Sports fans have a special opportunity this year at the U.S. Open in New York. The greatest man and the greatest woman ever to play tennis are both competing, and both are still achieving things rarely seen in any sport.
Serena Williams is the best women’s tennis player ever. She currently holds the title in all four major tournaments, and if she can claim the crown in New York, she’ll have all four Majors in 2015 (22 all time). She is dominating the sport, and doing so at 33, when the average age of her peers at the top is around 25.
Roger Federer is the best men’s tennis player ever. He’s won a professional tournament in 15 straight years, while earning the most weeks ranked at number one (302) and the most consecutive weeks ranked at number one (237) of all time. While he’s years past his prime, he enters the Open after winning Cincinnati and displaying some of his best tennis ever. Roger has a great chance to win the Open, and he is 34 years old competing against peers with an average age of closer to 27.
High-level tennis is entertaining to watch for fans of any sport. At the very top, it is where artistry meets athleticism. It is a chess match and a decathlon mixed together. Like anything, the more you’ve played and watched, the more you can see and appreciate the little things that make the best players better than everyone else.
What Serena and Roger are doing is something more. It is next level. It is transcendent. Not only have they established themselves as the best ever, they are maintaining, and even raising, their levels at ages that typically have all-time greats’ in any sport more often fighting injuries than for major titles.
If Serena wins, she will secure her spot as queen of tennis forever. If Federer wins, it will further cement him as the best that’s ever played. That would be icing on top of the best cake tennis fans have ever tasted.
The real treat, though, is that we get to witness who we know to be the best, at their best. Very rarely do athletes who enter the range of ‘greatest ever’ stick around for much longer to compete at a high level under that title.
The end of a long professional sports career is most often abrupt and painful and not on the athletes terms. For every John Elway in Denver there are dozens like Tiger Woods since 2008 or Michael Jordan with the Wizards.
Serena and Roger are giving tennis fans and sports fans a rare opportunity to watch the greatest ever – a title typically given in retrospect – while they are still great. It is where predictable artistry and athleticism become jaw dropping, awe-inspiring beauty. Enjoy it while you still can.
