At best, Serena Williams can be described as a sporadic competitor. She’ll have a few months where she pulls out of two tournaments for every one she actually plays, only to get beaten (and embarrassed) by an early round upset.
Then, she’ll head to the gym, lose a few pounds, summon up her legendary confidence, and win a Tier I or Grand Slam or two. And then the whole process starts over again.
Like it or hate it, you have to admit that one thing is certain–this sporadic formula is clearly working for Serena. But that brings up a difficult question, which is the subject of today’s Open Forum Friday!
For those of you who may not be as familiar with the terms overachiever and underachiever, here is what the dictionary has to say.
Overachiever – To perform better or achieve more success than expected.
Underachiever – To perform worse or achieve less success than expected.
Everyone, I’m looking forward to reading your opinions and thank you for participating in this week’s edition of Open Forum Friday!
Serena is by no means an overachiever. Jelena Jankovic is an overachiever! Serena would be classified as an underachiever, but she doesn’t mean to be.
Serena’s sporadic schedule isn’t planned. You act like she hasn’t had any injuries. Like she pulls out of tournaments for nothing. Serena’s downfall isn’t her motivation, but the fact she has been plagued with injuries.
I think she’s doing the best she can with the obstacles thrown at her. The injuries coupled with the tragic death of her sister play a very important part in her tennis history. I would’ve quit a long time ago!
I think that there is a disinction between an over-achiever and a perfectionist. Those who are perfectionists are more apt to be harder on themselves and can easily get caught up setting unrealistic or unatainable goals. As a result, this can erode self-confidence, and self-esteem. It is possible that Serena has caved under the pressure that she puts on herself to be perfect.
Hi Paula!
I think you’ve brought up a very interesting point about perfection vs. overachieving and it reminded me of something I recently read.
This story quotes L. Jon Wertheim addressing a mailbag question, which I think speaks volumes about understanding Serena’s mentality.
Like L. Jon, I’m not ready to condone some of her actions after losing, but it certainly helps explain why she has tended to react so bad to her own imperfection.
Serena is an underachiever, whatever her reasons to be: injuries, lack of focus, tragedy, outside interests, etc… If she can play or is willing to play as much as the others, she would have achieved much more. That said, Serena is also the biggest loser in the history of tennis.
Underachiever. If either Serena or Venus put their mind to it they could have won more for sure.
At the beginning of the millenium Serena and Venus where predicted to dominat the womans tour for many years to come.
Some said they stifled competition and made tennis boring for spectator and media purposes.
With the death of their sister, and incidents like in Miami and at the French Open with Justine, I just think they said to themselves who needs the hassle. Lost the motivation a bit. Decided to take a step back from a sporting community that they didnt feel fully welcome them.
Excellent question Aaress. Thanks!
Neither. Like many players she did have injuries. She also chose to focus on things other than tennis for quite some time. It’s possible that if she had stayed focused she would have achieved even more in tennis but who knows.
I think she’s been an underachiever but has focused back onto tennis more recently. Her 2007 Aussie Open win, followed by some challenges, have pushed her to a greater commitment to tennis. I think she’s also realized that her career is going quickly and she better make the most of what remains. As long as she’s healthy, she’ll always be one of the favorites. She’s looking pretty good right now…
It’s hard not to think of Serena as being a fair-weathered player, who’s dedication to tennis is half-hearted, but I think there’s more going on inside her head than she shows.
It could be that she has reached a plateau in her career and wants to coast a bit and enjoy life, or she could be battling some inner deamons. There is quite a bit of instability being on tour, with the constant travel, and scrutiny of her game. If you’re not that grounded or don’t have a solid support system in place when you need it, then the instability can become unmanageable. That’s my armchair psychologist opinion.