Also, even though I have always rooted for Serena and I absolutely hated Martina Navratilova while she was playing (she is a fantastic announcer on The Tennis Channel now), I think Martina still gets my vote for best player ever, or at least in my lifetime.
She had to deal with Chris Evert at the start of her career and Steffi Graf later on, Serena hasn't had a lot of alltime-level competition along the way, players like Henin and Clijsters peaked and then retired relatively quickly. Martina was #1 in the world for 332 weeks (Serena is at 243 currently), and also she was easily the best female doubles player ever, winning a ridiculous 31 Grand Slam women's doubles titles over 16 years. Throw in ten mixed doubles Grand Slam titles, the last when she was a few months away from turning 50 in 2006 (!!!) and she gets my vote still.
She had to deal with Chris Evert at the start of her career and Steffi Graf later on, Serena hasn't had a lot of alltime-level competition along the way, players like Henin and Clijsters peaked and then retired relatively quickly. Martina was #1 in the world for 332 weeks (Serena is at 243 currently), and also she was easily the best female doubles player ever, winning a ridiculous 31 Grand Slam women's doubles titles over 16 years. Throw in ten mixed doubles Grand Slam titles, the last when she was a few months away from turning 50 in 2006 (!!!) and she gets my vote still.