Serena winning Olympics and US Open would be ‘almost superhuman’: Evert

Fresh off her recent Wimbledon triumph, Serena Williams will head to the Olympics in Rio next to defend the singles gold she won in 2012.

She will naturally be the favourite to take gold again, and tennis legend Chris Evert believes her fellow American has it in her – even if it will take an “almost superhuman” effort.

“Now if she’s not at her best, she’s beatable,” explained the 61-year-old over the phone in an interview with Singapore media on Thursday morning.

“Before, even when she wasn’t at her best, she could still win matches. Now the [other] players are playing a lot better, so she needs to be at her best to beat everybody else.

“If she’s hungry and can get psyched up for both the Olympics and US Open – to me, it would take an unbelievable effort for her to win both of those after winning Wimbledon.

“But if anybody can do it, she can.”

Evert also believes that the pressure on Williams has eased following her victory over Angelique Kerber, especially after her mini-drought at the last three Slams. With the win over Kerber, Williams finally matched Steffi Graf's record of 22 Grand Slams titles.

“Now, everything else is like icing on the cake,” she said. “If she passes Steffi , it’s 23, then she still has one more to tie Margaret Court (who holds all-time record of 24), but I do think there’s less pressure on her now.

“It’s going to be tougher and tougher for her to win Grand Slams, but I think she could still win another two or three.”

Greatest of all time? 

Evert, who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles during her time and was regarded as one of the best of her generation, believes Williams deserves to be placed in the same bracket.

However, Evert was keen to point out that it is “so hard” to compare between different generations due to factors like ever-improving technology, equipment and training methods.

“I think if you look at tennis and every sport, every generation gets better and better,” she said.

“When I was dominating, I was the best of all time and when Martina [Navratilova] was, Steffi Graf... I think every generation, they say that.

“I think that definitely Serena is the greatest player of all time [right now] but in 20 years, there may be somebody else that may be.”

That seems to be a long time from now, but Evert believes tennis will survive the eventual retirement of Williams, arguably a once-in-a-generation talent.

The 34-year-old has dominated with a serve that is the “greatest that we’ve ever seen in women’s tennis”, but Evert feels that could change. She picked out Garbiñe Muguruza, Angelique Kerber and Madison Keys as her next top three stars.

“I was in the era with Bjorn Borg, he was the rock star,” she recalled. “I said to myself when he retired, ‘what in heaven’s name was going to happen to men’s tennis?’

“But there started to be other names [who came up]. It’s the same thing - Serena, for a year or two, will be very, very much missed. But life goes on and one player is not bigger than the sport.

“Serena is so good, there’s never been a big rival that’s made it interesting with her. Maybe now [it could be] Muguruza versus Kerber, verus Madison Keys, maybe we’ll have more rivalries… [and] more young and fresh faces.”

Under-performers and potential WTA Finals picks

Evert also gave her thoughts on some players she felt were perhaps underperforming.

“I always thought Sloane Stephens would do better,” she mused. “She started out with some pretty good tennis about three years ago [and people] had high expectations.

“She’s very natural, talented and a great athlete, but… it has taken her a little longer to catch up mentally. I don’t know how hungry she is, how much she wants it.”

She also highlighted two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.

“[Petra] Kvitova is one I’ve always thought might be better… She’s been a little disappointing to me. I think she’s an under-achiever, I think she could be doing better than she does. She’s certainly a very dangerous player.”

Some of those names could still make it to the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals in October this year in Singapore, noted Evert.

“I would say Serena, Kerber, Muguruza, Azarenka, [Agnieska] Radwanska; I would hope Kvitova would be in there, maybe Venus [Williams] if she continues to play as well as she has,” she said.