Can Serena Williams Regain her World No.1 Spot?
Serena Williams has become notorious for two things over her long career at the top of women’s tennis; being world number one and losing her world number one spot due to injury. Over the years Miss Williams has had to endure her fair share of injuries and despite having been world number one on five separate occasions she never seems to be able to hold onto it.
Her up and down fortune is echoed in her current standing of number ten in the world having been World No.1 just eight months ago. Accident prone Williams was forced to sit out of the end of the 2010 tennis tour following an unusual incident with a broken glass in July 2010 which saw her plummet down the standings to No.12. But her misfortune got worse when in March it was revealed that Williams had, had a blood clot removed from her lung and would not be able to return to the game until late summer in 2011.
Williams, who is only the fifth woman in history to have won all four grand slams singles titles simultaneously, appears to have a long road to recovery however it will no doubt be sped up by her feisty behaviour that has often caused controversy and resulted in her infamous outburst at an official who was umpiring the 2009 US Open Final. The consequence of her temper tantrum was an $82,500 fine and a probationary period that could have led to her being banned from the 2010 US Open.
Despite her fiery attitude and obvious talent there is still a question mark over William’s consistency which has seen her fall out of the top ten at numerous times. Having gained the World No.1 position for the first time following a victory at Wimbledon in 2002 Williams managed to hold onto the position for 57 weeks before a knee injury saw her lose the ranking and move to world No.3. Following her knee injury Williams continued to fall down the rankings over the next two years repeatedly playing unpredictably and she ended 2006 ranked World No.95 her lowest ranking since 1997.
However it can’t be denied that Williams shows great strength of character when at her lowest and returning from injury as was seen at the beginning of 2007 when, despite being unseeded at the Australian Open, Williams went on to win the tournament in what is often described as the best performance of her career. This strength and talent has meant that even when some have questioned her place in female tennis she has regrouped and regained her No.1 spot, however as she approaches her 30th birthday later this year one could argue that she has too high a mountain to climb this time.
Her passion for the game coupled with her determination to succeed has allowed her to triumph even when times have been tough and I have no doubt that she will return to full fitness and begin challenging for the World No.1 spot again soon.
