Pat Cash, shy as always.
From The Times: Williams is lost cause
For all her talk, Serena Williams will never return to the top again
IF ANYBODY is qualified to make deluded statements about tennis, it is a former world No 1 and winner of seven Grand Slam titles. But when Serena Williams arrives in Australia on her first foreign playing trip in a year and announces that it is only a matter of time before she is again dominating the sport, it’s time to tell her to get real.
Tennis is unforgiving. You can’t let it slide down the list of priorities, only to realise suddenly that playing the sport was what you wanted to do all along...
The only players I can recall who let things slip, only to climb back to the top, were Andre Agassi and Jennifer Capriati. Williams should ask herself if she has the same dedication. And is she prepared to make the sacrifices? The answer is obvious...
Williams may be in better physical shape this year than when she pitched up for the 2006 Australian Open, but her three matches in Hobart last week were her first in tournament play since the US Open almost four months ago. Add to that the fact that last year she opted not to play outside the US after losing in the third round in Melbourne and you cannot fail to agree that her application is lacking.
The Williams sisters changed the face of women’s tennis, taking power play to previously unimaginable levels. They blazed everybody else out of their path. But Serena clearly has a limited attention span. At her peak she had no patience in the way she played her tennis. Now she does not appear to have the fortitude to stick at what she is trying to do...
Williams said she was an actress. She also got involved in the fashion world and seemed to love every second of it. Good on her. She is entitled to do whatever she wants, and if it made her happy, what more could she ask?
Everybody knows she and Venus had no real choice when their father, Richard, decided that much of their childhood would be spent hitting tennis balls. Who can be surprised that this promotes a desire to do something different? But to make
such a crass statement on her arrival in Australia was an insult to Amelie Mauresmo and Maria Sharapova, who have risen to the top of the game in her absence.
Bullcrap, to an extent this may be true, but if Serena has the desire to be back on top then believe me she will. No one knows whats going on inside her head (Even Pat Cash) And Williams hits the ball harder than any other player out there so i dont know what their going on about. Serena is only just 25 she still has atleast 4-5 years to go
Posted by: Tennis Fan | January 14, 2007 at 04:41 AM
why such negativity? why don't he focus on all the great players at the top right now? give them attention instead of focusing on serena. when they don't play with talk about them, when they play with talk about them. you can not tell what a person might or might not do. if she is over then focus on Maria, Amelie or Kim(this happen to be her las year) there are so many people this attention should be given too. i am not a fan of the williams sisters but i think to much is being put on them and the expectation OMG!!!! the defending champion is not even given the attention but these reporters still have time to bash williams not time given to the top players right now. i guess there are still very importan for tennis because there about 10 article out there about serena returning to tennis, lack of movement etc........... they have nothing to write about other then serena.
Posted by: tina | January 14, 2007 at 12:17 PM
Word. Everytime I see Serena insult her opponent in the interview, I think "and what have you done lately?" I know she _was_ a great player, but now she's swimming in denial. And there's only one way to fight that -- to keep stating the truth. She ain't dominating nothin'.
Posted by: Shurii | January 14, 2007 at 02:00 PM
how did she insult other opponent? show me where? do not mistake confidence with arrogance. Serena will suck if she play in about 12-14 tounament and loses in them then i will says she is over. hate is a terrible thing. yes she is not dominating anymore so show me who is dominating the tour right now, i bet you can not show me one person who is. there is nothing wrong with believing in yourself. if you all have to go by what people thought of us then a lot of in this world will not be what they are today. Best luck to amelie(allez!!!!!), Kim(you will be miss) and serena(believe in yourself)
Posted by: stacy | January 14, 2007 at 02:57 PM
I'm completely baffled anytime I see that people are still actually fans of the Williams sisters. Why would anyone waste their affection and adoration on such arrogant brats?
Posted by: Seth | January 14, 2007 at 05:40 PM
Exactly the same reaction here, Seth. Although looking at the responses of the fans, maybe on a few occasions it's "like to like"?
Posted by: Sher | January 14, 2007 at 05:54 PM
While I have nothing personal against Serena and recognize that she was a great champion, she gave me a headache in much the same way that Sharapova does. I could not stand to watch her matches. It's a shame, but I often will decide whether or not I will watch a final based on decibel level these days.
Posted by: Lisa | January 14, 2007 at 06:51 PM
Seth why are they arrogant brats as you mildly put it? I cant see how they are actually.
Posted by: Tennis Fan | January 15, 2007 at 10:05 AM
Damn, some people really hate Serena. Why do people need to down people all the time. Like for example when Mauresmo didnt win a GS for years and years i never said 'shes crap' 'she aint committed' i still believed she was a great player and then in 06 she wins 2 grand slams. My point is some people really must have sad lives and must get to envolved in tennis to really say they hate players and that they're arrogant ect. Just give it time and we will all see what Serena brings to 2007. May it be failure or success. Seriously though some people must be really sad.
Posted by: Andrew | January 15, 2007 at 10:17 AM
Nobody said Serena is crap, just not the same player she used to be. She used to be a great player, and I don't throw the word great around lightly. Amelie Mauresmo is a great player right now. Don't be so quick to say 'hate', it makes you look immature and silly.
1) It's perfectly possible to like how a player plays tennis and dislike their personality off-court, just look at Hewitt.
2) It's perfectly possible for a player to have had their best days and be done. That happens 99% of the time, actually. It's possible for players to come back, but it takes the kind of dedication I'm not seeing from present-day Serena.
3) We are fans, and we discuss our sport. You can't always be PC and say "oh maybe possibly Serena could still win a GS" if you personally do not believe it. That would be lying and does nobody credit. What makes us fans is that we have our preferences for particular players and we state them. Pointing fingers and saying 'oh you just hate Serena, that's why you don't think she'll win a GS this year' is useless. If you really want to convince someone try arguing your point logically, as that article has done to argue theirs.
It makes me sad that honest criticism of a player brings some outrage from their fans, like nobody can criticise their darling. Wake up and live in the real world for a change. Other people don't think like you do.
(maybe I'm really bored because there's an hour to go till they start showing tennis... *slinks off*)
Posted by: Sher | January 15, 2007 at 08:44 PM
I don't know what's going on here, but superbly cogent arguments of a generic nature by Sher. Kudos.
Posted by: Peacemaster | January 15, 2007 at 09:02 PM
First of all you are correct in saying we as fans have our opinions or whatever, yet why in such a negative tone. Using tone such as 'arrogant brats' this is what i call immature, so dont go on about me looking immature and silly, cause quite frankly im not the one criticising other players.
Referring to point 1.
'It's perfectly possible to like how a player plays tennis and dislike their personality off-court, just look at Hewitt.'
First of all you dont even know the tennis player so you cant even judge their character. Secondly i aint trying to convince anyone sher, im just expressing my opinion. I couldn't give to flying fucks whether you like her or not, thats your choice.
All in all in the post above i was trying to get the mere point across that people who enjoy criticising other players must be sad. There are ways of expressing yourself without using foul terms and language, by expressing yourself in a good manner your opinion would be more respected and would reflect maturity.
And yes from some comments on other topics on Serena there are clearly people who hate Serena. I cant see how me using this word makes me look silly. In fact on other sites i have actually witnessed someone say they hate her. So shut up cause you dont know what your talking about. Dont go making assumptions of what i think and then coming up with a bullcrap argument.
I respect some of your points but you need to construct your argument better next time as sometimes i got confused. Yours points were all jumbled and were not clear to a point of accuracy.
Posted by: Andrew | January 16, 2007 at 08:54 AM
Andrew I think you just won my argument for me with this here:
"I couldn't give to flying fucks whether you like her or not, thats your choice. ... There are ways of expressing yourself without using foul terms and language, by expressing yourself in a good manner your opinion would be more respected and would reflect maturity. ... In fact on other sites i have actually witnessed someone say they hate her. So shut up cause you dont know what your talking about."
I'm done spending my time on this.
Posted by: Sher | January 16, 2007 at 12:46 PM
To be quite honest, there are a lot of issues at play here. First I see that there is a big discrepency between motivation, ability, performance, and attitude/confidence. In the case of the Williams' people tend to focus on one more particular aspect of their being, which is their color. Not saying people are racists, but with the amount of negativity one could think that some of the fans dislike for the Williams' is based on subconcious stereotypical views of blacks. Let's face it, tennis was a predominantly white sport until the rise of the Williams'. Yes there was Aurthur Ashe, Althea Gibson, Mal Washington, Zina Garrison, just to name a few, it was not until the arrival of Venus and Serena that tennis became truley integrated in the sense of opportunities for all people. With that said, tennis is STILL predominantly white in America. With that said I feel more comfortable addressing the issues stated above. When it comes to motivation, YES the Williams Sisters at times have seemed alouf with outside interest, however they have in fact sustained serious, sometimes career ending injuries that needed time to heal. It is selfish for fans of tennis to chastise professionals for taking adequate amounts of time to heal. People fall at work, they take a month off. You get in a car accident and brake your leg, you take off two months. You get surgery of anysort, your garaunteed to be off a regular nine to five for at the very least 6 weeks. My point is, if you do not realize that tennis requires 100% health both physical and mental to play your just as dumb as the things you write. Secondly, lets remember that not too long ago their sister was MURDERED for no apparent reason suddenly. When our families die, it may be a little easier to deal with in the sense of returning to your normal life or daily routine, but for people of the Williams stature being constantly scrutinized by the press and public, makes the delicate transitions through the grieving process a little more difficult to deal with. Now I'd like to address ability and performance. This will be brief because you cannot deny that both Venus and Serena Williams have the skill set, combative attitude, and mental fortitude to dominate not only the slams, but all tournaments they enter. Ability is highly linked to physical health, and at present neither sister is at 100%. Will they return to their former dominance on a consistent basis? Maybe, maybe not. Can they still WIN majors, most definately. You've seen it, I've seen it, we've all seen it AND if you haven't please refer to Austraila 2005 and Wimbledon 2005 to get a gander of their ABILITY. Will they perform 100% week in and week out, definately not, but both will definately summon their best at the right times and put themselves in the position to continue down the Hall of Fame where they are inevitably going. Now who said there is anything wrong with confidence? There is absolutely nothing wrong with being confident in your abilities. People get upset when others are confident for one of two reasons: the first reason is obviously jealousy, and the second reason is envy becuase you know what they say is true and just do not have the skills necessary to cope with the truth. Pat Cash is a whack job, and he has very little right to judge anyone considering he hasn't found anything useful to do with himself upon the completion of his tennis career. He can't even get a good job broadcasting. If you can't replace CLIFF DRYSDALE and are stuck playing Champions events to earn money, you should probably keep your mouth shut. It's okay for the likes of Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin-Hardenne to be crass, obnoxious, and arogant, but when someone else simply says "I knew I was going to win, or I beat myself today" and they happen to have the last name Williams, it's like commiting murder. The people you should criticize are probably sitting right in front of you. Keep it local.
Posted by: Kenny | January 16, 2007 at 01:50 PM
Erm... I think you'll find that once youve stated your quote your suppose to explain it. I will clarify in simple terms.
1. I do not care whether u like her.
2. You can express yourself in a good manner.
3. I have witnessed people say they hate her.
If your referring to me using foul terms then im not quite sure you have grasped my flow. When i say this i mean foul terms aimed at players, to clarify, insulting players.
How have the points above won your argument for you? Please expand on what you said and quoted. Please enlighten me as i seem to be oblivious to what your trying to get at?
Posted by: Andrew | January 16, 2007 at 01:52 PM