Serena Williams enjoyed a golden career as a player and won absolutely everything there is to win in the game and then some.

The younger sister of Venus eclipsed her sister in spectacular style, winning 23 Grand Slam titles to sit second to Margaret Court on the all-time list.

As well as a staggering haul of major titles, Williams also won the Olympic gold medal in 2012 and won the WTA Finals on five occasions.

Serena enjoyed a 27-year career on the tour and won 72 singles titles and also claimed 23 titles playing in doubles competitions with Venus – including all four of the majors!

These days, Williams is an author and it’s perhaps something of a shame that she isn’t still involved in the game in some capacity.

It’s quite clear that the legendary player still watches tennis, however, and on a live Instagram production, she was quizzed on her favourite players to watch in the current era.

Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images for WTA

Serena Williams picks her favourite players from WTA and ATP Tours

The two players picked by Serena are pretty interesting, to say the least – certainly when it comes to the men’s game.

With Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz starting to develop a new rivalry, Williams has gone against the grain and instead selected Grigor Dimitrov.

She said: “Grigor (Dimitrov), he’s a really good friend of mine so yeah I’m going for him.”

When it comes to the women’s game, it’s perhaps less surprising that Coco Gauff was her pick.

Williams continued: “I love watching Coco. She’s super cool!”

Gauff in particular enjoyed a brilliant end of the season in 2024 by collecting the WTA Finals crown.

She hopes that the win can propel her confidence into 2025 and help her win another Grand Slam crown during the year.

Dimitrov and Gauff will have different ambitions in 2025

It’s fascinating that Williams hasn’t picked one of the top players in the men’s game, although on his day Dimitrov can mix it with the bet.

The big thing he would love to achieve in 2025 is to stay injury-free after a number of problems with his knee in recent years.

Dimitrov did reach the quarter-final at the French Open and the US Open in 2024 and next year he would dearly love to stay fit and keep competing in the second week of major tournaments.As for Gauff, her goal is pretty clear.

More major titles will be at the forefront of her mind and she will also want to chase down that number one spot during 2025.

Being American there might be some people expecting Gauff to take the mantle when it comes to becoming a regular winner of Grand Slam events from Williams.

Now, the challenge is to prove herself as a serial Grand Slam winner and truly realise her potential in the coming years.