May she play for another decade, years after people stopped saying her priorities were mixed up, her focus was misplaced and her training too lax.

For Serena Williams is already one of the best tennis players of all time, one of the best, if not the best, competitors and one of the more interesting athletes of our times.

Think about it all: Her family. Her life. Her sister. Her health.

At the age of 31, though, conventional tennis wisdom tells us she has few years left to play.

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But Serena is and has always been unconventional, with her own clothing line, her own life and her own hobbies. She is the atypical women’s tennis player. We know her simply as Serena, the woman who rededicated herself to tennis and wound up winning 15 Grand Slams in the process.

And she may be hitting her prime. Her 2012: Fifth Wimbledon title. Third and fourth Olympic golds. Fourth U.S. Open championship. Third WTA Championship title. Her record to end the year? 58-4.

With 15 Slams, there are only three to beat in the Open Era: Steffi Graf, with 22; Chris Evert, 18; and Martina Navratilova, 18.

Age 31. Fifteen Grand Slams. Three more years, nine more Slams?

Let’s hope so, because after Serena, the U.S. women’s tennis field slips. Long, long gone are the days of two or three top American women ready to be replaced by the same crew only fewer stops and starts.

There is Varvara Lepchenko, ranked No. 20 in the world, her highest ranking in her 12 years of playing pro tennis. Lepchenko, 26, did just finish her best year on tour, though, reaching the fourth round in Roland Garros, her finest appearance yet at a Slam.

There is Venus Williams, the champion sister. Venus, 32, figures to be nearing retirement faster than her younger sister but could dominate doubles for years to come.

And there is Sloane Stephens, the name you’ve been looking to see, the player you want to see face Serena again. At 19, Stephens is the U.S.’ best bet to replicate Serena on the court. She is already ranked No. 25 in the world, played Serena tough in Brisbane and has withstood the pressure of already being called the “Next Best American.”

But she is likely years away from a major run, a Slam semifinal or a WTA title. Her model, Serena, might have won her first singles Slam at 17 but the game is far too physical now, far too demanding and taxing.

So, for now, let’s not look too much farther than where Serena slams her next overhead or where she places her 20th ace or where she stares into the sky as she screams while celebrating another Slam.

For 2013 and American women’s tennis, let’s sing, “Long Live the Queen”, and forget about the future.

His absence was most apparent this weekend — in Davis Cup play against Spain — more than a week after he officially retired, when he waved goodbye, blowing kisses to a New York crowd with tears in his eyes.
Not that having Andy Roddick on clay against Spain would have done much good. But we can think so.
By now, we’ve been doing a lot of that, thinking about Roddick, his legacy, what he accomplished, how he led American tennis, if he made the most of his lethal serve, boastful forehand and adequate backhand.
He entered with aggression — the big serve, fast feet, quick points. He hiccuped but survived, succeeded.
Could this be it? The next Great American? An inspired run?
Before long, he changed. Injuries. Style. Different coaching. Not quite as much zip on the serve, not the step in his movement.
And, despite the roars, it was over.
His last match against Juan Martin del Potro. His career as the No. 1 tennis player in America.
Roddick’s final match did well to emulate his career, with a quick and exciting start, and a dashing and predictable ending, injuries and a superior player across the net from him to fault.
Roddick might not have gotten the most of his game, or he might have. Five major finals. One Grand Slam.
It’s also hard to argue with 32 singles titles and an overall record of 612-213. It’s even more difficult to not shake your head at nine: the number of consecutive seasons in which Roddick finished in the top 10, from 2002 to 2010.
As Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray all ascended to the top, Roddick didn’t go away, consistently winning the matches he was supposed to, occasionally taking down a higher seed.
As he did throughout his career, he would tease you, dictate points with his forehand, hit backhands down the line. We’d think aloud, I think he could win this.
The next match, he’d try to take advantage of his fitness, grind it out with whomever was across the net, only to be left to be the first carrying his bags off the court.
Like the del Potro match, Roddick never had his final hurrah, his last triumph. Some rightly thought his last best chance came in the 2009 Wimbledon final. Many others refused to believe it, thinking Roddick had just one run, one hot streak left in him. Maybe that’s what we wanted most: a Jimmy Connors like U.S. Open run to reward the faith America had placed in Roddick for so many years.
Then again, Roddick was never one with something to prove, and rightly so.
He’s done more off the court with his foundation than the majority of professional athletes think of doing. And he’s entertained — and frustrated — us all over the past decade with his grit, talent and success.
Roddick will stop playing professionally, and do something else just as admirable, with the same dedication and persistence he brought to the court every day.
Legacy achieved, indeed.

Other thoughts on Roddick:
SI: Jon Wertheim
ESPN: Grantland: All about Andy

Davis Cup photo - Siggi Bucher

A buddy e-mailed me over the weekend about the U.S. success in Switzerland.

“Is this how the world ends?” he wrote.

Bob Bryan sitting out from doubles. Mr. Davis Cup, Andy Roddick, out as well. Mardy Fish, coming off a first-round loss in the Australian Open, as the U.S.’ great hope. The Americans facing Switzerland — Roger Federer, Stan Wawinka — in Fribourg. On clay.

Save Novak Djokovic suddenly gaining Swiss citizenship, you could not have stacked the odds any higher for the U.S. men to beat, let alone sweep, Switzerland in this weekend’s first-round Davis Cup matchup.

But somehow they did it.

John Isner beat Roger Federer. Shocking enough by itself, and then, in four sets. And did we mention on clay? The surface in which Federer beat Djokovic at last year’s French Open, giving the world No.1 his only loss in a Grand Slam in 2011. Isner, subbing in for Roddick, called it, “the win of my life.”

Even more amazing might be Fish’s resurgence after an awful showing in Melbourne, losing to 7-6 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (6) to that one guy who almost beat Roger Federer in the first round of Wimbledon years ago, Alejandro Falla.

Fish comes from two sets down and takes out the always tough, always scrappy Wawrinka, 6-2, 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 9-7.

Think about how the American men finished Davis Cup in 2011: With a loss. At home. On the fast indoor courts in Austin, Texas.

Fish lost a sloppy five-setter to Feliciano Lopez. Lost a tough, nasty four-set match against David Ferrer. Don’t think that played in his head at all this weekend?

All this when Federer decides to play the first round of Davis Cup since 2004. All this when America hadn’t swept anybody since its first-round sweep over Austria in the same year.

Is the world ending? Crazier things have happened.

This time, he needed no heroics, no closing of his eyes to save two match points, no miraculous shots to extend the match.

This time, Novak Djokovic needed three sets of superb play to show the world he has surpassed Roger Federer as the No. 2 player in the world. And with Rafa reeling, maybe this is the year Novak climbs to No. 1.

What a funny start to this tennis season. Just when we all thought Federer was ready to challenge Rafa for No. 1, a new rivalry of 23-year-olds meets in the finals, one that could greet us for the next decade or so: Djokovic v. Andy Murray.

Here, we have the have done, the masterful under pressure, against the have not, the over-thinker in the big matches.

Djokovic against Murray: Two of the game’s best set to better their rivalry as we ring in the 2011 Slam Season.

Just like we predicted, right?

Tennis rules. This much you should know if you’re reading this site. It rules so much that a friend of mine and I have started a site devoted to tennis. Well, Richard created it. I just write stuff for it every now and then.

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