Serena is still the queen, you better recognize!

This past weekend not only did Serena Williams claim her fifth Wimbledon singles title, taking her Grand Slam tally to 14 (6th all time). She also claimed her fifth doubles title taking that tally to 13 (7th all time). Achievements which I feel have been taken for granted and acknowledged in a very blasé way.

By equalling her older sister Venus Williams’s record of 5 Wimbledon titles, it meant that the woman’s singles trophy has been in the same household for 10 years. Combined with the doubles trophy which they have won together on 5 occasions, that is fifteen separate Wimbledon titles in one family, amazing.

Over the last few weeks, Wimbledon has been gripped with Murray mania and the huge achievement of being the first Britain to get to the final since 1938; this had the nation in a euphoric frenzy. Unfortunately he was upstaged by a more impressive achievement as Swiss Roger Federer equalled Pete Sampras’s record of seven Wimbledon titles.

Although Federer’s achievement is a monumental one, due to the fact that he was playing Britons Andy Murray in the final meant that he has constantly been in the limelight and adequately recognised for his obvious brilliance.

But for some reason I don’t feel Serena has been giving the credit her achievement’s deserved.

My argument is not the fact that she is a multiple Wimbledon champion and is now only the 3rd woman to win a Grand Slam title past her 30th birthday. But the fact that she has won arguably the most athletic Grand Slam event coming back from a life threatening illness.

In July 2010 while in a Munich restaurant Serena stepped on a broken glass which required 18 stitches, this developed into a more serious injury and it prevented her finishing the 2010 season. In March 2011 she confirmed she suffered a hematoma and a pulmonary embolism where the doctor had to remove a life threatening blood clot from her lung, this kept her out of tennis for 11 months.

Almost a year to the day since that time, in July 2011 she won her first event at the Bank of the West classic, she then won her second successive tournament in August at the Canadian masters (Rogers Cup). She then had to withdraw from her 3rd tournament through a toe injury having already advanced to the second round.

In April 2012 Serena won the Family Circle Cup, her first tournament win of the 2012 season taking her career titles to 40. Her 41st title came in her very next tournament at the Mutua Madrid open before again having to withdraw through injury in her 3rd tournament in a row before her semi final match against Li Na.

Her defeat in the first round of the French Open in May to French woman Virginie Razzano was the very first time she had been defeated in the first round of a grand slam event in her career. Many cited her injury and the gruelling schedule as her downfall, giving her only an outside chance at Wimbledon, but little did they know.

There has been a few female tennis players that had been unable to recover following serious injury or set backs. One of the most serious was when former No1 Monica Seles who in 1990 become the youngest ever champion when she won the French Open at 16 was stabbed in 1993. She was out for almost two years, following that she only managed one Grand Slam win in 1996 and unsurprisingly never regained her top form.

Jennifer Capriati at 14 emerged as a child star in the early 90’s winning a few tournaments but no Grand Slams. After taking a few years off in the mid 90’s she returned in the late 90’s a different and mature player. In 2001 she won the French and Australian Open, then the Australian Open again in 2002.

At the end of 2002 she had surgery in both eyes but recovered in time for the 2003 season. Unfortunately she never regained her best form winning only 1 further tournament and only reaching two Grand Slam semi finals, both in the US Open.

Other players that failed to come back the same from injuries were Kim Clijsters, Martina Hingis, Amelie Mauresmo, even the great Steffi Graf won only one of her 22 Grand Slams after she had serious knee injuries at the age of 25.

The way Serena played on a quick grass court at the age of 30 can not be ignored; she showed fight, heart and athleticism, as well as skill, finesse and determination.

It is also important to note that all of the players from her era have now retired, and most of her current opponents are now young hungry upstarts fresh and early in their careers.

So this is an achievement and a half and something that should have been celebrated a bit more, instead of being taken for granted as “just another win”…… So in conclusion let’s all raise our glasses and say, “long live Queen Serena”.