Evert, Cahill Discuss Serena’s Grand Slam Chances, Legacy

Can Serena win the calendar year Grand Slam in 2013? Chris Evert and Darren Cahill think so.

By Chris Oddo

(January 9, 2013) -- Chris Evert and Darren Cahill both believe that Serena Williams can win the calendar year Grand Slam in 2013, but both agree that it will be an uphill battle given the depth that that women's tennis possesses these days.

Speaking in an ESPN conference call, Evert and Cahill agreed that when she’s fit and motivated, nobody can touch the 31-year-old American.

“Is it possible?” said Evert, when asked if Serena could become the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win all four majors in one the same year. “Absolutely.”

ESPN’s Darren Cahill thinks Williams has a chance as well. “I think at the moment she’s playing a level or two above the opposition,” he said. “She’s a stronger, faster athlete than she maybe was three or four years ago.”

Williams, who currently owns 15 Grand Slam titles, would pass Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova's total of 18 if she runs the table in 2013.

Evert, like Cahill, believes that the only player who can beat Serena right now is Serena herself. “When she’s on, she’s unbeatable,” Evert said. “She’s dominant and unbeatable. I don’t know if anybody can really stop her.”

Regardless of dominance, Evert knows that even a player as imperious as Serena Williams will face serious challenges in the quest for the calendar year Grand Slam. “There’s no easy matches any more,” said Evert, “as we saw last year here [the Australian Open] when she lost, and last year at the French when she lost... But is it possible? It’s absolutely possible. Do I think it would happen? I have my doubts that it would happen only because she is human.”

“I think if anybody can do it on either side, Serena can do it,” added Cahill

If Serena runs the table in 2013, what kind of a statement would that make about Williams' place in the tennis pantheon? Evert thinks it would say all that needs to be said. “Anybody who wins a Grand Slam in this era with the level of tennis as high as it is, because the level of tennis gets higher every single year, would currently have to be the greatest player that ever lived,” said Evert. “Point-blank, that’s all that needs to be said.”

(Photo Credit: AP)