Wimbledon 2014: Is it the end of the road for Serena Williams?

Is Serena Williams past her prime?

25th seed Alize Cornet showed top seed Serena Williams the door in the third round of this year's Wimbledon. Did that come across as a major shock for you? It wouldn't be so if you checked her record this year. 2014 unfortunately hasn't been a kind year so far for the younger Williams sister.

The 32-year-old has failed to make it into the last eight of any Grand Slam event this year. At the Australian Open, she lost to 14th seed Ana Ivanovic. At Roland Garros this year, her form was even worse; as the defending champion and World Number 1, Serena looked listless against unseeded Spaniard Garbine Muruguza and was sent packing in the second round. The American continued her dismal run of form as she had no answer to Cornet, falling to her worst Wimbledon performance since 2005.

What makes matters even worse for Serena is her abject surrender at the hands of Cornet. Williams is a five-time champion at SW19 while Cornet had previously never beaten a top-20 player in a Grand Slam event. It initially looked like another vintage Serena performance, as she swept away the Frenchwoman 6-1 in the first set. But after that, Cornet looked like the one with titles in her shelf, as Serena looked a pale shadow of herself. Williams surrendered the remaining two sets 3-6 and 4-6, committing as many as 29 unforced errors in the encounter.

Cornet is now bound to be over the moon. The Frenchwoman isn't too well known for her mental toughness or grit, so what better way to boost your confidence than beating the World Number 1. She will now face World Number 13 Eugenie Bouchard in the Round of 16.

For now, Serena's loss is Maria Sharapova's gain. The World Number 5 will be looking to add more titles in her Wimbledon shelf, which just has a single title, coming way back in 2004. Petra Kvitova, Agnieszka Radwanska and Simona Halep will also be breathing down Sharapova's neck in this race to be crowned Queen of Wimbledon.

But what about Serena? The 17-time Grand Slam title winner is unarguably one of the greatest tennis players ever. But does this dismal run of form mark the end of her reign? Between 2013 and 2014, Serena had regained the number 1 spot en route to winning two consecutive US Open titles, a French Open and a Wimbledon title. But 2014 has been a stark contrast and younger, agile players have had the upper hand against the four-time Olympic gold medallist.

The Serena we saw at Wimbledon this year, is just a pale shadow of what she was in her prime. She may never come back to reclaim her domination in the women's tennis circuit. Even though she is out of form, Serena Williams is a fighter, and one can never write her off.