Sports stars halted by coronavirus: No. 5 — Serena Williams forced off Court

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It was January 2017 and a proud Serena Williams held aloft her the Austrlaian Open title for the seventh time in Melbourne. Her vanquished final rival was her sister Venus, who was as magnanimous as ever - Serena had defeated her in seven of eight Grand Slam final meetings going back to 2002. Image Credit: AP

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That was the last time Serena held a Grand Slam winner’s trophy. It was her 23rd - an astonishing achivement on a WTA Tour where champions regularly come and go and normally spend no more than a few years at the top. Image Credit: AFP

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Serena has been the exception. Since her first Grand Slam final triumph against Martina Hingis in 1999 at the US Open, the American has gone on to reach 32 other major tournament showdowns in women’s singles, seeing off no less than 12 No. 1s and firmly establishing herself as the greatest player the modern era has ever seen. Image Credit: Gulf News Archives

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Three French Open titles on her least favourite surface at Roland Garros alone puts her above the majority of Grand Slam winners since the turn of the millennium. Add on six US opens, seven Wimbledon successes and the same number of Australian crowns, and she is not only streets ahead, but towns, countries and even planets ahead. Image Credit: Reuters

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During her time of domination there have been 24 other Grand Slam winners on the women’s tour. To put that into comparison with her male counterparts during the same time, four men have shared the vast majority of the titles — Roger Federer (20), Novak Djokovic (17) and Rafael Nadal (19) have accounted for around three-quarters of the titles on offer. Image Credit: AP

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Almost every major on the ATP over the past 20 years has followed the same pattern, the big three get through week one, battle past one real test and then a final is set up between two of either the Swiss the Spaniard or the Serb, and one walks away with the title. It is such a different story in the women’s game, where upsets are guaranteed at every tournament and the top seed loses out as often as she prevails. Image Credit: USA Today

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Serena’s ability to continue picking up the gongs shows such versatility, endurance and fight in a game that should favour the younger players. Such is her tenacity, she won her last title while she was pregnant with her first child. Four more finals have come since that day in January 2017. Even motherhood can’t hold her back. However, that elusive 24th title is still out of reach — she has fallen at the final hurdle to Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep at Wimbledon, and to Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu at Flushing Meadows in New York. Image Credit: Getty / AFP

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Aside from parenthood, had life-threatening infections, embolisms and horrendous injuries not sidelined her for chunks of her career, it would be safe to say Serena would have reached the magic 24 titles and drawn level with Margaret Court, who amassed her haul from 1960 to 1973, with 11 coming before the Open era. Image Credit: AFP

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It would also not be beyond the realms of imagination to say that 2020 would have seen her finally pick up that long-awaited title No. 24. However, with coronavirus shelving all activity on the courts across the globe, Serena has a whole new host of adversities: She will not be any younger when the powers that be finally give the green light for action to resume this season; Wimbledon, one of her favourite tournaments and real chance to triumph, has been struck from the calendar completely this year; A creaking body will take time to get back up to speed among much younger opponents, so if the Grand Slams come thick and fast without many preparation events, Serena could find herself out of practice, out of luck and out of the tournaments before she has a chance to get going. And then, by 2021, another new batch of aspiring talents will be standing in her way, meaning that next Slam may never come around ... Image Credit: AFP

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