“Has there ever been anywhere a better athlete than her,” John McEnroe puts Serena Williams ahead of Michael Jordan and Tom Brady calling her “GOAT of GOAT’s”
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Serena Williams, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, John McEnroe
23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams had announced the 2022 US Open will be the final tournament of her career and the tournament and fans had prepared for the occasion in the first round to pay a fitting farewell to the retiring tennis legend. Much to their surprise, the 40-year-old has battled her way to the 3rd round as she continues delaying her retirement.
Defeating an out-of-form Danka Kovinic in round 1, Serena showed her class in the second round once again when she defeated 2nd seeded Anett Kontaveit in 3-sets in a remarkable comeback after dropping the second set cheaply. She however won the final set to advance further ahead and became the only WTA player aged above 40 to defeat a Top-3 player.
“She played unreal,”: John McEnroe on Serena Williams’ 2nd round win
With Kontaveit making a substantial rise to World No. 2 owing to her hardcourt results last season majorly, the chances of Serena defeating the 2nd seed were quite slim and more so after the second set as the American was visibly exhausted after the first set’s tiebreaker and easy drubbing in the second set which lasted only 8 games. But that was not the end as Serena did what she does best, win against the odds.
“You know there’s this ad that Serena was in where she turned into Wonder Woman. Well, she’s turned now back into Serena Williams. First round, that first set looking shaky. All of a sudden she’s playing in a way that, dare I say, we expect her to play, even at 40. I mean she played unreal. This was a seriously high-quality second-round match.
“She’s already the GOAT of GOAT’s as it is – people are flocking to see her. I was actually surprised at how well she moved. I didn’t agree with [Anett] Kontaveit – what her plan was. It seemed like she wanted to go toe to toe with her which I think was a big mistake. You’ve got to try to get longer extended rallies if possible, use angles, which I don’t think she did – maybe she can’t do it – but Serena was the one that was mixing it up.
“I heard people talking about it, and this is arguable that [she is] the greatest athlete of all time. Because we say she’s in there with Michael Jordan, Lebron James et cetera, Tom Brady, but has there ever been anywhere a better athlete than Serena Williams?” said former World No. 1 and -time major winner John McEnroe speaking on Eurosport.
The final chapter in Serena’s legacy continues to be written as the American now prepares for her 3rd round fixture against Ajla Tomljanovic scheduled on Day 5 of this year’s US Open.
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Sarthak Shitole
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