Serena Williams will turn 34 years old in less than three months.
That’s no worry. She probably could still be the best player in the women’s game when she’s 40. It’s just a matter of whether Serena still wants to be the world’s best player at that time in her life. James Beck
WHAT IF SERENA BECOMES BORED?
But what if Serena decided she no longer cared about being No. 1, and instead wanted to just start spending some of her money . . . maybe traveling and seeing the world through a different pair of glasses.
Who would take her place? Probably no one will ever be able to do that.
But women’s tennis would be one game that would be hard to figure out. Instead of picking winners, you could throw darts at the names of a dozen or more women, any of which might be the beneficiary of Serena’s departure from the game.
Every tournament likely would be wide open.
HOW ABOUT MARIA?
You say Maria Sharapova would be dominant. I wouldn’t bet on that, even though the Russian beauty certainly has a big game.
What about Petra Kvitova? The tall Czech lefty is about as predictable as the weather.
And don’t even mention Eugenie Bouchard.
Or Ana Ivanovic.
Simona Halep? Carolina Wozniacki? Lucie Safarova?
THE LIST . . . ALL THE WAY TO COCO
The list could go on and on, maybe even throughout the current top 30 players.
Probably not Charleston’s own Shelby Rogers. But what about 47th-ranked Coco Vandeweghe?
Coco might have the most awesome serve around on this Serena-less tennis planet.
When Coco’s serve hits the “T” the ball appears to explode. She says she practices that serve all the time.
Why not? The “T” serve might make Coco one of the best players in the game one of these days.
Serena still makes a pretty good living off of the “T” serve. That serve should be able to carry Serena for the foreseeable future.
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James Beck is the long-time tennis columnist for the Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier newspaper. He can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com
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