"I got married, had a baby, but then had one of my best years, winning 24 out of 25 tournaments."
Court pointed out that she had a superior record to Williams after they became mothers during their careers.
"I came back after two babies," she said. "After having the first baby, I won three out of the four Slams." She added that "Serena hasn't won a Slam since" having a baby.
Very true. They have tried to ghost Court* as she is not down with the LGBT agenda.
*: best name ever for a great tennis player....
So glad Ms. Court is still around to rightly throw shade at the pompous loudmouth Serena.
Chromosome test needed for Serena and her sister. She has the Michael obama look.
“””feted in many quarters as the greatest tennis player of all time”””
They don’t even bother to mention that this isn’t about the actual pro tennis players but is about the female version of pro tennis.
Steffi Graf retired at 30 years old, winning 22 major titles.
“ — was feted in many quarters as the greatest tennis player of all time…”
There’s a qualifier missing here the that makes the statement about as untrue as a statement can get.
I like this part - so true. All the coddling today’s players get.
“I would love to have played in this era. I think it’s so much easier,” she said. “How I would love to have taken family or friends along with me. But I couldn’t. I had to go on my own or with the national team. People don’t see all that.
“We didn’t have psychologists or coaches with us. It’s a whole different world. That’s what disappoints me — that players today don’t honor the past of the game.”
Williams is black. That’s the main reason for hyping the praise.
All part of ‘the message’
Williams has been on PEDs almost here entire career, and her record needs an asterisk. Court competed “clean”...and still had more major titles.
Court is too honest for the woke crowd.
Losing to Bobby Riggs did not help her reputation. “Oh sh*t” said Martina Navratilova “Now I am going the have to play him”.
Martina Navratilova did play him and she did win.
There is a fascination in our culture with associating race with superiority in whatever venture is mentioned.
One can appreciate the accomplishments of one great athlete with another. They played in different times. The competition was different. The equipment was different. So it’s almost impossible to compare one to the other.
But many people make the mistaken assumption that the “old school” player would not have trained, or adapted to the “modern” environment as well as the current GOATs. I think the inherent talent and mental drive of world class athletes is ageless.
People need to just stop this crap. Tip a hat to the giants of their sport. But just end the seemingly endless drama.
I’m very glad Serena didn’t surpass Margaret Court - she would have been even more insufferable than she is now, if that’s even possible. She probably would have ordered herself a “crown” of some sort and required knee bending & hand kissing in her presence (butt kissing by media & certain elites has been going on for years). You have NO idea how much I’m NOT going to miss her on the tennis court.
Venus is a little better, but she’s even longer in the tooth than Serena at 42 & I hope she retires soon as well. No more “Williams Sisters”, thank you very much.
Unless the two want to settle it on the court, there is no way to tell who was the better player in their prime.
People have a tendency, especially in today’s culture to make comparisons about things they know nothing about.
In just about every sport, the latest and greatest Superstar is proclaimed as the GOAT, when the person making the comparison has little to know historical perspective.
In this case it’s Serena Williams, she is without a doubt one of the greatest women’s players of all time, comparing records Margaret Court is certainly able to proclaim herself the GOAT, in the end does it really matter.
Tiger Woods was proclaimed as the GOAT, when Jack Nicklaus has a much better record in major tournaments than Tiger Woods.
For example, Jack Nicklaus won 18 professional majors finished second in 19, and Woods has six runner-up results. Nicklaus had 48 top-three finishes at Slams, twice as many as Woods
I am not going to even bother arguing if Williams or Court is the bestest tennis player. But it is unarguable which one looks better on the court, Court.
The praise for Williams because she is dark-skinned is well-intentioned. But it belittles her because it is based on a lower standard compared to people of other skin shades and ancestry. Even worse is the fact that Africans are generally superior to others in athletics, so her fans are not only saying that she’s great for a Black woman when so many other black women may be better but have chosen other sports.
Thug.
I’m surprised to see this on ESPN’s website.
No doubt in my mind that Steffi Graf is the GOAT. Retired at thirty years old with 22 major singles titles, had she competed for five more years there is no doubt she would hold the record today. She was #1 for 377 weeks, in comparison to Serena’s 319 weeks.