Comparing Contrasts

Winning so much makes you wanna dance | Getty

Novak Djokovic has just capped the greatest year of his career, and one of the best single seasons ever, by winning the ATP World Tour Finals for a fourth(!!!) consecutive year and fifth time overall. Official stats are just a little ridiculous and speak very loudly for themselves. 82 match wins against 6 losses, 11 total titles, three majors, six Masters, a finalist in every event he entered bar the very first of his year (and least significant on his schedule) in Doha. The ageless Djokovic, unaffected by the effects of passing time, has evened up the head-to-head with his two weathered yet legendary contemporaries in the geriatric Roger Federer and the rapidly graying Rafael Nadal.* Novak himself called his 2015 all but perfect.

I'd rather not waste time getting into the growing-more-moot-by-the-minute argument whether it was the best season in men's tennis history, but I would like to debunk an idea that fans and pundits have (or maybe it's 'had' at this point, either way) about Serena Williams putting together a more accomplished season than Novak. Serena had history on the line until the eleventh hour by winning the first three majors of the year and coming agonizingly close to completing the calendar-year Grand Slam. She's the one who will get the public support for SI Sportsman of the Year, deservedly so. Hers is the season we will remember more out of the two, not Novak's. All very fair, it's inarguable, really. 

However, what's not fair to Novak is letting all quantifiable evidence fall by the wayside. No argument is needed here: compare Djokovic's stats above to Serena's 2015 results and there is no doubt that Novak had a more successful run from January through November, playing a full schedule, winning damn near everything, and contending in the final for everything else. At a very quick glance, Serena's results can be classified as quizzical. Only eight tournaments of which she played through in it's entirety, a far cry from her 82-match, 15-tournament 2013 (which is, for my money, the best season Serena has ever had).

While I say all of that, I can't help but wonder what it would've been like if Novak won the French Open. Would he have been able to deal with that kind of pressure? Would his run at the CYGS make Serena breathe easier coming down the stretch in Flushing Meadows? If Serena lost at Roland Garros or Wimbledon, it's almost absurd to assume she doesn't win the U.S. Open, her most successful Slam, right? And she would obviously remain motivated to go to Beijing and Singapore and reassert her dominance there, too...right? We really don't know, so it's best to not compare these two extremely different seasons against each other at all. We haven't seen a season like this in a long time, one which one man and one woman rule their respective tours simultaneously. Yet the seasons Novak and Serena each had were so far apart from the other's, both incomparable in their own ways.


*shade

The Bleeping Venus Williams

Bow down to Queenus | via instagram.com

"She thinks she's the fucking Venus Williams."

Oh, Irina Spirlea, you had no idea how prescient your statement would be. The Fucking Venus Ebony Starr Williams has catapulted back into the year-end Top 10 after winning the Zhuhai Elite Trophy, all the way up to No. 7 in the world.

Number seven. Wut.

If you have been following the life and times of Venus Williams the past few years, you know that this is a big deal for her. Since announcing she was diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome, an auto-immune disorder that affects her energy levels, Venus has been clawing her way back to where she left off in early 2011. In the early stages of this most recent rebirth, she's stated her desire to be alongside her sister as the two players to beat in the ladies' game once again, a place they've been numerous times in the past two decades. Most, myself included, did not think this was a feasible goal for her, but as Venus stated, she had the support of her team and family and mustered enough belief in herself to get back to where she thinks she belongs.

2015 was a season hijacked by Serena Williams. She's been the story, the one we all watched, the one who commands every bit of our attention. That's been the case for 13 years, often at the expense of Venus. Funnily enough, Venus took center stage this autumn when Serena ceded the spotlight after her demoralizing semifinal stumble at the U.S. Open. Venus herself was only ranked No. 24 after the final Slam of 2015, but she picked up quite a bit of momentum from that quarterfinal result. Venus went over to China and started her crusade at The Championships, Wuhan, winning her biggest title since Dubai in 2010. That run had the unfortunate side effect of a sluggish second-round loss in Beijing, a critical tournament for her Singapore dreams. Still, she was safely qualified for Zhuhai, the third place match to Singapore's trophy match. something that was not anything of a guarantee before the Asian swing.

Silently judging you like pic.twitter.com/imFnzMtrli

— WTA Reactions (@WTAreactions) September 11, 2015

Many players who qualified for the event decided it wasn't worth the trip. Not Venus. She saw her opportunity to get back into the Top 10, as well as significantly increase her chances at landing a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in Rio, and she would not leave this stone unturned. She runs through her path which included big hitting youngsters Madison Keys and Karolina Pliskova - two players who could be considered to be molded in the style of Venus Williams. Venus conquers them both anyway.

2015 saw the bulk of Venus's successes come mostly away from public view. I have to assume this is exactly how she'd like it. While her sister received all kinds of accolades from every corner, Venus stood back and went about her business. Serena has an (almost literal) army of diehard fans; Venus has the universal respect and admiration. Serena is dubbed the black feminist icon; Venus continues to silently boycott Indian Wells. As someone who took to Venus first, it irks me that Venus's accomplishments, especially off of the court, go unrecognized. But she probably doesn't mind. She doesn't need others to tell her that she's done a good job. She already knows what she achieved and what it took to get her the things she wants. All the recognition The Fucking Venus Williams will ever need comes from herself.

Goodbye, Grantland

It really was (via Grantland.com)

While we were all preparing our scariest and most revealing Halloween garb, Grantland, the sports and culture site founded in 2011 by epochal sports personality Bill Simmons, was shut down by ESPN, its parent company, on Friday. In the blink of an eye, the go-to place for all things witty, zany, and relevant was no longer producing content. I am, in a word, sad. Grantland was where I caught up with all of my sports coverage. Their NBA writers were second to none, the Hollywood Prospectus never failed to make me laugh, and they pumped out a zillion different podcasts that were tons of fun to listen to.

Most importantly to us, they gave so much to the pantheon of great tennis articles. The two primary providers, Brian Phillips and Louisa Thomas, were brilliant, funny, fair, and lovers of the sport and its history. Whether it was an ode to Venus and Serena or a timeline of rudeness from Judy Murray to Yoko Ono, Phillips and Thomas penned thoughtful words which will live with the tennis community for a long time. Here are some of my personal must-reads:

Novak Djokovic: The Shot and The Confrontation

This is the quintessential Djokovic article regarding the biggest forehand of his career and the events that unfolded very shortly thereafter. Of the four match points Roger Federer lost against Novak at the U.S. Open in 2010 and 2011, the third of those has stung more than any of the others, and is the one of the most memorable shots in recent history. Phillips digs deep into Djokovic's personality and his underwhelming appeal to the average tennis fan. He, more than any other writer, seems to understand what makes Novak tick.

The Pain and Joy of Sloane Stephens and Serena Williams

As a fan of both women and of the Sloane-Serena rivalry as a whole (yes, it is a rivalry), Thomas paints the picture of the second of two matches that ignited the contentious relationship between the two. This article mirrored my feelings at the time: anguish for Serena and exuberance for Sloane. Thomas helped me realize that those two emotions can be experienced simultaneously.

Broken at Love

Probably the funniest article ever posted in the tennis section (with the Grantland Tennis Dictionary coming in a close, yet distinct second), Phillips gives us the highlights of Monica Seles' novel The Academy. If you haven't read the book itself, this piece is the next closest thing. Thanks for saving me a couple of bucks, Brian.

Rembert Explains America: Discovering the Glorious All-Iowa Lawn Tennis Club

As far as random articles go, this one takes the cake. Written not by Phillips or Thomas, but by Rembert Browne, my favorite Grantland contributor, the article takes you to Iowa and Middle America's answer to Wimbledon. Never have I been more enthralled with a four-letter state. Browne is hilarious and observant, exactly what is needed to understand the vibe at the vaunted AILTC. It makes me want to add Iowa to my bucket list of tennis destinations.

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I implore everyone to go through the archives of these writers on Grantland (note: the site didn't really perfect their tennis archiving until mid-2013, so some of the earlier columns are lost under random tags like "Art" and "College Sports"). This is the type of writing that we won't find Tennis.com or on ESPN's tennis page. Wise, insightful, emotional, hysterical all in one place, mostly from just two authors. It will be sorely missed.

What are some of your favorite pieces from Grantland, tennis or non-tennis? Leave a comment or hit me on Twitter! Both Phillips and Thomas will continue to write and inspire, and I will be sure to read and love their content as usual.