Whether you like her or hate her, Serena Williams is without doubt one of the biggest gamers of all-time.
A 23-time grand slam who made 10 extra finals which she misplaced in, Williams completed with the second most titles of all-time behind Aussie Margaret Court’s tally of 24, though the American’s all got here in the course of the Open period.
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It’s an unthinkable document when put in context with the lads’s sport as earlier than Novak Djokovic (23 grand slam titles), Rafael Nadal (22) and Roger Federer (20), the earlier document was held by Pete Sampras at 14.
But there’s a purpose Williams is arguably the best of all-time — as present World No. 10 Frances Tiafoe revealed on the Ultimate Tennis Showdown Talk Show.
He was speaking in regards to the 2019 Hopman Cup in Perth, the place Williams and Federer performed one another for the primary time in a aggressive match in a blended doubles rubber.
Heading into the Switzerland-USA conflict, the tie was one-all and Federer and Belinda Bencic defeated Williams and Tiafoe 4-2 4-3 within the decider.
“Best (Serena) story I got, I’m playing mixed with her, we’re playing Fed and Bencic,” Tiafoe stated to fellow US tennis stars Chris Eubanks and Blake Shelton.
“I’ve never seen an atmosphere like this. Everything that happened, double fault, people are going crazy.
“Fed is aceing her left, right, and centre. She gets aced again. We go sit down. She goes ‘Ugh! I don’t get it. I can’t lose this. He’s not better than me. I got 23 (Slams), he’s got 20’.”
Eubanks stated: “No way. No way, you making this up.”
“That’s when I was like, I get it now. I’m a big believer in … you’ve got to be different (to be the best). You have to be, bro.
“Because she’s saying that, she didn’t laugh. This wasn’t a joke. She was like ‘Ugh! I’ve got 23, he’s got 20’.
“That’s that mindset of ‘I’m the best’. When she said it, I was like ‘oh s**t, I’m a**’.”
To play satan’s advocate for Federer, the Swiss maestro received 103 ATP titles, behind solely Jimmy Connors with 109, whereas Williams received 73 titles to sit down fifth on the WTA record.
Both Federer and Williams each retired in 2022 however each go down as among the biggest to have ever have picked up a racquet.
The 25-year-old Tiafoe is into the third spherical of Wimbledon, having crushed rising Swiss star Dominic Stricker in straight units within the second spherical.
Having but to drop a set in Wimbledon this yr, the tenth seed Tiafoe is ready to play 21 seed Grigor Dimitrov.
Source: www.news.com.au
