Serena Wins Gold

I watched Serena Williams play tennis only once in person. It was in the days when she, like her sister Venus, wore her hair in long braids and beads. She had not yet won a major tournament.

But you knew she was going to be great. She was that physically imposing. She was that determined.

And this past Sunday my eyes were glued to the television as I watched Serena win her first gold medal.

She crushed Maria Sharapova like a thumb on a gnat. Serena’s play was flawless- nearly lethal.

Yet aside from tallying up another goal medal for the United States, the following statistic made her win even more laudable. Serena’s serve was clocked to be equal to, and at times surpassed, that of Rodger Federer—the number one ranked man in tennis.

Which means from now on, with satisfaction, everyone can snidely say to Rodger Federer: You hit like a girl.

And on that basis alone, Serena will always be, my favorite all time female tennis player—displacing Billy Jean King in her defeat of Bobby Riggs.