Serena Williams fought of a game Agnieeszka Radwanska to win her 5th Wimbledon singles title 6-1, 5-7, 6-2. Serena’s first two service games of the 3rd set were crucial to determining the winner.  Williams’ serve had abandoned at the close of the 2nd set.  Aga had her teeth in the match.  Serena failed to convert break points at 1-1 in the 3rd set and fell behind 1-2.  Serena responded in the most dominant and intimidating manner that she could by serving 4 consecutive bombs.  The match was never the same after Serena asserted her greatness.

Serena’s Place on the All-Time List

I will go into this more fully at a later date, but I am not going to Jon Wertheim route from a few years ago.  I do not see Serena as the GOAT and her path to achieve that status would be challenging.  Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova both seem to me to be comfortably out in front of Serena for the time being.  Still, I think this victory helps Serena in debates against Monica Seles and Chris Evert.  Seles is the hardest all-time great to rank because her tragic stabbing altered the course of a career that was on a trajectory to challenge almost every record in singles.  I somewhat hesitantly place Serena in front of Seles.  Evert may have more singles slams than Serena, but I think Serena’s doubles excellence places her ahead of Evert.  My top 5 without giving it more thought (future deep thought post forthcoming) would be Graf, Navratilova, Serena Williams, Monica Seles and then Chris Evert.  I realize Graf did not dominate in doubles either, but I think the Golden Slam has to count for something.