Serena Williams: looking out for No.1

Williams posed nude for ESPN Magazine's 'Body Issue'

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Today, she hits newsstands across the United States wearing nothing but a smile. On Monday, she will return to the top of the WTA rankings. Such is life for Serena Williams, the talk of a turbulent 2009 season.

The 28-year-old has posed nude for one of six special edition covers for ESPN Magazine‘s first ever body issue which celebrates the aesthetics of the athletic, a refreshing take on Sports Illustrated‘s signature swimsuit issues.

With a feature demystifying anterior cruciate ligament surgery sharing pages with a photo diary of a nudist co-ed volleyball match (‘No Shirts, No Shorts…Lots of Service’), the true motivation for the magazine is bound to divide opinion. No doubt cynics will ‘see through’ the celebration of the human form and pan the issue as a desperate attempt to sell copies in a tough market.

There is likely to be truth in both arguments. After all, while a sports magazine has to maintain an editorial integrity, it must also sell copies – and why should it not do both?

Similarly in professional sport, where sponsorship deals rival prize purses, there is a balance to be struck between performance and publicity – which is why Serena Williams’ spot in the mag is particularly apt.

As well as the best female tennis player of the past two years, the American has cemented her status as the undisputed queen of self-promotion. She is a serial Twitterer and blogger for her website, a jewelry and fashion designer, author, screenwriter, charity ambassador, sometime actor, and aadvertising spokesperson for a number of products – not least her less than funny – and rather inappropriate-feeling – appearance in an advert for Tampax last month.

But who would call an eleven-time grand slam champion a jack of all trades? Serena excels at the day job. Yet, partly as a result of her extra-curricular activities, there remains a underlying sense of respect rather than admiration for her achievements – not least at the end of a season featuring a string of high-profile controversies, most recently her inglorious semi-final exit from the US Open last month.

The year began well enough, with an Australian Open triumph that not only took her major tally into double figures but saw her overtake golfer Annika Sorenstam as the top female earner in sports history. But by April a four-match losing streak – the longest of her career – saw her lose the world No.1 ranking to Dinara Safina.

Clearly struggling with a thigh injury during the clay court season, Serena chose to blame the WTA for forcing her to play by the Tour’s “RULES”, as she told her Twitter feed.

“There are moments like now where I feel they [the WTA] don’t care if you are headless,” she elaborated on her blog in April, “if you don’t play a tournament you are severely punished. I personally disagree with some of the rules enforced by the WTA, yet I comply.”

That servere punishment would have been a $75,000 fine. Yes, a hefty chunk of change – but worth gambling a season over when you’ve already banked over $2 million in prize money? Of course not, but in choosing the martyr’s route Serena remained in the spotlight.

It had to be the American that ended Safina’s ill-fated reign atop the women’s game. Serena was less than tactful in criticising a system that failed to recognise her as the best player in the world while she held three of the four grand slam titles. As a result, it was the Russian that bore the brunt of her thinly-veiled contempt.

“I see myself as No.2,” Serena said when asked who she regarded as top dog following this year’s Wimbledon victory. “That’s where I am. I think Dinara did a great job to get to No.1. She won Rome and Madrid,” before breaking out into fits of laughter.

Such biting honesty is rare in the bland, media-training blunted press conferences we all snooze through these days, and was surprisingly refreshing. Serena’s answer provided an insight into the character of a hugely complex athlete – arrogant, single-minded, and cocky, all traits of a ruthless champion. However, she also betrayed her capacity for disrespect.

But is that such a bad thing? Is it right to raise an eyebrow to an athlete who gives the public a genuine insight into her true personality rather than shuffling off after tip-toeing through another hack-induced minefield of trick questions? Is it a problem when one of the sport’s biggest stars airs her grievances about the calendar structure, however she may go about it?

Yes, it is, when a player believes that they are bigger than the sport – which, it seems, is how Serena sees herself.

There’s no need to go into the specifics any more, but sufficed to say that rant at a line judge in New York is likely to be Serena’s McEnroe moment, a standalone skewed caricature of her incredible career. She even got a “serious” into the skit just to make sure.

But while much has been made of the explosive remarks about the co-joining of a tennis ball and the depths of the shaken official’s throat, the preceding phrase “you don’t know me”, as reported by the New York Times, carried an altogether different menace.

It said that Serena sees herself as too important to tournament organisers for minor technicalities to apply. She’s a meal ticket for too many people, key to the sport’s popularity. She’s untouchable. She is the law.

As she found out in the following minutes, she isn’t. And as she should soon be made to realise, while the tennis world is all the better for her presence, it can and will function without her.

ITF grand slam administrator Bill Babcock has opened an investigation into the ‘major incident’, and is weighing up the prospect of banning Serena from one, maybe two majors. The same happened to McEnroe at the Australian Open, and Jeff Tarango following his decision to default a match at Wimbledon as he branded the umpire “corrupt”.

Tarrango received a two-slam ban, including the next Wimbledon. Should Serena suffer a similar fate, it would be difficult to argue against it.

Serena was chosen for ESPN‘s body issue because “her passion is matched only by her body’s ability to channel it”. We couldn’t have put it any better. But when that passion takes her out of line, two bodies that must remain bigger and stronger than her – the WTA and ITF – must be prepared to flex their own muscles.

A ban has precedent, and missing the US Open, and perhaps another major, would send out a strong message both to Serena and the millions of fans who view her as a role model.

Serena looks out for No.1. The game’s governing bodies have to look out for everyone. How she will respond to such a severe punishment is anyone’s guess, but that is no excuse to Babcock and Co. to back down now.

One thing’s for sure – we’ll hear about it.