The Singular Serena Williams

ESPN First Take - Serena Williams Shows off Her Trophy | Wimbledon 2016
July 10, 2016 6:17 p.m. ET

If you do something well enough for long enough, there comes a time when people start to think its easy. I worry about this with Serena Williams. I worry that people think that what she doeswinning major tennis tournaments by the handful, 22 after taking another Wimbledon singles title on Saturdayis easy for her. It isnt. Its breathtakingly difficult. It requires focus, commitment, skill, execution, and more than an occasional helping of luck. It requires health both physical and mental. It requires the ability to turn the page immediately after good days and, more importantly, the bad ones. It requires the strength to summon parts of yourself that none of us probably quite understand, because none of us have ever done this in the way that Serena Williams has.

She turns 35 in September. 35! Shes No. 1 in the world, at 34 the oldest player in tenniss Open era to hold that ranking, male or female, and dont Google Andre Agassi, because I already did, and he was 33. And she is not some swan-song veteran improbably turning back the clock. Williams is at the pinnacle of her sport. When and if she loses, its considered a surprise, if not a shock. Every unconquered tournament is a headline, a disappointment.

Its a comical standard to which few are ever held. But this is the space Williams has occupied for ages, and probably will until she decides to walk away.

A few months ago, I asked Williamss coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, about how Williams handled the mental stresses of being expected to win every tennis match she plays in. One particular line of his answer has stuck with me:

She does not have the right to fail, Mouratoglou said.

She does not have the right to fail. Think about that for a second. Mouratoglou went on to talk about how mentally strong Williams was, how she tried to compensate for this pressure with great confidence, but it was a candid recognition of the extraordinary weight placed upon Williams every time she steps onto the court.

There was once a time where it could be argued, convincingly, that Williamss accomplishments were, if anything, underappreciated, that despite all the winning, there were still a few lingering yeah buts. Thats still a little truethere remain some cranks that try to diminish Williamss competition, as if the likes of Angelique Kerber and Garbie Muguruza just wandered in from a weekend tennis camp. But theres lately been a noticeable uptick in public admiration, a slightly-embarrassed acknowledgment of Williamss talent, as if to say: we should have been cherishing Serena Williams for ages. Today, the holdouts and naysayers just sound like boors.

Ill leave to others the arguments about whether or not Williams is the greatest womens singles tennis player. I feel the greatest-ever conversation is fraught in tennis: There have been too many changes to string and racket technology, travel, coaching, etc. to make comparisons close to fair. But if you folks want to argue Serena vs. Steffi vs. Martina vs. Margaret vs. Billie Jean and so on, go right ahead. You want to call Williams All-Time or All-Earth or All-Universe? Im good with all of it. (For what its worth, Chris Evert thinks Williams is the best, and I wont try to talk Chris Evert out of it.)

But lets just talk for a moment about the span of Williamss excellence. There are now 14 years between Williamss first (2002) and most recent singles titles at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. There are 16 years between the Williams sisters first Wimbledon doubles titles and Saturdays. 16 years! Thats not a spanthats a Tracy Austin!

When I spoke to her this spring, Williams told me she never imagined shed be playing tennis at this age. She hasnt, but many of us have already forgotten the health scares (including a blood clot in her lung) at the beginning of the decade in which Williams thought there was a moment a doctor would walk into the room and tell her shed have to stop playing. That didnt happen. She got her health back and her tennis, if anything, got better.

None of this is easy. Not a bit of it. Williams is a historic tennis player and cultural figure from whom so much is asked; find me another post-championship news conference like Saturdays in which Williams moved from subjects like gender equality to the tragedies in Minnesota, Baton Rouge and Dallas to what it means to be black in America in 2016and, oh right, her latest Wimbledon title. Before she was asked anything else, Williams was asked if winning Wimbledon was a relief, which is another way of saying she does not have the right to fail, that this is routine, that we expect her to do this every time.

Williams politely said it was. But its also a brilliant accomplishment, because its incredibly hard to do. If youre anyone. Even if youre Serena Williams.

Write to Jason Gay at Jason.Gay@wsj.com

Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-singular-serena-williams-1468189029