For the first time in more than three-and-a-half years, the top-ranked player in womens tennis is not named Serena Williams. The long-standing No. 1, who held that ranking for 186 weeks, hampered by a knee injury, lost in the US Open semifinals Thursday night to 10th-ranked Karolina Pliskova. And with it, she also lost her shot to break Steffi Grafs record for consecutive weeks atop the rankings.Until we get the opportunity to watch Williams play in another major -- which wont be until the Australian Open in January 2017 -- all conversation around her will invariably involve some sort of assessment of her career and legacy, attempting to put into historical context one of the greatest athletes weve ever seen.The key word there is athlete, not womens tennis player. As Williams herself said after her third-round victory last Saturday, Im a female, and Im an athlete. And Im an athlete first.Too often the coverage of Williams qualifies her as one of, if not the greatest, female athletes of all time -- something were?just as guilty of here at espnW. Its certainly important to acknowledge Williamss womanhood. Her femininity has constantly been denied due to that toxic mix of sexism and racism known as misogynoir -- her hair, her body, her demeanor and even her sartorial choices are endlessly scrutinized, while both her strength and her sexuality have been used against her.But the focus on Williamss gender when evaluating her athletic career usually isnt about humanizing or empowering her. Most likely, its said with a wink and a nod to separate her from the men.The subtext is, Yeah, shes the GOAT, but at a girls game. Framing it in this way does more than merely undermine her success. It spares people from needing to consider her among legendary male athletes without comparing her to them.A common tactic in disparaging womens sports is to argue that female players wouldnt be able to beat men in one-on-one competition. This, of course, entirely misses the point: Williams is in the category of all-time greats who similarly dominated their field. Nobodys going around asking if Mariano Rivera would beat Muhammad Ali in the ring.?The need to uphold male athletes as the standard-bearers is often excused away by some lazy argument about quality of competition, but its really about the inability to see sports as something other than just for men. In a column for VICE, Rick Paulas argues that those looking for a woman to beat a man within the same sports are overlooking the fact that most of the major sports were designed to suit male skill sets:I tend to cringe when ascribing such specific attributes to broad gender groups, and I disagree with the implication that if women cant run or swim or serve as fast (Williams can, by the way), that makes womens sports inherently less worthy. But the idea that sports were designed exclusively with men in mind continues to segregate sports as a space thats not meant for women.And the tactic used to justify that is the straw man of direct comparison. A male athlete is simply an athlete, the natural order of things, while a female athlete is an anomaly -- and a supposedly inferior one, at that. Its this thinking that continues to stand in the way of equal pay for women players while holding back the confidence, support and investment needed to help womens sports continue to grow.It doesnt help that those covering sports, including tennis, continue to be overwhelmingly men. According to FiveThirtyEights Carl Bialik, men comprise 73 percent of journalists covering the US Open this year. Thats how you get a reporter telling Andy Murray hes the first tennis player to win two Olympic gold medals, and Murray having to remind him that Venus and Serena have won four each.While this might be an extreme example, it goes to show how separating men and women athletes in our minds can serve to erase female players entirely from our consciousness.But women athletes arent going away, and its up to those of us in the media to continue to nag people into acknowledging their existence and worth. It might be a blatantly self-serving move, but Nikes new campaign declaring Williams the greatest athlete ever is meaningful for both contextual and material reasons. The hesitance of major companies to see marketing value in female players has been a major barrier to the growth of womens sports, and here you have one of the biggest sponsors in sports declaring the supremacy of an athlete who happens to be a woman.At the end of the day, if youve somehow managed to forget one of the greatest athletic careers weve ever seen, the only person who missed out is you. Rio and Flushing notwithstanding, Serenas numbers speak for themselves, and the utter electricity with which she lights up the court is undeniable. And she hasnt just been an incredible boon to the profile of womens sports; she has managed to keep tennis relevant in the U.S. during years of futility by American men. 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LAS VEGAS -- The?Nets?went 0-for-2 on the restricted free-agent market Sunday, as the Portland Trail Blazers and Miami Heat matched Brooklyns four-year offer sheets for 24-year-old guards Allen Crabbe and Tyler Johnson.Now, its back to the drawing board for Nets general manager Sean Marks and the rest of his front-office staff, who worked hard in putting together deals -- which totaled $125 million -- they didnt think Portland and Miami would match.Rebuilding Brooklyn put several stipulations in those deals -- including poison-pill provisions, trade kickers and player options -- in an attempt to deter Portland and Miami from matching, but they did so anyway.First, Portland matched Brooklyns four-year, $75 million offer sheet on Crabbe, and then Miami matched the Nets four-year, $50 million offer sheet on Johnson, leaving Brooklyn empty-handed.Both players confirmed the deals via social media.Its definitely disappointing not to have those two guys. But at the same time, were excited; were excited that those guys actually chose the Nets, the Brooklyn Nets to sign offer sheets with, Marks said. I think that says a lot about [head coach] Kenny [Atkinson] and his staff and the vision set forth. Well go back at it again. Theres certainly a Plan B, and thats in progress right now, which, again, were excited about. And we wish those guys all the best.Marks admitted that he expected the Blazers and Heat to match the two players offers.Theres no secret we were going after two top-tier guys, guys that we valued that are 24 years old that can be part of a program a building program from the foundation all the way up. So we would have been excited to have them, but when youre dealt the hand that we have, and we dont have a whole lot of young assets, in terms of picks, thats the way weve got to go do it, play within the rules, Marks said.dddddddddddd.After missing out on Johnson, the Nets signed veteran backup point guard Greivis Vasquez to a one-year deal.Great opportunity for me to show that Im healthy and I can help a team win, Vasquez told The Undefeateds Marc Spears.The 29-year-old was limited to just 23 games last season in?Milwaukee?due to right ankle surgery. He holds career averages of 9.0 points and 4.8 assists.Brooklyn is coming off a 21-61 season and does not have total control over its own first-round pick until 2019.?Prior to adding Vasquez, all the Nets had done this offseason was sign Jeremy Lin, Trevor Booker and Justin Hamilton.?With Crabbe and Johnson no longer in play, Brooklyn must now turn to a contingency plan to fill out its roster, which is still bare and lacking in dynamic young talent.Crabbe and Johnson both elected to sign with the Nets in part because their roles wouldve been expanded.I think that shows that we are starting to build something here. Theres no secret, its going to take time. We never said this is a quick, sort of six-month fix here, Marks said. The fact that again the two guys chose - a couple top-tier free agents chose to come and sign an offer sheet with us, I think that speaks a lot.Crabbe was to be the teams starting shooting guard, while Johnson would have served as its sixth man and backup point guard.Brooklyn was taking a big risk in inking Crabbe and Johnson to those massive offer sheets, but the front office believed both players had significant potential.Nets coach Kenny Atkinson is best known for his ability to develop players and help them improve. ' ' '