Serena 2.0: A new perspective on an all-time great

Serena Williams is an author, actress, designer, philanthropist and … wait for it … a certified nail technician. Of course, she also happens to be one of the greatest female tennis players of all time. But since her return from a trifecta of injuries, including a mysteriously sliced toe tendon, a pulmonary embolism and even a bike crash, Serena has morphed into the one thing I never believed she could be: a sympathetic figure.
When I think of Serena the tennis player, I can’t help but admire her game, her competitive will and the resulting respect she commands on court. Even after a nearly yearlong layoff, she was still the odds-on favorite to win Wimbledon this year. Given her talent, it’s too bad Serena has often had a hard time letting her racket do the talking. Here are just a few examples of her less than gracious comments:
• After winning the U.S. Open in 1999, a 17-year-old Williams said, “I touch everyone. Everyone wants to see me, and I don’t blame them. Got to get a look at Serena.”
• “I just think she made a lot of lucky shots and I made a lot of errors,” a sullen Serena said of Justine Henin after losing to the Belgian (for the third consecutive time) in the 2007 U.S. Open quarterfinals.
• “We all know who the real No. 1 is,” she said after Dinara Safina rose to No. 1 in the world rankings in the spring of 2009. “Quite frankly, I’m the best in the world.”
(Quite frankly, she was right, but she could have been more respectful of Safina.)





Leave a Reply