Serena Williams not the best of all time: Margaret Court names her top ten
The Grand Slam record holder has long courted controversy without a racquet in her hand. And it was more of the same at this year’s Australian Open with Margaret Court’s bold top ten call.
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Margaret Court rates Steffi Graf – not Serena Williams – as the greatest player she has either seen or played against.
Court has Graf at the head of her list of top 10 all-time greats.
Williams, who could equal Court’s record of 24 grand slam singles majors, comes in at No. 2.
Court’s greatest on-court rival – and most vehement critic – Billie-Jean King is at No. 3 with Martina Navratilova at No. 4.
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Court does not believe the number of majors won is the ultimate – and only guide – to greatness, acknowledging individual subjectivity plays a part in her selection.
“They’re all great champions,” she said of a list which also includes Chris Evert, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Monica Seles, Maria Bueno, Justine Henin and Venus Williams.
“But I always thought Steffi was the best. She was my favourite.
“She won the grand slam in 1988 (Australian, French, Wimbledon and US Open) and I always loved watching her because of her athleticism and style.
“She was one of the best athletes I had seen.
“And then Serena, of course. Her record speaks for itself and her serve is incredible.
“She has got a wonderful serve and it’s different to Billie Jean’s.
“Billie Jean placed very well. She didn’t have a lot of power, but she was a great volleyer.”
Court says King and Williams share a common trait.
“Like Serena, Billie Jean had a lot of young players beaten before they went on court,” she said.
“Serena does that to her opponents, too. Serena has more power, but Billie had incredible control and the ability to move players around.
“She was a great competitor.”
Court admired Navratilova and Evert for contrasting styles and achievements, while Bueno and Goolagong Cawley were among the most graceful players she had seen.
Venus Williams, Seles and Henin, along with Serena Williams, were among the contemporary players to impress Court as enduring champions.
MARGARET COURT’S TOP TEN
1. Steffi Graf (22 majors)
2. Serena Williams (23)
3. Billie Jean King (12)
4. Martina Navratilova (18)
5. Chris Evert (18)
6. Maria Bueno (7)
7. Evonne Goolagong Cawley (7)
8. Venus Williams (7)
9. Monica Seles (9)
10. Justine Henin (7)
SERENA’S TOUGH ASK IN RECORD BID
Margaret Court expects her grand slam singles record of 24 titles to topple, sooner or later – but not necessarily to closest pursuer Serena Williams.
Court, 77, has held the record since 1973.
One of only three women in history to complete the grand sweep by winning all four majors – the Australian, French, Wimbledon and the US Open - in a season.
Court four times won three of the four majors, most notably in 1973 when returning to tennis after childbirth, losing in the Wimbledon semis.
“I’ve always said the record was there to be beaten, the 24 (singles),” Court said with Williams (23) on the verge of equalling the mark at the Australian Open.
“Even some of the guys (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic) are going after it, but they’ll never beat the 64 (combined singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles).
“Today, they don’t play doubles and mixed, the top players. I won a grand slam in the mixed (with Ken Fletcher in 1963).
“We always played three events and they don’t today. That will never be beaten but the 24 has always been there to be beaten.
“I don’t ever think about it unless some asks me so it’s not something I lose sleep over or will ever lose sleep over.”
Asked if she expects 38-year-old Williams to catch and pass her, Court said: “I don’t know. It’s interesting. She may equal it but she’s still got to pass it.
“It’s an ask.”
Court points to the emergence of a band of fresh, young talent as an obstacle to Williams, whose most recent grand slam title came at the 2017 Australian Open.
“There’s a lot of young players coming through,” she said.
“Bianca Andreescu and Naomi Osaka play well. Ash Barty.
“It’s one thing to win one. The hard thing is to stay there. That’s what makes real champions.
“The players who have won more than one have stayed there and that’s what makes them champions.”
Of the active men, Federer (20), Nadal (19) and Djokovic (16) could conceivably overtake Court and Williams.
Court’s 1973 US Open victory was her last major before retirement in 1975.
Apart from her 24 singles majors, Court landed 21 in mixed doubles and 19 in doubles after taking a year off in 1967 when she retired for the first time.
HOW MARGARET COURTED GREATNESS
As a teenager, Margaret Court was forced to make a choice between potentially running at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games or playing tennis.
At 17, decision made, Court won the first of 24 singles grand slams, having reluctantly turned her back on track and field after training with Herb Elliott, Pam Kilborn and Percy Cerutty.
Sliding doors moments don’t come much bigger.
Six decades on, as Tennis Australia prepares to laud her at Melbourne Park, the woman known as “The Arm” because of freakish reach and athleticism is content with distant choices.
Now 77, Court won 11 Australian, five French, three Wimbledon and five US Open singles titles – 11 as a professional, facing almost exactly the same fields she had beaten while claiming 13 crowns as an amateur.
Of all those spoils, the 1960 Australian championship is the most meaningful.
“I was nobody and not expected to win,” Court recalled.
“I was 17 and I was in the junior girls’ final, the senior final and in the doubles and mixed doubles.
“I remember playing Maria Bueno, the world No.1, in the quarter-finals.
“I always I remember thinking ‘Oh, she’s not as good as you think’, all I did was serve-volley and I won the first set and I thought ‘Oh, I think I can take her out.’
“Next thing you’ve won against the No. 1 in the world in front of a full crowd…then I went onto play Jan Lehane, who I had never beaten, in the final. She hadn’t lost a match in juniors for three years.
“I sort of remember that one more than any because you’re nobody and all of a sudden, you’ve won the Australian.”
Court’s abiding tennis ambition centred on Wimbledon.
“I always had a goal to be the first Australian woman to win Wimbledon, so that goal was always there,” she said, referring to triumphs in 1963, ’65 and 1970.
“I trained in Melbourne, I went to the men’s gym and trained with Stan Nicholes. Frank Sedgman opened the door to me. He would hit with me when he wasn’t on tour.
“He saw something. He always said he took me on because he thought I was a bit like a thoroughbred.
“Keith Rogers took me to practise on the en tout cas because we didn’t have any clay.
“He said ‘If you can hit the ball over the net 100 times in a row, you can beat the French girls and the Italians at the French.
“I’d get to 92 hits over the net and miss and he’d say let’s start again.
“So I went to the French and did alright (winning in 1962, ’64, ’69, 1970 and ’73).”
Court’s premier arch-rival was Billie-Jean King. The 1970 Wimbledon final was among their fiercest clashes.
Nursing a calf injury and chasing the grand slam, Court rates the match as her greatest.
“I would have lost if it had gone to a third set. It was 14-12, 11-9,” she said.
“There was no tiebreak in the third set.
“I somehow felt that that year 1970 was my year to win the grand slam.
“I had an ankle tear at Wimbledon and if I probably hadn’t thought I could have a go at the grand slam, I would have probably pulled out.
“But I had it injected…it was meant to be my year.”
Court would win three of the four majors four times across her career – 1962, ’65, ’69 and ’73.
The notion of emulating Don Budge (1938) Maureen Connolly (’53) and Rod Laver (’62) had never taken hold.
“When I came back after retirement (from 1966-68), somebody said ‘You know, you’ve gone two other times with three out of the four. Have you ever thought of trying for the grand slam’?” she said.
“I somehow felt that that year 1970 was my year to win and it worked out well.
“In 1973, I came back and wanted to be No. 1 in the world.
“It was probably my best year.
“I won 24 out of 25 tournaments. I had a peak of fitness I had never known.
“After ’73, we could have gone to America and made a lot of money but we loved our nation.
“We wanted to go farming so we decided to come back home and retire. My heart wasn’t really there, I was fighting injury.
“I was 34.”