Boyman on Sport - Time to give Serena Williams the credit she deserves

Williams leads her head-to-head against the Russian 17-2, so I’m going to assume that she’s going to win, probably at a canter, to reach her 25th Grand Slam final and eighth at Wimbledon.

If she wins the title tomorrow, Williams will pick up her 21st Grand Slam singles title, one behind Steffi Graf and three off the record set by Margaret Court.

She’s streets ahead of the rest of the women on tour at the moment, while the way she and sister Venus play the game has completely revolutionised women’s tennis.

Personally, I think there’s little doubt that Williams is the greatest female tennis player of all time.

She might not end up with the most Grand Slam titles, but the woman is an absolute machine. I can’t imagine Court, Graf, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert or Billie Jean King would have got anywhere near her in their prime, no matter what equipment you imagine them using.

Despite all of this, she seems to stay under the radar. Compared to the level of coverage afforded to the brilliance of Roger Federer, very little time is dedicated to Williams.

Women’s tennis doesn’t get the same coverage that the men’s game gets anyway, but there’s more to it than just that.

Her father, Richard, polarises opinion and some of his abrasiveness seems to have rubbed off on his daughter. You never see Federer swearing at line judges or engaging in public spats with other players the way Williams does.

It’s a shame, because in most interviews she comes across as a pretty likeable person, but when she’s bad, she’s pretty awful – and it’s these instances that tend to stick in the mind.

The lack of credit she receives may also have something to do with the way she plays. If I’m honest, it’s not particularly pretty to watch.

Federer’s backhand is poetry in motion, but Williams is all about power. It’s very rare to see her hit a shot any less than as hard as possible and she quite literally overpowers most women on the tour.

Maybe it’s a bit dull to watch, but it takes incredible amounts of skill and hard work to be able to do that to the level she does.

She’s an amazing athlete, the like of which we may not see again in our lifetimes, so let’s appreciate Williams a bit more while we still have her.

SO, IT TURNS out that Hartley Wintney captain Jamie Teale’s decision to turn on Basingstoke and North Hants before last weekend wasn’t such a great idea.

Well, that’s certainly the way it would look to a casual observer, but while Hartley were rather dramatically routed on the Village Green last week, he did secure some minor victories.

Referring to Basingstoke’s batting as fragile was a harsh assessment, but it didn’t really come back to bite him. The visitors made 224, but several were guilty of throwing their wickets away and it was a total that Hartley certainly could have chased down.

Admitting that his side would target Martyn James when they were batting also possibly made a difference. Basingstoke’s strike bowler had been expected to work from the short end of the ground, but instead he defended the other end.

However, it seems that Teale made a big mistake in claiming that the rest of the bowling attack was easy to play against.

The whole Basingstoke team was incredibly fired up when they went out to field and Graham Porter was nigh-on unplayable, taking 6-15 as Hartley were dismissed for 73, having been 11-6 at one point.

Teale himself was trapped leg before wicket first ball, much to the delight of the visitors, who celebrated their win by sticking photocopies of the article around the pavilion.

It was a pretty bad day for the Hartley skipper, but he gets some credit from me. Not only did he provide me with a great story, but at no stage did he try to distance himself from the comments.

A lot of people would have claimed that I had made it all up or twisted their words. Teale didn’t do that, and once he’d calmed down after the game, he was happy to give me another interview, albeit a less controversial one. Fair play.

AT THE end of last week, I noticed some posts on Twitter from a prominent Basingstoke Town fan.

The posts, which have since been deleted, claimed that the club’s playing budget had been reduced and complained that while the Dragons’ National League South rivals were improving, they were standing still.

When I put these points to manager Jason Bristow, he argued that retaining pretty much all of a squad that finished third last year was really pleasing for him.

I can see both sides of the argument. Last time Town reached the play-offs, Bristow re-signed pretty much the entire squad, just like he has this time. They went on to have a poor season.

With sides like Ebbsfleet throwing huge amounts of money at their playing budget this year, it is undoubtedly going to be even tougher for Town, but wholesale changes wouldn’t have been the way to go.

There was a really good spirit within the squad and that would have been thrown away by making too many changes. There are a couple of players who possibly could have made way for new blood, but there would have been no guarantee that they would slot in as well.

Compared to a lot of other sides in the league, Basingstoke’s budget is low. Reaching the play-offs last year was an incredible achievement and it will be even harder this time around.

However, I’m sure most supporters would rather have a financially stable club to follow rather than risk the boom-or-bust strategy some clubs operate under. It’s great in the good times, but not as much fun when the club you love goes under.