Serena Williams made her professional debut on a practice court at Club Avantage in Quebec City on October 29, 1995. With an estimated 50 people on hand, not all of whom were paying attention to a Bell Challenge qualifier, the then 14-year-old was trounced 6-1, 6-1 by Anne Miller, earned $240, and utterly failed to live up to the advance billing.
"I guess I played a celebrity," said Miller, four years her senior, and, like so many others on tour, seemingly unimpressed by the hype. "She needs to play some junior events the way Anna Kournikova has to learn how to become match-tough."
Williams never did play any junior tennis. But with her victory in the Australian Open last weekend, she has now won 19 Grand Slams, six of the last 11, and two in a row. The callow youth so brutally exposed that day in Canada 20 years ago grew into a force so formidable she has surpassed Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert (both with 18), and is now just three shy of Steffi Graf's record of 22. As for Miller, she retired from tennis at 21 and qualified as an accountant.
If the debate about whether Williams is the best female player of all time is ongoing, she is almost certainly the most under-appreciated legend in American sport. No athlete, male or female, who has achieved so much receives so little recognition beyond her own sport.
Dominance
Her achievement in Melbourne, recovering from throwing up in the tunnel during the final, barely registered back home. Its impact was negated by the time difference, a clash with Super Bowl weekend, and the fact her dominance has become so routine it is taken for granted.
This indifference is all the more remarkable because, in so many ways, this improbable yarn might be the greatest American sports story ever told. An African-American taught himself tennis, using videos and magazines, then began coaching his daughters at a public park in the Los Angeles ghetto of Compton. The asphalt on the court was cracked, often strewn with broken glass, and practices were occasionally sound-tracked by the rat-tat-tat of Bloods and Crips exchanging gun fire. From there, the pair somehow conquered the sport, and in Serena’s case, laid waste to her country’s record books.
Yet, instead of being feted at every turn, she has had to tolerate a miasma of spurious allegations and periodic racist abuse. In the years Venus was playing on her level, the regular accusation was that, in collaboration with their overbearing father Richard, the duo were feigning injury and fixing matches against each other.
This culminated in an incident at Indian Wells in California in 2001. When Venus withdrew from a semi-final against her sister, the crowd lustily booed Serena and the family throughout her subsequent final victory over Kim Clijsters. In the stands, her father and sister claim fans around them used the “N” word.
How much has changed since then? Well, her victory dance after winning Olympic gold in 2012 prompted accusations she was promoting gang culture, quite a thing to say about someone who lost a sister to gun violence in Compton. Just last October, the president of the Russian Tennis Federation described her and Venus as "The Williams Brothers", simultaneously ticking the racist and sexist boxes.
Even within the sport, American pundits dwell on her athleticism, her power, and her strength, and never talk enough about the beauty of her stroke, the intelligence of her shot selection, and her accuracy under pressure.
What is lost in all this negativity is the fact Serena is also one of the most fascinating figures in sport. Who else could stumble around Wimbledon during a doubles match last summer, answer rumours she was drunk/pregnant/drugged and then recover to win the next two Grand Slams? Who else would have to deny threatening to kill an umpire during a US Open match?
Boring drones
In an age when so many stars are boring drones, incapable of existing beyond the arena, Serena has amassed all those titles while, almost miraculously, managing to pursue other passions. Aside from a host of cameos as herself on various sitcoms, she played a distraught mother in
ER
, did a turn as a basketball star on
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit
, and is currently producing and starring in an animated feature film called
WimbleToad
.
Even this desire to juggle extra-curriculars with the day job has been used against her every time she’s gone too long without winning. Critics charged she didn’t evince enough commitment to the sport. Never mind that she won the 2012 US Open while spending her downtime at the tournament working on her clothing line for New York Fashion Week. Not to mention either this ability to regularly turn off may be why she is still going so strong two decades after her debut.
With her game rejuvenated under French coach/sometime boyfriend Patrick Mouratoglou (who left his wife and kids shortly after he met Serena), and none of her perceived rivals able to match her when she's on form, little wonder she's talking about overhauling Graf on her way to the Rio Olympics.
“We have to keep her motivated at the same level of motivation as the one she has now, and fit,” said Mouratoglou last week. “Because she’s improving still.”
She may end up dominating long enough to finally get the recognition she deserves.
