Victoria Azarenka Has Opportunity To Make Her Claim As Tennis’ Best Against Serena Williams In 2013 US Open Final

Victoria Azarenka (click to enlarge)

Serena Williams has only lost 4 matches all year. I’ve watched them all, few as they are. The Australian Open loss to Sloane Stephens is, in my opinion, mitigated by the fact that Serena wasn’t 100%. Serena should have defeated Sabine Lisicki at Wimbledon, up 3-0 in the final set. However, Sabine showed true grit in fightng back. The other 2 losses were to the same player, Victoria Azarenka. Granted, Serena has a commanding 12-3 won-loss advantage over Vika. However, 2 of Azarenka’s 3 wins were from this year, and both were on hardcourts. Nobody really thinks Vika is the equal to Serena right now. That said, consider what a 3rd victory in 4 matches this year would do for Azarenka. She’d have 2 Majors (Australian Open was the first) this year. She’d have the fewest losses (albeit in fewer overall matches than Serena). And she’d have a 3-1 winning record this year against Serena. In my book, that would make Vika, however briefly or lengthy, the best female tennis player in the world.

Serena Williams (click to enlarge)

For Serena Williams, it’s no longer about individual years or who’s the best at the moment or head-to-head records against any player. Serena is playing for history now. That she’s among the best to have ever played the sport is a given. The question now is where she ends up among her Hall of Fame peers. With each Major title she climbs higher up the list of tennis immortals. If she beats Vika, the chorus of those proclaiming her the best ever gets louder. Should she lose, she’s still among the best ever but might need more to ascend to the top of the mountain.