Serena Williams played in the Wimbledon women's singles final Saturday, seeking a win that would have earned her a 24th Grand Slam tournament title — a tie for the all-time record.
Williams, currently ranked 10th, ended up losing to Romania's Simona Halep, who won praise for her incredible performance. "One of the most perfectly executed matches I've ever seen," retired tennis star Billie Jean King said on Twitter. "Incredible tennis."
Despite her loss on Saturday, Williams, 37, remains one of the most accomplished athletes in the world.
But ahead of the game, a survey found that 1 in 8 men believed they could go up against her on the court and actually score a point.
The YouGov survey polled 1,732 British men and women, and 12% of guys who answered the survey were confident they could score against Williams. Another 14% weren't sure if they could or not, and 74% clearly saw that their prowess on the court was no match for Williams’.
Meanwhile, only 3% of women believed they could score against Williams.
This disparity had some people laughing.
Because just...no.
Watching this championship match still thinking about those men who think they could win a point/game against Serena Williams.
if serena is playing left handed maybe u guys will get a point
@YouGov Lord, grant me the confidence of a mediocre white man.
But shoutout to men's confidence.
Forget winning a point off Serena Williams. I firmly believe I could tackle Jonah Lomu in his prime, beat LeBron 1 on 1, and win a Formula 1 race on foot. As an unrelated aside, last week I called the cops because a teenager looked at me
Not sure if I could win a point against Serena Williams but I’m pretty sure that if I ran at my top speed (never tried) I could outrun a car
@YouGov Those Men: “I could DEFINITELY get a point against Serena if I REALLY tried.”
Time for some game theory.
“Well actually if you assume the average male has a 1% chance of taking any given point off Serena and then accumulate the probabilities I think you’ll find that oh and there’s also the question of double faults and really it’s a lot more plausible than many assume...”
Remember, this survey was among the general population — not fellow tennis stars.
@YouGov Unless only eight men were surveyed and one of them was Nadel, these men are what’s known in tennis terms as “fucking deluded”
But amid the roasting, some people apparently really do think it's possible for a regular human to score against Williams.
@YouGov The question is about a match, not a game. Winning one point vs 48 points is not so impossible. Note that 3% of women also believe so.
Remember, this is the woman who was ranked No. 1 for 319 weeks.
She's won 337 women's singles matches in the majors, a record.
And, of course, there are those 23 Grand Slam tournament titles.
So, suuuuuuure, guys.
I just want to make it abundantly clear that not one of you could take a single point off Serena Williams. You’d take the loss, and you’d thank her for it.