The main reason for Serena's dominance in the rankings despite her not-so-satisfactory performance in Grand Slams this year is her winning streak in other tournaments.
Serena Williams is No.1 again! Serena is the US Open champion! The younger Williams sister is the queen of Wimbledon yet again! Have you lost count of the number of times you have read these in the headlines?
At 32, Serena is still World No.1, the oldest female player in the history of the game to be ranked at the top, and she is hungry for more Grand Slam titles. Serena already has the most major titles amongst current players in the sport, whether male or female, with her 32 Slam titles including 17 singles, 13 women's doubles and 2 mixed doubles titles. She will turn 33 in September.
On Monday, Serena became only the fifth women's player ever to be ranked No.1 for 200 weeks after beating Angelique Kerber 7-6, 6-3 to win the Stanford WTA title on the previous day. She now has 61 career titles, 39 less than the great Steffi Graf, who is third on the all-time list but more importantly, Serena is just five Grand Slam singles title wins behind Graf's 22.
By her lofty standards, this year hasn't been too great for the American. In 2014, Serena has failed to make it past the fourth round in any of the three Grand Slams so far. She has, however, held on to her No.1 ranking by some margin. Serena has 9700 points at the top as of now and she leads the second-ranked Li Na by a whopping 2740 points.
The main reason for Serena's dominance in the rankings despite her not-so-satisfactory performance in Grand Slams this year is her winning streak in other tournaments. However, for someone who had a 47-3 run in major tournaments before losing in the fourth round of the 2014 Australian Open to Ana Ivanovic, this is a worrying sign. (Also Read: Serena, Agassi to Play in Singapore IPTL Leg)
Serena has dispelled some doubts as to whether she can defend her US Open crown next month by winning the Stanford title on her return from losing in the second round at Wimbledon. Just about a month ago at London, Serena was struggling badly with a virus illness.
This little lapse in Serena's form, however, is only temporary, if the past is anything to go by. On July 7, 2010, the American stepped on broken glass while leaving a restaurant in Munich. She didn't take part in any tournament for the rest of the year. During the long break after the accident, Serena admitted that she feared not only for her career but also her life.
"To this day I don't really know the full details of what happened," Williams had told BBC in 2011. "I was with my nephew and my hitting partner and we were just leaving a restaurant." Serena added, "I was walking and just felt something. I kept walking and it was definitely glass there. There was a massive puddle of blood. I ended up fainting and needed stitches in both feet. If it had been left two days later it could have been career-ending -- or even worse. They told me I had several blood clots in both lungs. A lot of people die from that."
The American has come a long way after that. Although Serena cannot still match Maria Sharapova's endorsements, her career prize money in excess of 56-million-dollars is almost double than the No. 2 Russian on the same list.
"I feel like I'm on the right track again. I feel like I can play even better -- I wasn't serving my best, and I wasn't making as many winners off the return as I wanted to, but I think I'm getting there," Serena said after coming back from 5-1 down in the first set to beat Kerber in the Stanford final.
Stanford was the first tournament Serena took part in after a strange performance in a doubles match with her sister Venus Williams at Wimbledon, where she could not even serve properly and had to retire owing to a viral illness.
Steffi Graf too is of the opinion that Serena can surpass her tally of 22 Grand Slam singles titles. "While I don't have a crystal ball, living in Las Vegas I've come to appreciate odds," Graf told the WTA website when asked about Serena's chances of surpassing her.
"My answer would be yes," concluded Graf.
Serena now has the opportunity to show the sporting world that age is no physical barrier if a player has game left in her. And this young lady certainly does play with a lot of heart!