Keep it Down Serena

I have nothing against the Williams Sisters. I think they are two of the greatest tennis players of all time, and helped bring a new style of tennis into this generation. They brought a power game that the women's side had never seen. They combined this power with grace and beauty and become icons. The fact that they were African Americans from the hard streets of Compton, California made them even bigger icons to all young girls.

I am always thrilled when they dominate a tournament like they did at Wimbledon this year. They steamrolled the competition to face each other in the singles final, and not to mention they crushed the doubles field to win another doubles title. Serena had one of the best two weeks of her life winning both singles and doubles on the same day. I even thought her shirt that read "Are you looking at my titles" was hilarious and a great way to play on her good looks.

What is did not like was her press conference about being ranked #2. She ripped number 1 Dinora Safina and the WTA rankings. Now I agree Serena is the best woman's player today, but that does not mean she should be ranked number 1. The WTA rankings are based on a year round performance not just the majors. Serena tends to only focus on the 4 majors and does not have the same intensity for the other tour events. Dinora Safina brings her A game to every tournament no matter how big and because of her consistency in those tournaments she has gained the right to be ranked number 1. Not only that its not as if she is losing in the first round of the big tournaments.

No one complained on the men's side when Nadal passed Federer even though Nadal had only won one major outside the red clay of Roland Garros and Federer had been in 3 Grand Slam Finals and 1 Grand Slam Final that season. Why because Nadal had a better year all around in the other tournaments. When Federer took it back after winning Wimbledon no one complained because he has had a better season in the past year.

So if Serena really wants to be number 1, she needs to go out and play all the tournaments on the circuit. She needs to give and A+ effort and win a few of those tournaments. If she only wants to focus on majors that is perfectly OK too. She can keep winning the big ones and get closer to the all time record and cement her legacy as one of the greatest players of all time.

However, if she does not play in the events necessary to accumulate points to overtake the number 1 spot than she needs to stop complaining. You cannot complain about a system that you do not fully participate. So Serena the proverbial ball is in your court, either give it your all and take back what you want, or stop whining about the system.