating Andy Murray in four relatively unremarkable sets, and Azarenka defended her 2012 title against Li Na. Sharapova and Serena were cruising through the early stages of the tournament when they were abruptly stopped by Li Na and Sloane Stephens (with help from an injured ankle and back) respectively. There were no real surprise losses on the men's side. As something of an anti-Nadal fan, I definitely missed his presence late in this year's Oz, especially considering how good the final weekend of last year's tournament was with him in it.

What will be remembered: for the women, the big stories of the tournament revolved around Sloane. Her beating Serena was a story that lasted the entire season with many twists and turns throughout. She was also the victim of MTO-gate when Azarenka viciously stole the match from her grasps (lol). We will also remember the rebirth of Stan Wawrinka in that epic match with Djokovic in the 4th round where Stan just ZONED, but Novak dug in and pulled it out in the end. Lastly, although she ended up getting blasted away by Li Na in the semis 2 & 2, Maria Sharapova started the tournament by winning her first TWENTY-EIGHT GAMES. What.

French Open

What happened: exactly what you expected, but you couldn't help, but be impressed by how remarkable the achievements of Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal were. Serena finally won her first Roland Garros title since 2002, the kickstarter of her eponymous "Serena Slam." For someone who had always found the clay a pain, Serena's variety was on display throughout the tournament alongside her ever-present power and she found herself cruising through most of her matches (shoutout to you, Sveta).

This also happened. Who knew protesting same-sex
marriage could make a man look so gay?

Rafa's run was a bit more complicated. He got off to a bit of a slow start in the first three rounds and collided with Djokovic in another 5-set thriller in the semifinals, recovering from a break down in the last set and eeking it out 9-7. While the final versus David Ferrer was the most assured forgone conclusion in tennis history, it was a coronation of Nadal's comeback and his cemented status as the King of Clay with his eighth French Open title (fourth in a row), becoming the winningest player at any single Grand Slam. Sorry, Roger.

What will be remembered: three of the four semifinals will be remembered for many different reasons. The airtight three-setter between Sharapova and Azarenka was one of the best matches of the tournament, Serena's demolition of 2012 finalist Sara Errani in 46 minutes was unreal even for her, and Novak's tragic net violation while up a break in the fifth set against Rafa took the air out of the remainder of his 2013 (until his recent title runs in Beijing and Shanghai).

We will also remember the run of Gael Monfils and the many pictures he inspired, Venus's wonky match with Ula Radwanska, and Andy Murray's boredom. I think we'd all benefit from Andy skipping the French Open from now on. He's probably never going to win the thing and his tweets were such a value add for the for tournament.

I would need a seat if I had blown four match points, too.

Wimbledon

The world pouted with you, Rog :(

What happened: The real question is what DIDN'T happen? Rafa went out to Steve Darcis on the very first day, then EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHER was eliminated on Black Wednesday including Victoria Azarenka (injury), Ana Ivanovic (suckitude), Caroline Wozniacki (suckitude aided by injury), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (injury aided by suckitude), and Marin Cilic ("injury"). Sharapova joined the fray when she went down (literally; she slipped on the grass several times) on Court 2 to fellow gruntie Michelle Larcher de Brito. However, all of those exits paled in comparison to the ousting of Roger Federer at the hands of Sergiy Stakhovsky, Fed's first loss before the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam since Roland Garros 2004 (if I could ALL CAPS numbers, I would). A truly historic day in tennis. Serena would join the upset club soon after, blowing a third set lead to Boom-Boom Lisicki in the Round of 16 on Manic Monday. Absolute madhouse of a tournament.

Oh yeah, there were winners at this year's Championships! Sir (well, almost) Andrew Barron Murray made it rain and ended a 77-year drought for a British male singles Wimbledon champion by completely outplaying Djokovic in the final. There were cheers, there were blown calls by Mohamed Lahyani, there were Djokovic meltdowns, there were pointed celebrations at the media. The match had everything. I was even inspired to write down a few thoughts on Andy here.

On the women's side, 2007 finalist Marion Bartoli made the most of the messy draw to scrap her first Slam. With the Top 3 out of the way, Marion didn't drop a set (nor played an opponent ranked above her) culminating with the blitzing of Sabine Lisicki in the final. It would be the last match win of her career. What a way to go out!

Maria's DGAF face.

What will be remembered: other than everything, you mean? Aside from the above, we will remember Jerzy Janowicz's breakthrough to the semifinals, the decimation of the bottom half of the men's draw and the complete shitshow that became of the entire women's draw, Juan Martin Del Potro re-arrival for the second time in 2013, Laura Robson's good showing, and Murray leaving the entire country on the edge of their collective seats during his comeback win versus Verdasco. Off the court, this was also the tournament where Serena and MaSha aired out their dirty laundry about each other's love lives. Tennis drama at its finest. It was phenomenal. I'm slightly embarrassed at how much I enjoyed all of it.

U.S. Open

King of ... Cement?

What happened: competing with the Australian Open for most forgettable Slam of the season. Both finals were good theater, but the finalists were all but guaranteed and the winners were pretty much called weeks before main draw matches got underway. Serena and Rafa capped off career-best seasons by downing their primary rivals and contenders for Player of the Year in Azarenka and Djokovic. So many parallels with Serena and Rafa's season. Both win the French Open, go out early at Wimbledon, and come back with a vengeance in the summer hard court swing and add to their tally of major titles and improve their arguments in their respective G.O.A.T. debates.

What will be remembered: two one-handed backhands soared while one fell away. Stan Wawrinka played another 5-setter with Novak Djokovic in the semifinal, once again going down. He wasn't playing as well as he did in Melbourne, but props for ramming through Berdych and Murray, then taking Novak the distance. Richard Gasquet finally made the quarterfinals, then got all greedy and made the SEMIFINALS. He ended up getting killed by Nadal, but good on ya, Reesh. The same can't be said for Roger Federer, who is starting a new kind of streak. He lost in the Round of 16 to Tommy Robredo in straight sets in what was a confusing match. His forehand couldn't find the court and he quickly lost his first match to Tommy Robredo on his eleventh try, denying us our first Fedal encounter at the U.S. Open. Lame.

She was a little excited.

Serena killed her competition through the semis, but her fourth round match against Sloane featured probably the most exciting set of tennis in the tournament pre-finals. The match had an edge to begin with, with all of their off-court drama and whatnot, but what struck me as incredible was how Serena was able to win with her defense. Sloane was crushing her forehand, yet Serena was there for nearly every one of them. Sloane eventually started to go for too much in the second set, which was one-way traffic for our champion.


So what's to come for the rest of the year? Can Serena remain motivated and hungry to finish the year as strongly as she started (she already won Beijing)? Will Rafa win his first World Tour Finals title? Will Djokovic or Vika (or Maria or Andy or, dare I say, Sloane Jelena?) make any dent in the confidence of the top man and woman of their respective tours? We will see what the end of the season has in store, it could mean good things in 2014 for those who make the most of it!