Player Profile: Serena Williams

Last week, Serena Williams became the third-lowest ranked player to win a Grand Slam tournament since 1975, when computer rankings began. And, ranked 81st in the world, she demolished the world No. 1, Maria Sharapova, 6-0, 6-2 in the final.

Serena was born September 26, 1981 in Saginaw, Michigan and grew up in Compton, a violent suburb of Los Angeles, California. She won her first tournament at the age of four and became a professional at 14.

In 2000, Serena and her sister Venus won the doubles gold medal at the Sydney Olympics. She was ranked No. 1 in the world from July 8, 2002 – August 10, 2003. She was the International Tennis Federation World Champion in 2002. She played fewer tournaments in 2003, and on September 14 of that year, her older sister was murdered.

In 2004, the other women had gotten used to the hard-hitting pace of the Williams sisters and were no longer psychologically intimidated and dominated by it. So, though Serena continued to play well, the magic was gone, and she had a disappointing season. She did not play much of 2005, losing in the third round at Wimbledon and the 4th round at the US Open. She hardly played at all in 2006, losing in the third round at the Australian Open and the 4th round at the US Open.

Serena's Australian Open championship is the more unusual when you consider how little Serena had been practicing, as this account by the New York Times reports:

Baris Ergun, the Williamses’ hitting partner, said that he arrived in Florida from his native Turkey on Dec. 1 to work with Serena, but that they ended up practicing sparingly. “Only 10 times in 40 days,” Ergun said.

When they did practice, Ergun said, Williams would usually hit with Venus, who he said was recovering from left wrist surgery and unable to hit her two-handed backhand, but was able to hit one-handed backhand slices.

Such little practice and then only with weakened hitting partner! Yet Serena was convinced that she would win the Tier 4 tournament at Hobart her 95th ranking had reduced her to. She lost in the quarterfinals to 54th ranked Sybille Bammer. So, Serena threw a fit and locked herself in her hotel room, refusing to speak to her coach/mother, Oracene Price. That Times article quotes Serena as telling reporters that the only way her mother could get through to her was via email and that Oracene sent many messages trying to appease her, asking where she was, and begging her to come out and practice. Serena ignored them.

Instead, she said, "I went to this field where no one was and had a ‘Rocky’ moment." But Rocky wasn't like Serena. Rocky didn't think he was so superior to everyone else that he could beat them without effort. Indeed, Rocky was a modest man, almost humble. He worked harder than all the others. He OVERachieved.

"I was a bad student this past fortnight. I yelled at her, and said some things under my breath, but I'd like to thank her so much. I didn't mean it, but you know what I'm like. Thanks Mom." = happy Serena's version of "Girls will be girls" upon winning the Australian Open.

We'll see how long the magic lasts this time. It will be as long and as consistently as luck and a psychological pump-up job can boost her confidence to the moon and thus keep her hot enough to whale away with reckless abandon at risky, low-percentage shots and have them go in.

AND as long as her opponents let it get to them and keep surrendering mentally to the barrage, instead of keeping their wits about them and doing whatever it takes to break her game down and use it against her.

In her own words:

I was probably at half a percent. - after losing in the third round at Wimbledon in 2005 to the unseeded Jill Craybas.

I just needed to regroup. I was able to take some time off and look at some matches and a tennis court and say, ‘Wow, I should be there and do that,’ and get hungry again. There’s nothing like being hungry for the sport of tennis, and I was really eager and famished, and I needed to feed. But I think some of it was that I was dealing with a lot of stuff, and I was just trying to figure out my game and trying to figure out what I wanted to do and make it work. All I wanted to do was be the best tennis player, and at the same time I wanted to be really happy and do what made me happy. The thing that makes me happiest is playing tennis. I love winning. - recently, on taking most of 2005 off

I don't read anything. I don't. One time I read like - I think it was like '99, I read this article. It was really good. I was like, "Oh yeah, I'm the bomb." I just got too headstrong. I was just like, you know what, I don't want to be like some of those celebrities walking around, just so full of themselves. I always want to be down-to-earth, want to be a person like when you meet them, they're the same person that you think of them in the article or something. - after barely defeating Shahar Peer, 8-6 in the third set at the Australian Open.

Say what?

And she says this after making us all cringe by summing up that terrific match in which Peer played her heart out (coming within two points of victory) with the dis "I didn't play all that well today"?

So, nobody should entertain a belief that they can beat you unless you let them, right?

Ha-ha-ha-ha. That's the most outrageous thing I've ever heard. As if anyone would do that on purpose. I think everyone wears watches these days, except for me. So, yeah, ha-a-ha, like I said. That's so funny. - upon being asked about reports that a young fan in her box flashed his large watch in the sun toward the court whenever her opponent served from the opposite side.

Therefore, when I went and played in the final I KNEW there was no way I was going to lose. I had God on my side and I was just relaxed, and I knew there was only one black girl that day winning. Also I was the only black girl playing so I narrowed down that black girl to me! :) FOR THE RECORD I DON'T THINK I AM FIT AS I CAN BE...... IMAGINE WHEN I AM............ scary thought - on her Website


What are we to make of all this? Nothing, really. Serena's life is hers to live. I wonder what makes people think she must live it to their specifications. On the other hand, people don't have to like her, either.

She has great talent, and is psychologically a tremendous competitor. She wins by just going for everything, whaling on everything. If her shots go in, she wins.

But her game is strategically and tactically vulnerable. In fact, she boasts that she doesn't even think about strategy and tactics, presumably because her game is so great she doesn't need them. She has an unrealistic image of herself. She's immature, thinks she's "da bomb" and is so special that no one can beat her unless she lets them. Like most such people, she lacks a professional work ethic. For, if you're just inherently superior, why sweat?

She is therefore beatable. Her confidence is her secret weapon, but it is artificial. So, you CAN take it away.

Unfortunately, there's a sort of projective identification that gets going when she's hot. Her opponents start having as much confidence in her supposedly miraculous abilities as she does. They too start behaving as though they share her belief about herself, as though they too think she's unbeatable. They look like deer caught in headlights.

Come on, ladies. Learn from what she does so well - COMPETES. Then cut the superstition and sit down with a court diagram and pencil and figure out how to beat her. And never forget your sense of humor when you step out on the court with her (or anyone, for that matter). It's your best armor against psychological warfare, which, after all, is all in the head.

For more on this, see Peter Bodo's excellent analysis.