Serena Williams won her first Grand Slam tournament in 1999 aged just 18. Two years later, she returned to the American final, losing in the presence of a compatriot who was also her veteran sister, Belleza Williams. But she fought back early and repeatedly: Between 2002 and 2003, the sisters met in six Grand Slam finals and Serena won them all.
Thus, she launched a series of titles that made her the most dominant tennis player in open history.
Serena has won 23 trophies in the open era -since 1968-, one more than Steffi Graf, who was the best before her appearance. Going further behind, Australian Margaret Court adds 13 titles to the 11 she won in the open era, up to 24, one more than Serena.
The youngest of Williams also surpasses all male tennis players in titles, despite Nolan Djokovic being two trophies behind her and Rafael Nadal just one.
Serena has led the Aussie Hearty seven times, beating Graf, Monica Seles, Evonne Goolagong and Court by a wide margin, who each have four.
Serena has competed at the US Open six times, as has Chris Evert and twice as many as Graf.
She won seven Wimbledons, a spectacular result but which still pales in comparison to the nine titles won by Martina Navratilova between 1978 and 1990.
Serena also has three Roland Garros titles, the toughest tournament for her. The last was achieved in 2015 to become the third person in history, along with Margaret Court and Steffi Graf, to be able to participate in all Grand Slam tournaments at least three times.
Two decades in the elite
Serena entered the top 100 in world tennis in 1998 and remained there until this year. She has spent 16 of those 23 years in the top 10, more than any other player in history. He was number one in 5 seasons, only behind Graf, who was the best 8 times.
Serena exemplifies a trend that’s been patented for years: the best athletes of the 21st century can remain elite for decades and even exotic ages. Athletes who at 30 continue to dominate their discipline have gone from anomaly to the norm, as Rafael Nadal, Cristiano Ronaldo, Megan Rapinoe or Serena herself have shown.
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