Serena is No 1, never mind the stats

Published on Sunday 5 July 2009 23:31

SERENA Williams cemented her status as one of the greatest players of all time by winning her 11th Grand Slam title on Saturday. Her older sister Venus, who was bidding to win Wimbledon for the third year in a row but lost 7-6, 6-2, has seven Slams to her name. At 27 and 29 respectively, they could easily add considerably to their tallies before retiring.

The arguments will go on for some time about whether they are better than Steffi Graf or Martina Navratilova or Billie Jean King, but what is beyond dispute is their superiority to everyone else of their generation. And yet, when the new WTA rankings are released this morning, the sisters will both be rated lower than a woman who has never won a single Grand Slam.

The sarcastic attack on the rankings system which Serena made after her victory was graceless, but she had a point. And, although her sniping may well have been born of self-interest, it should not be swept aside for that reason.

The point is, the credibility of the women's tour is already suffering enough because of the lack of a challenge to the American siblings. And, as Serena implied, it is being further undermined by a rankings system which has, in Dinara Safina, a world No1 who not only has yet to win a Slam, but also lost her semi-final against Venus by an embarrassing 6-1, 6-0.

Safina is not the first world No1 to lack a major title. Jelena Jankovic was also in that position, as was Amelie Mauresmo, who at least went on to win the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

It is a ludicrous position, and one which could readily be reformed, even allowing for the fact that the Williamses tend to play fewer tournaments than other top-ten players. The WTA tend to be hypersensitive to any suggestion that they might learn something from the ATP men's tour, but the fact is the ATP's rankings system produces a fairer reflection of the relative strengths of its players.

There are two reasons for that. One is the points awarded at the most important tournaments, and the other is the number of events just below the Slams the results from which must be included in a player's rankings points total.

The four Grand Slams – Wimbledon and the Australian, French and US Open – are worth 2,000 ranking points to the winners of both men's and women's singles. But after that, there is a greater reward in the women's game for being an also-ran.

The losing women's finalist gets 1,400 points, the losing semi-finalists 900 and the quarter-finalists 500. The male runner-up receives 1,200 points, the semi-finalists 720 and the quarter-finalists 360.

In the most important tournaments below the Slams, the winner on both the men's and women's tour gets 1,000 points. WTA points thereafter are 700 for the finalist, 450 for the semi-finalists and 250 for those who lose in the last eight. The ATP equivalent is 600, 360 and 180.

The lesser disparity between winners and the rest makes it more likely that someone such as Safina can reach the top by doing fairly well in the big tournaments without ever actually winning one.

The WTA only insist that their players must include two of those secondary tournaments in their points total. The ATP insist on eight.

That latter total demands greater consistency. If you lose in a few of those eight you have no choice but to include your meagre points haul in your overall tally. In the women's game, a couple of good results is all you need, and you can discard the rest.

The good results that helped propel Safina to the top came in Rome and Madrid this year. Serena, who has won the Australian Open this year as well as Wimbledon, referred explicitly to those tournaments when launching an attack on the system.

"I see myself as No2," she said when asked if she regarded herself as the real No1. "That's where I am. I think Dinara did a great job to get to No1. She won Rome and Madrid.

"I'm not super-motivated. I think if you hold three Grand Slam titles maybe you should be No1, but not on the WTA tour obviously. You know, my motivation is maybe just to win another Grand Slam and stay No2, I guess."

Richard Williams's resolution to coach two of his daughters to the top of the women's game is one of the great tales of modern sport. But it is an old story now, and the WTA desperately needs a new story and new stars to revive interest in the women's game. There were a few promising signs over the past fortnight that a new generation of competitors are coming through, and that they can in time challenge the Williams sisters. Victoria Azarenka, a 19-year-old from Belarus, took the game to Serena in their quarter-final and is learning fast.

Sabine Lisicki, a 19-year-old from Germany, also got to the last eight, and Melanie Oudin, the American 17-year-old, reached the fourth round. But more is required. Much more. And the WTA can help by reforming its own rankings system.

As for the match itself, the bish-bash-boom nature of the contest was almost entirely without subtlety although the power exchanges between the finalists did have a certain beauty of their own.

"I'm a shover," Venus responded to one question about her tactics. "Some people push, but I shove. That's my mentality. I have to just hit, and I can't help it. It's just hard to change my mind."

Serena pounced in the tiebreak, taking a 6-2 lead. Venus saved the first after Hawkeye showed a Serena forehand had landed just out, but, on the next point, she was forced forward by a low net cord and Serena fizzed a topspin lob over her head.

It seemed to crush Venus's resolve and although she hung on grimly at the end, saving three match points, she failed to clear the net with a backhand on the forth and the title was Serena's again after a six-year wait.

Later in the day, as the sun dipped down behind Centre Court's roof, Serena and Venus teamed up to win their fourth Wimbledon women's doubles title, defeating Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs of Australia 7-6, 6-4. It was consolation of sorts for Venus, who has now lost six of the eight Grand Slam singles finals she has played against Serena, three of them at Wimbledon.

Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia made sure July the 4th did not belong totally to Americans, beating twins Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 to retain the men's doubles title.

NUMBERS GAME

&#149 187 – Aces served by Andy Roddick during the tournament, the greatest number of any player.

&#149 72 – Aces served by Serena Williams, a new women's record.

&#149 77 – Games played in the men's final – the greatest number ever. The previous highest number of games came last year when Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal played 62 games.

&#149 143 – mph, the fastest serve of the tournament, by Roddick in his semi-final against Britain's Andy Murray.

&#149 18,243 – Mini yellow tennis ball keyrings sold in the Wimbledon shop.

&#149 54,200 – Balls used during the fortnight.

&#149 11.5 million – People who logged on to the Wimbledon website, with total page views of 345 million.