Part of being great is the ability to win when everyone expects you to fall on your face. Serena has an uncanny ability to win when it matters the most. She won the Australian Open when everyone expected her to lose in the first week. She won the Sony Ericsson Open when people didn’t believe she could back up the win. I’m not saying Serena could have won Roland Garros, because clearly Justine was the better woman that day in the quarters, but she had absolutely nothing to lose by losing that match.

You lose to a player outside of the top 100 and your reputation takes a hit. You lose in straight sets to the number one in the world who has not lost a set at that tournament in two years and you can still go, “wow, I still won seven games!” She has won Roland Garros in the past and even though it would have been great to see her go for the Grand Slam, I don’t think she would have done it. The depth on Tour is too great and I don’t believe she would have been injury-free long enough to accomplish it.

Frankly I agree with Wilson, it does not really matter whether Serena plays five tournaments or fifteen a year when it comes to her greatness. A player’s win-and-loss ratio does not take into account how many tournaments they pulled out of. Fifty years from now, we won’t be throwing around exception clauses when discussing Serena about how she pulled out of this tournament and that tournament. All that will matter is what she won and how she won.

Like Alsacienne said earlier, another variable is determining what is better - genius or hard work? I think Serena has both on her side. One thing you have to admit is that when she does work, she works hard.

Did any of you get a good look at her during RG - she’s lost more weight, put on more muscle, and clearly has been working hard to recommit herself to the game.

Sure, it would have been nice for Serena to play with greater frequency. But her lack of play doesn’t diminsh her status, rather it makes her triumphs all the more remarkable. How can an athlete be away from the game for so long and still be such a fearsome competitor?! Ask Serena.

Cast your mind back to January of this year and then ask yourself in all candor: did anyone imagine for an instant that Serena would stage such an astounding comeback at the Australian Open and then a bit later in Miami? No one can dispute that Justine is well nigh invincible on clay. But on other surfaces she is clearly beatable (check out her record against Venus on all surfaces-very enlightening). No folks, Serena has won the big ones on all surfaces. And that fact truly upholds her standing. Serena Williams: Greatest Player Of The Decade (until further notice).

It’ll come down to who has the most Grand Slams and single titles at the end of 2010.

Serena is definitely not going to be the greatest if she keeps on playing four or five tournaments a year and winning one a year.

I agree that it’s between Juju and Serena and agree with everything said above, but would like to add another angle. What counts more, genius or hard work?

Justine surely is the hardest worker out there, relentlessly driving herself and giving up everything to tennis. Serena, however, is the most talented I’d say, pulling amazing matches out of nowhere. So can we think of Juju getting any better than she is? I don’t see it - no doubt she is the best clay courter of the decade, but I don’t see her progressing on hard. Serena, however, could outdo everyone on every surface if she’s get her act and dedication together.

In the end I’m really torn - Serena would be my winner but I can’t approve that waste of talent. With Serena there’d always be “what ifs”, with Juju not.

Oh, and Amelie: she’s over the hill, guys. I hope she’ll finally stay healthy and be able to play another good season next year and win a few more titles, but that’s it. Even her coach seems to be pretty convinced of that, and that is pretty strong I guess.

Kurt, you raised a lot of valid questions about Serena and her lack of dedication. Obviously, no one really know how great she could have been at this stage in her career, or even like Nick said, what Justine could have accomplished as well if she’d play more events.

Nick, Amelie and Maria could level with the duo, but personally, I don’t see Maria or especially Amelie overtaking them.

For one thing, like all of that generation (not counting Sharapova), they only have a few more good years left - if that many. Amelie’s still trying to make up for lost time and she’ll be hard pressed to catch up to Serena with eight Grand Slams. Like Petrova, she’s not very consistent and still struggles with expectations.

If Serena and Justine play more matches, it would be a great rivalry like Martina and Chris in the 80s…but Serena plays little and Justine chooses her tournaments…

Anything could happen in 3 years span, who knows, Justine might overtake Serena with the Grand Slam total, or Maria and Amelie could win more to level with these two.

The interesting thing, in my opinion, is that we’d see an even greater dominance between the two if Serena completely committed to playing a full schedule and shifted all her focus on maximizing her tennis. She’s really hurt her place in history by becoming distracted in other interests. I also think it’s noteworthy that Justine’s era of dominance came on the heels of Serena’s, when her sister’s death and nagging injuries set in.

I don’t know how coherent all that was, but I honestly believe Serena is the best female tennis player of this decade. When she shows up, she’s proven that she’s always a threat. Should she continue her current form and play a full schedule (though her definition of such is just a dozen tournaments a year), I think she’ll add a handful more Grand Slams to her total and hopefully reclaim her place as the true World No. 1.

Three more years to go and we’ll have the winners based on Total amount of career titles and Grand Slams.

Right now it’s even, Justine has more career titles while Serena edges Justine on Grand Slam with two more.

And also the head-to-head…6-4 to Serena.

So Serena has the edge, 2-1 right now, but it’s close really close.