Former US Open champion Andy Roddick named Martina Navratilova, Serena Williams, and reigning Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina as his top three picks for the greatest servers of all time in women’s tennis. Roddick’s list came in response to a fan question during the Q&A session of the latest episode of the Served podcast.
Roddick named Serena as the top pick, saying she would be the first choice on everyone’s list. Next, he named Rybakina as the best on the WTA circuit currently, and finally Navratilova as one of the greatest of all time, taking into account the equipment and playing style of her era.
“Yeah. Serena is going to be the top name on every list. Rybakina is the best server in the game now. Martina Navratilova is right there. I think people too quickly say Serena is the best server of all time. When considering the equipment and everything else, Martina’s serve right there. One A, one B. Those would be my top three,” said Roddick.
Williams and Navratilova share 41 Grand Slam singles titles between them. In contrast, Rybakina is beginning to gain traction in women’s tennis after winning her second Grand Slam title in Melbourne, beating the No. 1 seed, Aryna Sabalenka, in the final for a second tournament in a row.
Like Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters Also Named Serena Williams as the No. 1 Server in Her List
Four-time Grand Slam champion and former World No. 1 Kim Clijsters joined the show to give her list of top female servers in the sport. Clijsters gave a list of five players in random order, which included some surprising names, barring one.
“Lindsay Davenport was definitely one of the harder servers to play against. Couldn’t read the serve, powerful, good placement. She had all the variety. Serena Williams, obviously, she’s on everybody’s list. Venus [Williams] as well. I think Venus, her first serve, very unpredictable,” Clijsters said.
“And then I’m going to go with the Aussie, Sam Stoser, the heavy kick serve that I think a lot of women hated… And then my, my fifth one is maybe not for the reasons that people think, but I’m going to go with like Elena Dementieva, her second serve. She definitely hit double faults, but her second serve at times had so much slice,” she added.
The show offered interesting takes on the hardest servers in women’s tennis as it continues to grow in stature and competitiveness, with two highly anticipated WTA 1000 events on the horizon in the USA: the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open, both set to feature all the top seeds in the WTA rankings.
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