Serena Williams - The best female player in the IPTL

Serena Williams bringing her two-handed backhand into play against Ana Ivanovic on November 19

At the age of 33, Serena is looking stronger than ever. People started writing her off as she did not perform too well at the Australian Open, French Open or the Wimbledon. But she proved them all wrong by winning the U.S Open and the WTA Tour Finals in style.

In fact, she looks to be getting stronger and stronger by the day, and she is well on course to beat Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slams. Will she be able to do that? Well. That remains to be seen. As of now, with the form she is in, she could well lead her team Singapore Slammers to victory in the inaugural edition of the International Premier Tennis League.

Let's look at few reasons as to why she is the best player in the tournament.

Massive Serve

She definitely has the greatest weapon in women’s tennis, which is her massive serve and the sheer strength of her shots. Her serve is faster than many of the men’s service as well.

At the U.S Open her fastest serve was at 120 MPH which was faster than dozens of men's players, including David Ferrer (119 m.p.h.), Lleyton Hewitt (117 m.p.h.) and Mikhail Youzhny (117 m.p.h.). Serena's average first-serve speed (108 m.p.h.) compares favorably with many of the top men.

Measure of all competitors

Her record against the other players who are playing in the IPTL are incredible. She has dominated against all the other woman tennis players in the past and has a really good record against them. She has won 16 straight games against Maria Sharapova since 2004. She will only be looking to continue this dominance as the IPTL starts in a few days time.

Also, Serena Williams only seems to be getting better with age. She is 2nd on the all-time Grand Slam leaders list with 18 Grand Slams, 4 behind Steffi Graf. She won her first Grand Slam all the way back in 1999 when she was 17 years old and just recently won the U.S Open in 2014 at the age of 33 for the seventh time in her career.

Adeptness in both formats

She has an impeccable record in singles and doubles, winning 18 singles grand slam titles and 13 doubles grand slam titles. Since the IPTL includes both singles and doubles, she will be able to lead the SIngapore Slammers with her experience in both forms of the game.

The first leg is scheduled to start on 28th November at Philippines with the Singapore Slammers to take on the Indian Aces with Serena Williams playing Ana Ivanovic in her first match.