Serena Williams is one of the greatest tennis players of all time. When she started her professional career in 1995, little did anyone know, even the player herself, what she was going to achieve in the sport and life. As Williams approaches her 41st birthday, she is on the final lap of her tennis career, culminating in an appearance at the 2022 US Open. The question is, will we see another generational talent like Serena Williams any time soon?
Tennis Achievements
Williams won her first Grand Slam title in 1999 at the US Open and defeated Kim Clijsters, Conchita MartÃnez, Monica Seles, defending champion Lindsay Davenport, and Martina Hingis to win the event. It was a statement victory from Williams, defeating so many Grand Slam champions made people sit up and take notice.
Having won the tournament, Williams became only the second African American woman to win a Grand Slam singles tournament, following in the footsteps of Althea Gibson in 1958. At the time of writing, Williams has 6 US Open Grand Slam titles to her name, but she has won every Grand Slam on multiple occasions.
Williams holds the record for the most combined major titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles for active players, including 7 Australian Open singles titles, 3 French Open singles titles, and 7 Wimbledon singles titles. Williams has twice held all four major singles titles simultaneously and has won all major titles on the three main surfaces, hard, clay, and grass, in the same year.
She holds the joint-record for the number of consecutive weeks as world number one and has been ranked as world number one by the WTA for 319 weeks, which is incredible. With 23 Grand Slam titles to her name, Williams holds the record in the Open era and is just one Grand Slam title behind Margaret Court, who holds the record at 24.
Money Making
Williams has not only achieved remarkable success on the tennis court but also off the court. In 2016, she earned close to $26 million, making Williams the world’s highest paid female athlete. Williams is the highest-earning woman athlete of all time and in 2021, she was ranked 28th on Forbes’ World’s Highest-Paid Athletes list. So, there can be no doubt Williams, thanks to her longevity, success, and earnings, is one of the greatest tennis players of all time but who could assume the baton and become the next generational talent in female tennis?
The Candidates
If you were to bet on the outcome of a Grand Slam tennis tournament using one of these mobile apps for tennis betting, there would be several candidates. Cori “Coco” Gauff has been tipped by many to be the next dominant player on the WTA Tour and having won the 2019 Linz Open aged 15, she became the youngest singles title winner on the Tour since 2004. Gauff reached her first Grand Slam singles final at the 2022 French Open before losing to Iga ?wi?tek. Gauff also reached the final of the doubles in the same event and has spoken about her idols being Serena and Venus Williams. At just 18 years of age, Gauff has her whole career ahead of her but to match the achievements of Serena Williams is going to take a monumental effort.
The fact the sportsbooks find it tough to select an outright favourite for the major tennis tournaments right now, shows we do not have a dominant player on the WTA Tour. There is not one player, other than perhaps Gauff, who has the combination of age and ability to become a generational talent like Serena Williams.
