As an aspiring tennis player, I grew up idolizing Arthur Ashe. Always the picture of courage and dignity, Ashe floated somewhere in the ether, a constant source of inspiration for young black players who dreamed of making waves in the seemingly monochromatic world of tennis. Like the legendary Althea Gibson before him, his storied achievement stood out as an invaluable reminder that tennis excellence, like all forms of excellence, could come in a darker hue.
And then came the Williams sisters.
First, it was Venus, serving and scrambling her way to the U.S. Open final in 1997. Serena claimed the family’s first Grand Slam at the same event two years later. Black kids with tennis dreams no longer had to reach decades into the past to find a champion; we had Venus and Serena.
What began as a sister act has since morphed into a one-woman show. Almost 16 years after Serena’s first Major title, the competition still cannot keep up. She not only stands out among female tennis players, or among tennis players generally; she is in the midst of one of the all-time great careers in sporting history.
She now has 21 Grand Slam singles titles, just one away from the open-era record and three from the all-time record. She is the only player – male or female – to have won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments at least six times. She has held all four Grand Slam titles at the same time on two occasions separated by 12 years, a feat that has been eponymously named the “Serena Slam.” And, despite being the oldest woman in the open era to win a Major singles title, there is no sign of her slowing down.
She has achieved all of this in a career filled with challenging moments. In a now-infamous incident at the 2001 Indian Wells Masters, Serena was booed and heckled (with racial slurs, according to her and her family) through an entire three-set final because fans were suspicious of her having received a default from Venus in the prior round.
A similar scene unfolded two years later at the 2003 French Open when the crowd turned fervently against Serena for having the temerity to request a “let” when her opponent held her hand in the air just before Serena’s serve (a motion that was confirmed by television replays).
During a 2004 US Open quarterfinal loss, Serena was on the wrong end of a series of line calls so atrocious that the chair umpire was subsequently suspended and tournament officials had to issue an apology.
Off the court, Serena has withstood years of public obsession with her aggressive play, fiercely competitive attitude and even her athletic physique. This commentary has sometimes peddled in blatantly racist and misogynist tropes, such as when the head of the Russian Tennis Federation referred to Venus and Serena as the “Williams brothers” late last year, calling them “frightening.”
Then there are the frequent impersonations of Serena by fellow players like Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic and Caroline Wozniacki, bringing attention to Serena’s curvy frame by stuffing towels in their shirts and shorts.
During the latest Wimbledon campaign alone, Serena had to field questions about an emerging blackface trend among Australian tennis fans, endure public musings about her physical appearance, and be subjected to completely unfounded insinuations of steroid use by supposedly reputable media figures. It never seems to end.
But if there is one thing Serena has proven, it’s that she knows how to handle adversity. That Indian Wells final where she faced 15,000 angry hecklers? She won it anyway. After an epic (and entirely self-inflicted) meltdown at the 2009 US Open, Serena issued a full-throated apology, accepted her fine (historically severe by tennis standards), and bounced back to win two Major singles titles in the following year.
In 2011, less than a year after blood clots in her lungs left her wondering whether she would survive, she was back at Wimbledon competing with a heightened appreciation and renewed focus. She has won another eight Majors since that life-threatening ailment.
In an ESPN interview following her latest Wimbledon title on Saturday, Serena was asked to name an athlete from outside of tennis who inspired her. After weighing the question for a moment, she named Muhammad Ali. It was an apt response. With her fiery competitiveness, bold personality and unparalleled achievement in the face of tremendous obstacles and legions of naysayers, Serena just might be the heir apparent for Ali’s title: The Greatest.
Blake Strode, a St. Louis native, was an All-American tennis player at the University of Arkansas (2006-9). He played professionally for three years after college, including three times in the US Open men’s qualifying draw. He recently graduated from Harvard Law School, and will join the ArchCity Defenders in September as a Skadden Fellow focusing on housing and community education.
