Multiple Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova believes that Serena Williams is still the player to beat despite her slow start to the season.
The 34-year-old has participated in only three WTA tournaments this year, reaching the final at the Australian Open and BNP Paribas Open. At her most recent tournament in Miami, Williams suffered a shock loss in the third round to Svetlana Kuznetsova. She was scheduled to play in her seventh Madrid Open next week but has withdrawn due to illness.
Reaching two finals on the WTA tour this year is by no means a poor performance, however, is it below-par for the high standards of the world No.1. Navratilova, who won 18 Grand Slam singles trophies during her career, spoke about Williams’ recent title drought. The 59-year-old said that Williams is a victim of her own success.
“The standard that she has set is so high that it’s hard to live up to that – by most players’ standards, they’d be happy if they had the same year she has had – but by her standards, she was not as high up as she was a year ago,” Navratilova told media in Singapore.
Last year Williams won three consecutive Grand Slam titles. She became within touching distance of becoming the first woman to win all four majors within one year since Steffi Graf in 1988. Her historic attempt ended in disappointment after she lost in the semifinals of the US Open to Roberta Vinci. Since then, there has been a lull in the dominance of the world No.1 on the tour. Despite the decline, Navratilova has warned against writing her off.
“She’s not exactly floundering…you cannot write her off, it’s way too soon for that, it’s only April,” the former world No.1 said.
The decline of Williams’ stronghold in the women’s game isn’t just down to herself. It is also due to the surge of form by her opponents. Angelique Kerber produced some of the greatest tennis of her career to win the Australian Open. Meanwhile, Victoria Azarenka was unstoppable during the American hard court swing in March as she won back-to-back titles in Indian Wells and Miami. It now seems like the gap between the world No.1 and the other players is closing and Navratilova agrees.
“She’s still the queen, but it’s nice to see the (other) players stepping up,” said Navratilova.
“Certainly, a lot of players are stepping on Serena’s heels… the gap has gotten smaller, and the way it looks it may keep getting smaller, because Serena won so many Slams last year – three out of four – she has a lot of (ranking) points to defend, so it will be difficult for her to keep the cushion (atop the world rankings).”
Williams is still one of the toughest competitors on the tour, however, it is unclear if she will ever again dominate the tour in the same fashion as last year. As the French Open swiftly approaches, many questions remain regarding the form of the 34-year-old.
