#SmashTalk: Is Serena the greatest Grand Slam player ever?

On Monday, Serena Williams surpassed Roger Federer as the player with the most Grand Slam match wins in the professional era.

The American now sits on 308, one clear of Federer’s 307 and two ahead of Martina Navratilova on 306.

This latest milestone is yet another tennis record for Serena, who this week is gunning for a record-breaking 23rd Open era Grand Slam singles title in New York and the chance to beat Steffi Graf’s record of 186 consecutive weeks at world No.1.

With all of this in mind, the #SmashTalk panel of Todd Woodbridge, Paul Moore, Matt Trollope and Leigh Rogers debated just the one question this week. Do you agree with our views? Have your say on Facebook and Twitter.

With 308 wins, is Serena Williams the greatest Grand Slam singles player of all time?

Todd Woodbridge

I always have difficulty in ‘greatest of all times’ because I’ve grown up watching Navratilova, Evert and Graf play and eventually they leave the game. One of the greatest attributes of Serena has been her longevity, her inspiration, motivation and tenacity at this age, and that will to win. But you can’t compare Serena to Roger Federer, Rod Laver or Bjorn Borg – that’s incomparable. She will go down as one of the greatest, but I don’t think that it’s fair to name anybody the greatest.

You look at eras of tennis – and even Mark Woodforde and myself were in the pocket of ‘were they the greatest doubles team?’ No. But we were the greatest of our time. You can only beat who is put out in front of you. Would Serena have beaten Margaret Court at her best with a wooden racquet on a grass court? Or a serve and volleyer of Navratilova’s expertise? That is why it is so hard to compare. Is she the greatest of her era? Without doubt.

Paul Moore

Roger Federer fans would vehemently deny that Serena’s 308 wins (and counting) surpass the 307 (and counting) that he has amassed. And I think there is an element of truth to that. The men’s and women’s games are incomparable on many levels and for many reasons – none of which should be based on any three v five set nonsense.

And I say that is not to diminish the magnitude of her achievement – it is ridiculously impressive. Rather, it is an attempt to move the conversation away from a Serena v Roger / women’s tennis v men’s tennis bunfight.

Instead, the question really is about whether the 308 wins make her the greatest female player of all time? Again, that is a difficult question to answer. Would she have beaten Court, Evert, Navratilova or Graf at their peaks? It’s impossible to say (but would have been fun to watch). Instead, we can say without question that she is the best women’s tennis player of her generation, and one of the greatest tennis players ever to walk on the court – woman or man.

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Matt Trollope

On every metric, yes. Let’s start by comparing her with her female contemporaries. Graf and Navratilova both have imposing major singles records – Graf with 22 slams, Navratilova with 18 – but both won all of their titles in a span of 12 years. Serena’s first major came at the 1999 US Open and her most recent was at this year’s Wimbledon – a extraordinary span of nearly 17 years. Serena’s record in major singles finals also puts her head-and-shoulders above the rest – at 22-6, it beats Graf’s mark of 22-9 and overshadows Navratilova’s 18-14.

Comparing her with her male contemporary Roger Federer, the gap is even wider. Federer’s first and last major singles titles came at Wimbledon 2003 and 2012 – winning 17 slams in that period demonstrates more concentrated success, but Serena’s longevity and sustained excellence is surely a trump card. Federer’s record in major finals is a solid 17-10, but pales in comparison to Serena’s slam final winning percentage of around 80.

And you could argue that Serena’s opposition over that span has been tougher than what Federer, Graf and Navratilova faced. Federer emerged in an arguably weak era in men’s tennis before eventually battling three main rivals – Nadal, Djokovic and Murray. When facing Nadal and Djokovic in slam meetings, Federer’s record is an combined 8-17. Graf and Navratilova also had few legitimate rivals in Slams – you could count them each on one hand.

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Serena, meanwhile, has outlasted and overcome several waves of great rivals. She first came up duking it out against Hingis, Davenport and Venus. A few years later, along came Capriati, Henin and Clijsters, closely followed by a trio of impressive Russians – Sharapova, Kuznetsova and Dementieva. Later, her Grand Slam battles have come against players like Azarenka, Kvitova and Li Na. Aside from Dementieva, all of those players own multiple major titles. Serena is a combined 53-18 against them in Grand Slam play.

Leigh Rogers

I believe she is. Of course there are arguments against – Roger Federer has won an impressive 307 matches in an era where he arguably had tougher rivals and Steffi Graf claimed as many Grand Slam titles as Serena in fewer tournaments. The latter argument overlooks Serena’s longevity, which to me will become her greatest legacy and is why she is deserving of being considered the greatest Grand Slam singles player of all time.

It is phenomenal to think that since Serena played her first Grand Slam as a 16-year-old in 1998 and won her first title a year later, she is still dominating the sport 19 years later. Her Wimbledon win in July not only tied her with Graf’s Open Era record of 22 titles, but impressively set another record for the longest ever span between Grand Slam singles titles. Of course there have been ups and downs in-between, but Serena’s ability to overcome the many adversities she has faced make her achievements even more remarkable. In her past nine Grand Slam events (including reaching the quarterfinals at the US Open this fortnight), Serena boasts a 56-3 win-loss record.

Such dominance is unprecedented for an almost 35-year-old – let’s not forget that no man or woman of Serena’s age has ever been ranked No.1 or had so much Grand Slam success at that age. What Serena has achieved in her career is remarkable, and the fact she is still adding to it only enhances her status as the greatest ever.