Serena Williams

Women's tennis star Serena Williams has been in the news of late. She had a baby, good for her, then attempted a comeback but lost the 2018 Wimbledon final in what can only be described as a flop. She performed very poorly, almost laughably.

Then most recently, she's complained about the number of 'random' tests she has been subjected to. Implied in her comments is that random surely means even distribution of tests. Right? Well no, that's not what random means at all. Random just means that, random. Take a single dice. If I throw it and get a six, that's random. If I throw it again and get six, then again six. Three in a row, is that fixed or am I being set up? No, it's random. See? This is the fallacy in Williams complaint. She's talking nonsense in other words.

I will add that while she has clearly been the best female tennis player recently, that does not mean she is the best of all time. There is too much about her game that lacks finesse for that to be the case. This lack of skill was cruelly exposed in that Wimbledon match. What should be questioned is why she was seeded at all. If she had been entered correctly, the debacle that was the final would have been avoided as Williams would have been knocked out. 

Someone will say, what do you know about tennis? My answer would be, about as much as you can write on the back of a postage stamp with a builders pencil, that's how much. But I can comment on skill and sportsmanship. Williams has spent her whole career overpowering her opponents, not beating them with craft. That much is obvious. But then when she wins she is often not that generous to her opponent, it's often about her alone, she's a classic narcissist. When she loses it's even worse, then she often damns her opponent with faint praise. It's all very unbecoming and I prefer to take no notice of her. I would not pay to watch her. In fact, unless it was free and just down the road, I'd prefer to not watch her at all, that's how unpalatable I find her attitude. And I think I'm not alone, just that few are brave enough to say it. 

Want to know who to emulate? Watch Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. What great sportsmen both of them.

What of Williams then? Well she's not even equalled Margaret Court's record yet. And Court also won three majors as a mother. Evonne Goolagong was back to world number one 12 months after having her first child. Kim Clijsters equalled Court's record of three majors as a mother. That means there is a long way to go for Williams, to be ranked alongside Court she has to win at least one major as a mother, two to exceed the existing major winning record. But I for one will not take any notice if she does beat Court, unless of course she has an attitude transplant and grows up. 

And one last thing; Venus Williams, the sister and also a great athlete in her own right. She's an absolute credit, a wonderful person, which just goes to show, poor sportsmanship does not run in the family.