Serena Williams' Heir Apparent is Nowhere to Be Found

When Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou told CNN’s Motez Bishara and Ravi Ubha that the 35-year-old could win 30 Grand Slam titles, it hardly felt like an impossible boast.

Whether or not Serena can win two majors a year for the next four years to tack onto her current total of 22, the point is, the American legend is the only one who can even think about this possibility.

Despite enduring an off-year racked with nagging injuries, culminating with a sore shoulder and knee for the U.S. Open—and despite playing in only eight tournaments—Serena managed to win Wimbledon and extend her No. 1 ranking for 186 weeks (a record-tying mark with Steffi Graf) before finally relinquishing the top spot to Angelique Kerber.

And yet, if Serena can get healthy for 2017 and peak for those most important four tournaments of the year, who’s going to stop her?

“I'm tired of playing tournaments unhealthy and taking losses that I would never lose,” Serena told Ubha and James Masters of CNN.

She said, per the WTA, that she will not be playing tournaments in China but will rather rest up and look to play in the year-end BNP Paribas WTA Finals in Singapore. So forget about the short-term possibility of dueling for the year-end No. 1 ranking, something Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times tweeted:

The big picture is more important for Serena. She intends on coming back fitter and better in 2017, ready to resume her reign over the WTA tour.

Meanwhile, Serena’s heir apparent—or even a dominant star for the foreseeable future—is nowhere to be found.

Nobody Else Able to Step into Serena’s Shoes

The first point to remember is, Serena has been dominant for nearly two decades. Nobody has put up her kind of numbers from being a teenager to entering her mid-30s. It’s insane to expect anyone else ever will.

Furthermore, Serena and elder sister Venus revolutionized tennis with modern power, big forehands and serves that are still ahead of their time. They raised the bar two levels and virtually wiped out the generation that had established a wonderfully competitive time in the WTA.

AMY SANCETTA/Associated Press

By 2002, Serena was on her own pedestal, knocking aside the likes of Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters. Oh, those other stars got their fair share of major titles, but it was clear Serena was a special talent who would take tennis to new heights.

Now, after the past four years with Mouratoglou, Serena has carved out a superdominant renaissance, destroying another generation of tennis stars, including Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka and more modest winners, and winning nine more major titles along the way.

Is it possible she’s ready to dismantle a third generation? While Mouratoglou and the tennis world can consider the possibility of Serena winning another four to eight majors, health permitting, there’s nobody else on tour we can confidently back to win even more than two or three majors.

The Supporting Cast of Stars

Michel Euler/Associated Press/Associated Press

While Queen Serena readies another big dominating push to extend her legacy, other solid stars like Agnieszka Radwanska, Caroline Wozniacki and Simona Halep have never won a single major.

Powerful lefty Petra Kvitova has two Wimbledon titles, but she does not have Serena's consistency or athleticism, to say nothing about her lack of mental confidence in big matches.

What about French Open champion Garbine Muguruza, who whipped Serena with her own impressive power a few months ago. Wasn’t she supposed to take the baton from the American and establish her own throne?

Uh, no. The Spaniard is a fine player with all the tools and upside to be a big winner, but she lacks the consistency and desire that have been part of the Serena formula for success. How bad does she want to train and win while she continues to slump against mediocre competition following her French Open high?

Then there’s young Madison Keys, the American version of Muguruza; she's young, strong and talented but unable to show the intangibles that define Serena and the best champions. She will likely get a major, and possibly more, but she’s certainly not ready now, let alone putting in a decade of dominance. Even that would not be enough to approach the 34-year-old's legacy.

Karolina Pliskova? The Czech had one impressive month in winning Cincinnati and defeating Serena in the U.S. Open semifinals. She was up a break in the third set of the final against Kerber behind her dominant serve and big groundstrokes.

But let’s see if Pliskova can play at this level for several months and get that first major. She has the bold strokes, but her defense and footwork are questionable. Only time will tell if she can even enter the discussion as a top star, and this is still light-years from becoming the next Serena. That’s not in the cards, on the table or even in the arena parking lot.

Finally, there's world No. 1 Kerber and her surprising rise to success in 2016. All credit to winning both the Australian and U.S. Opens, and she was the Wimbledon finalist who lost to Serena, but this career year is more likely than not to be exactly that.

Aaron Favila/Associated Press

Consider Kerber has finally hit paydirt in what should be her late prime years. She’s built herself into the best player in the world by playing 20 tournaments and 68 matches (Serena has played eight tournaments and 44 matches.).

The German fights hard on every point, primarily with hustling defense and unconventionally flat forehands. It’s all paid off wonderfully, but will she have enough energy and strength to replicate her success in 2017, let alone for several more years?

Kerber has lost plenty of big matches in 2016 as well. She’s akin to a female parallel to ATP star Stan Wawrinka, each player peaking late in their careers and able to win a few big titles and matches but also inconstant in big matches and susceptible to upset losses.

Will Kerber win another title or two over her career? Anything more would be astonishing even if Serena is unable to come back at her best or if young players like Muguruza and Keys are unable to break through. To consider the German could get another six or eight majors is ludicrous.

Only Serena is still worthy of that discussion, even if the odds might be stacked against her age, and even with the physical and mental tolls she has endured as a professional champion since the 20th century.

There are plenty of exciting WTA players, each with unique styles and acclaim, but nobody’s going to fit into Serena’s crown, not now, not in 2017 and likely not in the decades to come.

Appreciate her greatness while you still can.