“The greatest athlete ever,” are the words used by Nike to describe professional tennis player Serena Williams in a recent TV commercial. As I watched it for the first time last week, I chuckled to myself and shook my head.
The ad has been airing during coverage of the U.S. Open, a tournament Williams is trying to win for the seventh time. That would go along with her seven Wimbledon titles, six Australian Open wins and three French Open victories to give her 23 major titles, breaking Steffi Graf’s record of 22.
Still, labeling the Saginaw, Michigan native the “greatest athlete ever” is a bold statement, right? With the likes of Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Michael Phelps, Wayne Gretzky, Babe Ruth and Usain Bolt having graced the sports world over the years, for Williams to top that list sounds a little absurd. But let’s take a closer look.
Williams has won at least one major championship in 13 of the 18 years since 1999, when she first won the U.S. Open at age 17. Twice during her career she has won four consecutive Grand Slam events, an achievement now dubbed “the Serena Slam.” It’s hard to think of an athlete who has dominated a sport for as extended an amount of time as Williams has, especially when you consider that in three of the five years in which she didn’t win a Grand Slam, she didn’t play because of injuries. Not to mention her 16 major doubles titles with older sister Venus, who isn’t a bad athlete herself.
Baseball great Babe Ruth played 22 seasons professionally and led the American League in home runs 12 times — all this after being a dominant pitcher early in his career. Michael Jordan dominated the NBA during the nineties and even dabbled in baseball (unsuccessfully) for a year. Boxer Muhammad Ali, who passed away earlier this year, conquered his sport for about a 15-year span by knocking out anyone who challenged him. However, none of these athletes seem to separate themselves from Williams as far as dominating their sports for such an extended amount of time.
Based on pure athletic ability, there have clearly been better athletes than Williams. Just based on genetics and hormones alone, she is at a disadvantage as a female. Obviously no one on the planet would like her chances in one-on-one with LeBron James. Keeping that in mind, though, her accomplishments in the sport of tennis are unprecedented.
Whether or not Serena Williams is the greatest athlete of all time is up for debate, but she belongs in the conversation.
Maybe Nike’s ad isn’t as ridiculous as I thought.
