therealbig3 wrote:I'd also add that you should be careful when evaluating competitive differences between two different eras, especially in an individual sport like tennis. I could easily say that Serena stands out from the rest of the competition, BECAUSE she makes them look unimpressive, not necessarily because they aren't great players. Who really knows how well Navratilova and Evert would have played against Sharapova, or Henin, or Clijsters, or V. Williams?
And I mean no disrespect by that either. But Henin especially was getting a lot of possible GOAT talk before she retired. As was a young Venus Williams.
realbig, it's we're just talking past each other here. I know you from basketball and I respect you there, thus I respect your brain. Believe me when I say this isn't my first rodeo in tennis analysis.
Something as simple as "well maybe she just makes her competition look ordinary" is easily tested by looking at how the players played against their non-Serena competition. The whole women's game from the start of the Hingis generation onward produced shockingly inconsistent players at the top. The ones you mentioned are the BEST of the lot, and yet they were still problematic. Then you get into the Safinas and Jankovics of the world who reached #1 in the world and were basically history within a year or so after despite still being young.
This was never the norm in women's tennis. It's a trend in the last generation. What exactly the causes are is open for debate, and in theory one could champion Serena as survivor of this plague, but there's something clear cut weird here, and it's been recognized for quite a few years now.
Oh also: Henin GOAT talk. No, c'mon dude. Little more than a decade before Monica Seles had won 8 majors while still a teenager when she got stabbed. That's what a future GOAT candidate cut short looks like. Henin by contrast was a 25 year old who still had only won 7 majors.
What about young Venus? Well sure, people talk about GOAT prospects when they are young, but that's not the same thing as a serious GOAT candidate.
For the record, the run where Serena beat Venus in every final is a really big deal. That's serious domination against serious competition, and at the time I'd have bet on Serena becoming the GOAT. She was never so consistent again however.
