It has been a few days since Serena Williams won her second “Serena Slam” but the party is not over yet. Serena Williams is the first woman have twice as many points as the number two on the rankinglist. Serena Williams currently has 13,161 points and Russia’s second-ranked Maria Sharapova on 6,490. Serena Williams won her 21st Grand Slam title when she won Wimbledon 2015.
Steffi Graf is currently topping the open era list with 22 Grand Slam singles titles. While Margaret Court holds the all time record with no less than 24 titles.
Can Serena Williams win the calendar grand slam?
That is the question on anyone’s tennis mind. She has won the Australian Open, the French Open and now Wimbledon. The only title missing in 2015 is the US Open to complete the calendar Grand Slam. Big sister Venus Williams thinks that it is a possibility.
“I think they’re good,”Venus Williams said of Serena’s chances, “but it’s not just like she went out there and people gave her the matches (at Wimbledon) – she earned it. She earned every single match, every single point, so I’m sure that it won’t be easy to win the Open.”
Venus Williams on body shaming
Lately there have been quite a few reports of Serena being body shamed by various people on social media after win at Wimbledon and in the past in various newspapers. One factor that contributed to the “body shaming” is an article written by Ben Rothenberg for the New York Times “Her rivals could try to emulate her physique, but most of them choose not to.” Accompanied by an unfortunate Twitter card with a coach quote to catch the reader’s attention. While the author and article was defended by New York Times sports editor Jason Stallman and Margaret Sullivan, the damage was already done. The fallout on Twitter called the New York Times sexist and racist and putting Serena down as some kind of freak. However, the discussion Mr Rothenberg has tried to start with his article is an interesting one and it shouldn’t be buried under the outrage despite its’ sensitivity.
During the interview Venus Williams, who was competing at the World Team Tennis Tournament, touched the sensitive subject and had the following to say:
“When it comes down to it, the only person that can understand what it’s like to be a professional athlete is a professional athlete, how much you put into it – or maybe someone that’s played sports at a high level who’s really given their heart and soul. Otherwise it’s hard to walk in someone’s shoes.”
The Jason Stallman interview, defending the article in the New York Times
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