Serena Williams' Powerful Serve and Example

“Serena Williams’ Powerful Serve and Example”

“A View from the Bleachers”

Victor M. Singletary with Curtis J. Singletary

In her thirties and having enjoyed one of the most impressive and illustrious careers in women’s tennis in the open era, Serena Williams is chasing history as her inevitable retirement from professional looms on the horizon.  With her recent win of this year’s U S Open singles championship, she needs one more Grand Slam title to tie the record of eighteen titles held jointly by Chris Everett Lloyd and Martina Navratilova.  With two additional Grand Slam titles, Serena surpasses those two icons of the game.  Five titles enable Serena to share the record for the most Grand Slam wins with Steffi Graff.  With a sixth title, Serena singly enjoys the peak of tennis’ Mt. Everest.  However, her age which unavoidably results in a decline of skill and persistent health challenges combine to demarcate the remaining years of her professional career.  Hopefully, providence will grace her with the time, health and favor to achieve her heartfelt dreams and goals.  Nonetheless, she is in the late afternoon of her career.  It is accordingly appropriate to begin to consider her legacy which juxtaposes her inimitable athletic expertise most clearly evident in her powerful serve which exceeds one hundred miles per hour and her formidable personal story of beginning on warped courts in Compton, California and culminating in Grand Slam championships.  Her formidable example is an inspiration to girls and boys throughout the global village.

Watching Serena play equates with observing a masterful artist as attacks a canvass with broad brushstrokes and minutes touches and finishes.  Her maniacal ability to put the ball within the line is marvelous.  It is simply amazing!  When she questions a call of the line judge, most fans believe she is correct because of her superlative expertise.  Serena’s fiercely competitive nature compels her to win each point, game, set, match and tournament.  Anyone whether a tennis fan or not can learn the attributes of discipline, focus, excellence, perseverance and resilience from her.  Yet, Serena also possesses the interior wealth of graciousness.  Consistently, after winning a match and particularly a Grand Slam title, she genuinely compliments her opponent.  As she explains her win, Serena alludes to her opponent’s skills and abilities which easily could have reversed the outcome.  Her willingness to honor her fellow players while achieving superlative distinction in the sport equally honors Serena and reveals a sincere and considerate heart.  Her attention to kindness and sportsmanship are the fine hues, colors and touches of an amazing and accomplished artist.

From rugged, deformed and neglected public tennis courts in Compton, California to raising championship trophies in Melbourne, Australia, Paris, France, Wimbledon, England and Flushing Meadows in New York City, what an incredible and impressive odyssey!  It is inconceivable that anyone during Serena’s formative years in the inner city would have bet on her.  Who would imagine a full figured, dark skin African American girl who proudly wore beads in her hair would someday contend for the record of most Grand Slam wins in women’s tennis?  In the early morning hours on those marred Compton Courts, Serena’s ambition and drive empowered her to learn and perfect the game of tennis.  Between shots and games, she undoubtedly raised her mind to an existential and dream-like plane where she observes herself competing for the titles she won subsequently.  Despite living with the triple burden of race, class and gender, Serena persevered and successfully entered an elitist sport where pedigree, culture and appreciation of bourgeois values and mores arguably meant more than athletic acumen and ability.  As she would invariably face disrespectful, demeaning and discouraging remarks in the locker rooms, hallways, press and mail, Serena cultivated the inner gravitas and chutzpah to focus steadfastly upon her dreams and goals.  Superbly from September 1999, the fall in which she won the U S Open, her first Grand Slam victory; she continues to triumph over her competitors, adversities and challenges.   

The violent death of a sister and a life threatening blot clot requiring extensive periods of hospitalization and recuperation symbolize two major detours from Serena’s championship road.  She has spoken very little about the questionable circumstances surrounding her sister’s untimely and most regrettable death.  The divergent choices and paths of siblings who are reared in the same household are as disparate as their unique personalities.  Still, as an enduring maxim from the Robert Redford movie, A River Runs Through It, teaches, “It is possible to love someone completely without completely knowing them.”  Thus, it is appropriate that her fans and the sports media give Serena the space to contemplate her loss and progress in life accepting her sister’s physical absence.  What a sheer joy to celebrate Serena’s win at Wimbledon in 2012 after an elongated time of recovery and rehabilitation when her health and career hung in the balance.  Rightly, the public was unaware of just how serious her condition was.  Still, Serena found the inner resolve to fight her way back onto the high stage of world tennis.  In many ways, her illness became a pilgrimage in which she returned to the Compton courts to begin her incredible odyssey again.  Plausibly, she ignited the ambition and determination that led her to previous heights of accomplishment.  She recommitted herself to her superlative goals realizing the utter necessity of digging more deeply within herself to achieve them.  In a seemingly short period of time, Serena left this abyss of fear, isolation, loss and possible termination of her career.  She traversed the tough terrain through the valley of the shadow of death as she grieved for her sister and steadfastly stared down her own death.  In July of last year, she walked onto Centre Court at Wimbledon and rightly regained her place as the number one women’s tennis player in the world.

Whether a resident of the slums of Calcutta, shanty towns in Capetown South Africa, barrios of Rio de Janiero, poor villages in developing countries or inner cities in the United States, little girls and boys can find encouragement and empowerment from Serena Williams’ powerful example.  She personifies the American dream which holds promise for all residents of the global village.  Commendably, Serena inescapably deals with issues of race and class without allowing the myopic scorn of detractors and insular person to undermine her professional performance or compromise her personal dignity.  Many of the children who idolize Serena probably will face similar challenges as they strive to fulfill their dreams and goals.  She is a living example of the power of an individual to believe in herself against all odds.