The forty-year-old tennis legend recently announced her upcoming retirement, after an illustrious career that includes 23 major titles - the most by any player in the Open Era. Ahead of her final Grand Slam tournament (the US Open, beginning Aug. 29), here’s a look at some of her best performances over the years.
i) 1999 US Open
The 17-year-old was propelled to fame after defeating four Grand Slam champions in a row, and finally defeating world No. 1 Martina Hingis in straight sets, (6-3, 7-6(4)) to clinch the title. This made her the first African American woman, since Althea Gibson in 1958, to win a major singles title. She also won in the doubles tournament with sister Venus Williams, and was the fifth woman in the Open era, to achieve the double title feat.
ii) 2002 Wimbledon
By beating her sister and defending champion, Venus, this was a special victory that ranked the young player as world No. 1.
iii) 2003 Australian Open
The No. 1 seed, and winner of the three preceding slams had a tough semi-final match against Kim Clijsters, where she recovered from being down 1-5 in the final set to ultimately win. The final match against the No. 2 seed – again, her sister Venus – lasted two and a half hours to conclude with Serena winning the “Serena Slam”.
iv) 2007 Australian Open
After a drop in her performance and a two-year long title drought, Serena entered the tournament ranked world No. 81 and unseeded. With a crushing victory over world No. 1 Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-2, she signalled to the tennis world that she was back.
v) 2012 Wimbledon
After recovering from a string of injuries, she made it to the final of the 2011 US Open but could not win. She came back stronger in the 2012 Wimbledon, to defeat Agnieszka Radwanska and win her fourteenth Grand Slam, and fifth Wimbledon title.
vi) 2013 French Open
This was a special victory as the clay court had proved to be her weakness, with only one title over the years. With an exit in the first round the previous year, her decisive victory over Maria Sharapova in the final of the 2013 French Open, displayed the spirit of the champion.
vii) 2013 US Open
The fifth US open title saw the defending champion defeat Victoria Azarenka, who had defeated her at Cincinnati just prior to the Grand Slam, and was the winner of the two preceding Australian Open titles.
viii) 2014 US Open
After defeating Caroline Wozniacki, this was Williams’ eighteenth major title. This feat had previously been achieved by Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, who joined her for an on-court celebration, thus firmly cementing her position as a legend herself.
ix) 2015 French Open
Her twentieth major title came after a final clash against Lucie Safarova, that included a double-fault which squandered away her lead, to trail in the final set. However, she finally prevailed.
x) 2015 Wimbledon
With a victory over GarbineMuguruza, this marked Serena’s twenty first major title and second career “Serena Slam”.
xi) 2017 Australian Open
This was a special title for the tennis legend who found out prior to the tournament that she was pregnant, but decided to go ahead with her participation in the championship. She emerged victorious with straight sets win over her sister Venus Williams, and later joked that it had been an unfair game as it had been “two against one”.
Read MoreTeam | GP | W | D | L | GD | P |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sunderland | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | -11 | 47 |
Liverpool | 38 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 21 | 67 |
Liverpool | 38 | 16 | 13 | 9 | 28 | 61 |
Chelsea | 42 | 13 | 12 | 17 | -4 | 51 |
Everton | 38 | 13 | 15 | 10 | 6 | 54 |
Team | GP | W | D | L | GD | P |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CO Roubaix-Tourcoing | 34 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 13 | 36 |
Valenciennes | 38 | 12 | 7 | 19 | -10 | 43 |
Troyes | 38 | 9 | 12 | 17 | -15 | 39 |
Montpellier HSC | 38 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 9 | 38 |
AS Monaco | 38 | 22 | 10 | 6 | 29 | 54 |
Team | GP | W | D | L | GD | P |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Borussia Dortmund | 34 | 12 | 8 | 14 | -2 | 44 |
Kickers Offenbach | 34 | 14 | 7 | 13 | 1 | 35 |
1. FC Koln | 34 | 12 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 49 |
Energie Cottbus | 34 | 12 | 3 | 19 | -14 | 39 |
VfL Wolfsburg | 34 | 7 | 13 | 14 | -22 | 34 |
Team | GP | W | D | L | GD | P |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cremonese | 34 | 5 | 12 | 17 | -20 | 27 |
Udinese | 34 | 6 | 15 | 13 | -14 | 27 |
Venezia | 34 | 3 | 9 | 22 | -31 | 18 |
Alessandria | 34 | 9 | 12 | 13 | -6 | 30 |
Milan | 30 | 10 | 12 | 8 | -3 | 32 |
Team | GP | W | D | L | GD | P |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Barcelona | 42 | 22 | 14 | 6 | 33 | 80 |
Albacete | 38 | 6 | 10 | 22 | -23 | 28 |
Real Sociedad | 38 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 60 |
FC Barcelona | 18 | 8 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 16 |
RCD Espanol | 38 | 7 | 16 | 15 | -15 | 30 |
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