Ajla Tomljanović vs America

[PaulP]

To be totally frank, it is almost impossible to compare records from one era to the next.

Rules change, conditions change, even equipment.  And almost all of these changes are to the benefit of the players, eg there were no tie-breakers in Court's era, they played on less predictable surfaces, and they used racquets that were ridiculously heavy and user-unfriendly compared to the graphite models of today.

All of this means that most modern-day players can have much longer and relatively injury-free careers than 50+ years ago.  They are also far more affluent so they can employ the best support crew, coaches, personal trainers, physios etc etc. to keep them going throughout the year, as well as each tournament week.

So, our American friend how penned this article has conveniently forgotten to add that it was much tougher to simply get to the end of the tournament in the 50's and 60s.  Serena may have had to battle tougher opponents, but she had the luxury of returning to a penthouse suite in between games and getting a personal massage.  I'm betting Rod Laver and Margaret Court didn't have those same benefits......

There is some truth to that, but I think you've focused on one side of the equation, i.e the aspects that were tougher back then, and I think a more balanced exposition is required.