Reilly Opelka says Serena Williams is the greatest tennis player “by a mile” and her sister Venus Williams is the second-greatest player in tennis history. Serena, 40, is a 23-time Grand Slam champion in singles.
On the other side, Venus has seven Grand Slam singles titles. With Serena retiring at this year’s US Open, Opelka feels she is on the Mount Rushmore of sports and that she should be mentioned in the same sentence as LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Cristiano Ronaldo.
“Venus will go down as the second-greatest tennis player of all time,” Opelka told the Red Bull website. “Serena is first by a mile. You have to put her up there with [Michael] Jordan and LeBron [James] or [Cristiano] Ronaldo.
I practice with both of them; they live just up the street from me. They hit the ball as good as anyone. Serena and Venus played in the toughest era of women’s tennis and changed the game. But they still love tennis and winning tennis matches.
There’s no other reason for Serena to play. I know Venus still loves it, too. Serena has so many records; she’s already known as one of the greatest athletes ever. I think that buzz of winning has to be the only reason she’s still playing”.
Opelka on tennis greats slowly approaching retirement
Serena has one more tournament left to play and it wouldn’t be a surprise if Venus also retired in the near future. On the men’s side, Roger Federer is now 41, while Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are 35+.
“They’re on their way out, but it’s crazy,” Opelka said. “It’s all I’ve known, it’s all most of us have known. I’m curious to see what it is like. [The list of winners] will be more spread out and I think it will help the sport.
It will bring more attention to more countries. All of Greece is going to watch tennis once [Stefanos] Tsitsipas wins a Slam, and all of Italy is going to be following it when Matteo [Berrettini] wins one. I think it will more exciting”.
