Serena entering second prime?

A couple of years ago you could still have a decent argument over who has been the greatest women's tennis player of this generation.

You had Venus and Serena Williams, who had rocketed to the top and then drifted off into other things. You still had Martina Hingis and her brief but dominant run and Lindsay Davenport and Justine Henin were somewhere in the equation.

Venus and especially Serena have ended that argument by showing they may have several years and major titles left to win.

Serena's latest win, an Australian Open blowout, now has her approaching the best of the best in women's tennis history. She's now reached three straight major finals. Really, who out there other than Venus can stay with her when she's playing well.

While Serena's latest win did not move her up in the rankings, it did help sister Venus. Players in my system get bonus points for beating players in finals with major titles. Serena now has 10 and that means Venus' two Grand Slam final wins over Venus are worth 5 points instead of 4.5 points. Plus Venus and Serena teamed up to win the women's doubles title, which is worth 0.5 points. It isn't much but it was enough for Venus to edge past Hingis.

Here is the updated list of the 32 greatest women's tennis players in open history:

Rank, Player, Country, Years, Points
1. Martina Navratilova, Czechoslovakia, 1974-2006, 165.63
2. Steffi Graf, Germany, 1985-1999, 154.13
3. Chris Evert-Lloyd, United States, 1971-1989, 113.40
4. Margaret Smith-Court, Australia, 1968-1975, 96.75
5. Monica Seles, Yugoslavia, 1989-2002, 92.85
6. Billie Jean King, United States, 1968-1983, 88.14
7. Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, Australia, 1971-1980, 83.35
8. Serena Williams, United States, 1998-2009, 77.09
9. Venus Williams, United States, 1997-2009, 65.76
10. Martina Hingis, Switzerland, 1996-2006, 65.47
11. Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario, Spain, 1989-2000, 64.35
12. Justine Henin, Belgium, 2001-2007, 62.14
13. Hana Mandlikova, Czechoslovakia, 1980-1987, 47.65
14. Lindsay Davenport, United States, 1996-2005, 47.40
15. Maria Sharapova, Russia, 2004-2008, 32.61
16. Jennifer Capriati, United States, 2001-2002, 29.93
17. Virginia Wade, England, 1968-1977, 28.92
18. Tracy Austin, United States, 1979-1981, 28.55
19. Mary Pierce, France, 1994-2005, 27.15
20. Gabriela Sabatini, Argentina, 1988-1991, 27.03
21. Amelie Mauresmo, France, 1999-2006, 25.00
22. Kim Clijsters, Belgium, 2001-2005, 23.76
23. Conchita Martinez, Spain, 1994-2000, 22.69
24. Jana Novotna, Czechoslovakia, 1991-1998, 21.55
25. Ann Haydon-Jones, England, 1968-1969, 20.17
26. Kerry Melville-Reid, Australia, 1970-1977, 15.61
27. Virginia Ruzici, Romania, 1978-1980, 15.40
28. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia, 2004-2007, 15.22
29. Ana Ivanovic, Serbia, 2007-2008, 14.76
30. Helena Sukova, Czechoslovakia, 1984-1993, 14.74
31. Mimi Jausovec, Yugoslavia, 1977-1983, 14.41
32. Mary-Joe Fernandez, United States, 1989-1997, 13.33

No change and big changes in worldwide greatest drivers list

The team of David Donohue, Antonio Garcia, Darren Law and former Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice held off a team led by Juan Pablo Montoya to win the 24 Hours at Daytona, which kicks off the major auto races of 2009.

None of those four drivers are near my top 100 listing of the greatest drivers worldwide -- Montoya is -- so from that standpoint my rankings are unchanged.

But, as you'll see when I roll out the newest rankings, there were major changes to the top 100. I reset the rankings after long thoughts about the winning point totals for the 24 Hours at Le Mans.

The Le Mans race remains one of the most prestigious in the world, but it is also the one where superior technology and deep pockets plays the largest role. Plus, each member of the winning team, regardless of whether he drove one lap or 100 laps, received 20 points.

My top 100 was loaded with endurance racers. Danish driver Tom Kristensen obviously is a top talent, but even with eight wins in Le Mans no one seriously considers him one of the top drivers in the world.

So I lowered the winning points to 15 for Le Mans victories. I left the rest unchanged, 9 points for second, 8 for third ... at least for now.

Just that change dropped several endurance drivers down the rankings.

With the Daytona 500 on the horizon, here is my updated list of the world's greatest race car drivers:

Pole pos., Racer, Country, Years, Total
1. A.J. Foyt, United States, 1959-1992, 84.49
2. Graham Hill, United Kingdom, 1958-1974, 80.95
3. Richard Petty, United States, 1960-1987, 79.77
4. Michael Schumacher, Germany, 1992-2006, 77.35
5. Ayrton Senna, Brazil, 1984-1993, 69.98
6. Alain Prost, France, 1982-1993, 67.12
7. Al Unser, United States, 1965-1992, 62.05
8. Cale Yarborough, United States, 1965-1987, 60.72
9. Jackie Stewart, United Kingdom, 1965-1973, 58.59
10. Rick Mears, United States, 1979-1991, 56.93
11. Jacky Ickx, Belgium, 1968-1985, 56.58
12. Stirling Moss, United Kingdom, 1953-1961, 56.17
13. Phil Hill, United States, 1958-1964, 54.77
14. Bobby Allison, United States, 1968-1988, 54.53
15. Wilbur Shaw, United States, 1927-1940, 54.29
16. Emerson Fittipaldi, Brazil, 1971-1994, 53.34
17. Lou Meyer, United States, 1928-1937, 52.44
18. Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentina, 1950-1957, 52.02
19. Mario Andretti, United States, 1965-1995, 52.00
20. Bobby Unser, United States, 1966-1981, 51.17
21. Tom Kristensen, Denmark, 1997-2008, 51.04
22. Derek Bell, United Kingdom, 1972-1996, 50.94
23. Johnny Rutherford, United States, 1963-1986, 48.88
24. Mauri Rose, United States, 1934-1950, 48.83
25. Maurice Trintignant, France, 1953-1961, 47.25
26. Jeff Gordon, United States, 1993-2007, 47.10
27. Dale Earnhardt, United States, 1979-2000, 46.54
28. Frank Biela, Germany, 1999-2007, 46.23
29. Niki Lauda, Austria, 1974-1984, 45.87
30. Denny Hulme, Australia, 1965-1973, 45.63
31. Rodger Ward, United States, 1956-1964, 45.51
32. Jody Scheckter, South Africa, 1974-1979, 45.45
33. Dale Jarrett, United States, 1991-2006, 45.11
34. Al Unser Jr., United States, 1983-2003, 44.91
35. Bruce McLaren, Australia, 1959-1969, 44.89
36. Emanuele Pirro, Italy, 1991-2007, 44.71
37. Bill Elliott, United States, 1978-2001, 43.53
38. Gordon Johncock, United States, 1965-1991, 43.33
39. Jim Clark, United Kingdom, 1959-1967, 43.12
40. Olivier Gendebien, Germany, 1955-1962, 42.81
41. Fernando Alonso, Spain, 2003-2008, 41.49
42. Henri Pescarolo, France, 1970-1999, 40.93
43. Rinaldo Capello, Italy, 1999-2006, 40.71
44. Yannick Dalmas, France, 1988-2002, 40.01
45. Marco Werner, Germany, 2002-2007, 39.73
46. David Coulthard, United Kingdom, 1995-2006, 39.00
47. Hans Joachim Stuck, Germany, 1976-1996, 38.97
48. David Pearson, United States, 1962-1984, 38.59
49. Tom Sneva, United States, 1976-1984, 38.58
50. Juan Pablo Montoya, Colombia, 1999-2008, 38.39
51. Darrell Waltrip, United States, 1974-1997, 37.95
52. Sterling Marlin, United States, 1980-2005, 37.91
53. Tommy Milton, United States, 1920-1927, 37.29
54. Helio Castroneves, Brazil, 2001-2006, 37.16
55. Arie Luyendyk, Netherlands, 1985-1998, 36.97
56. Tazio Nuvolari, Italy, 1932-1936, 36.79
57. Hurley Haywood, United States, 1973-1994, 36.56
58. Al Holbert, United States, 1976-1987, 35.57
59. Bobby Rahal, United States, 1981-1995, 35.49
60. Benny Parsons, United States, 1969-1987, 35.16
61. Jimmy Bryan, United States, 1952-1958, 34.32
62. Michael Waltrip, United States, 1990-2003, 34.15
63. Jacques Villeneuve, Canada, 1993-2008, 33.83
64. Klaus Ludwig, Germany, 1979-1988, 33.71
65. Buddy Baker, United States, 1969-1988, 33.71
66. Ted Horn, United States, 1936-1948, 33.62
67. Jack Brabham, Australia, 1957-1970, 33.49
68. Allan McNish, United Kingdom, 1998-2006, 33.27
69. Nelson Piquet, Brazil, 1979-1996, 32.77
70. Luigi Chinetti, Italy, 1932-1951, 32.48
71. Jimmie Johnson, United States, 2003-2008, 32.43
72. Fred Lorenzen, United States, 1960-1971, 32.35
73. Nigel Mansell, United Kingdom, 1982-1993, 32.24
74. Rudolf Caracciola, Germany, 1929-1939, 32.09
75. Mika Hakkinen, Finland, 1994-2000, 31.95
76. Michele Alboreto, Italy, 1981-2001, 31.62
77. Ronnie Peterson, Sweden, 1970-1978, 31.17
78. Dan Gurney, United States, 1959-1970, 31.12
79. Jim Rathmann, United States, 1952-1962, 31.07
80. Jimmy Murphy, United States, 1920-1924, 30.95
81. Buddy Lazier, United States, 1996-2004, 30.81
82. Michael Andretti, United States, 1983-2006,30.63
83. Andy Wallace, United Kingdom, 1988-2006, 30.51
84. J.J. Lehto, Finland, 1992-2005, 30.45
85. Rubens Barrichello, Brazil, 1993-2007, 30.11
86. Eddie Cheever, United States, 1981-2002, 29.96
87. Bob Wollek, France, 1977-1998, 29.82
88. Geoff Bodine, United States, 1984-2000, 29.71
89. Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, 2001-2007, 29.69
90. Jan Lammers, Netherlands, 1980-2005, 29.55
91. Jochen Rindt, Austria, 1965-1970, 29.11
92. Gijs van Lennap, Netherlands, 1971-1976, 28.95
93. Lorenzo Bandini, Italy, 1962-1967, 28.81
94. Woolf Barnato, United Kingdom, 1928-1930, 28.80
95. Vern Schuppan, Australia, 1975-1984, 28.71
96. Sam Hanks, United States, 1952-1957, 28.69
97. Eddie Irvine, United Kingdom, 1992-2002, 28.35
98. Gerard Larrousse, France, 1969-1974, 28.33
99. Louis Chiron, France, 1929-1955, 28.28
100. Carlos Reutemann, Argentina, 1975-1981, 27.72

Catching up -- first the return of Sugar Shane

After watching Roy Jones Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya age overnight in 2008, I was like a lot of people who were worried Sugar Shane Mosley was putting himself in danger against Antonio Margarito.

But Mosley more than answered his critics with a dominant win that may have silenced doubts about his Balco dealings. Margarito, though, has lots of questions left after it was discovered he may have been caught doctoring his hands.

Does that mean eventually his wins over Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey will be reversed?

What Mosley's win sets up is a rematch with Cotto, who before losing to Margarito appeared to be making a charge up my all-time rankings. Cotto and Mosley fought to what the Associated Press judged a draw last year. Now that Mosley has the title, if they fought the same way would the judges give it to Shane?

Where does Paul Williams factor in? No one seems to want to fight him.

Questions, questions.

Anyway, Mosley moved up a few spots in my all-time rankings. Here's a new No. 70-89:

70. Jackie Kid Berg, 1924-45, U.S., 47.913
71. Sugar Shane Mosley, 1993-09, U.S., 47.910
72. Michael Carbajal, 1989-99, Canada, 47.772
73. Ike Williams, 1940-55, U.S., 47.711
74. Chiquita Gonzalez, 1984-95, Mexico, 47.555
75. Pernell Whitaker, 1984-01, U.S., 47.467
76. Hector Camacho, 1980-05, Puerto Rico, 47.396
77. Marcel Cerdan, 1934-49, France, 47.282
78. John Henry Lewis, 1928-39, U.S., 47.120
79. Panama Al Brown, 1922-42, Panama, 47.096
80. Maxie Rosenbloom, 1923-39, U.S., 46.869
81. James Toney, 1988-07, U.S., 46.800
82. Jack Dempsey, 1914-27, U.S., 46.656
83. Myung Woo Yuh, 1982-93, South Korea, 46.653
84. Marco Antonio Barrera, 1989-08, Mexico, 46.469
85. Juan Carlos Gomez, 1995-08, Cuba, 46.440
86. Jorge Arce, 1996-08, Mexico, 46.420
87. Arthur Abraham, 2003-08, Germany, 46.398
88. Miguel Angel Cotto, 2001-08, Puerto Rico, 46.372
89. Freddie Welsh, 1905-22, United Kingdom, 46.370