Legendary Tennis Players

Nicknamed ‘Big Bill’, Bill Tilden was the world number one for six
consecutive years, from 1920 to 1925. Tilden won 15 major singles titles – and
10 grand slams. He was the first American to win Wimbledon, having defeated
Australia’s Gerald Patterson across four sets in the final. A prolific career
brought Tilden 138 tournament victories in 192 attempts between 1912 and 1930.

A man of substantial wealth, Tilden spent a large sum on financing Broadway
shows, which he also wrote, produced and starred in. He coach Germany in the
1937 Davis Cup, shortly after his retirement – and was inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1959, six years after his death at the age
of 60.

Also referred to as Richard Gonzales, Pancho Gonzales won 14 major singles
titles – including two grand slams – and was statistically the dominant
professional of the 1950s. The American, in fact, was the world number one for
eight years. He enjoyed fierce rivalries with the veteran Tony Trabert, Ken
Rosewall, Lew Hoad and – most prominently – Rod Laver.

A tough competitor with a staunch temper and a crowd favorite.

He was occasionally referenced as ‘the tennis player you’d have play for your life’. He
went into semi-retirement from 1951 to 1953, purchasing and managing a tennis
shop in California! Gonzales passed away in 1995, at the age of 67. Andre
Agassi reportedly paid for the funeral of a man who had played tennis with
American actor Robert Redford while growing up.

Australian Roy Emerson won a dozen major singles titles and 16 grand slam
men’s doubles titles, totaling a record 28 major titles for a male player. He is
one of only eight men to have won all four majors in his career and, alongside
the prolific Novak Djokovic is one of only two men to prove triumphant in six
Australian Open finals. He won five of these in succession, from 1963 to 1967.

Emerson was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1982 and,
four years later, the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. A famed Australian, he was
awarded the country’s coveted Sports Medal and Centenary Medal in 2000 and 2001,
respectively. Close to the hearts of Switzerland’s tennis fans, too, Emerson won
the Swiss Open five times – and played his final professional match there. The
tournament’s main court is named after him.

Rod Laver’s seven-year stint as the world number one spanned four years
before – and three years after – 1968’s start of the open era. The Australian’s
200 singles titles, which include 10 or more titles per 12 months for seven
consecutive years, is a world record. Despite a lengthy ban from grand slams in
the five years prior to the Open Era, he won one short of a dozen singles
titles. He also contributed to five Davis Cup titles – four of them
consecutively, from 1959 to 1962 – for Australia.

He was awarded the ABC Sportsman of the Year Award, inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame and Sport Australia Hall of Fame – and
elevated to a Legend of Australian Sport – in 1969, 1981, 1985 and 2002,
respectively. He, too, is deemed an Australian Living Treasure – and the centre
court at Melbourne’s National Tennis Centre was renamed Rod Laver Arena in 2000.
Having retired 20 years earlier, Laver suffered a stroke in 1998, but recovered
in part, and currently lives in California.

Six French Opens and five consecutive Wimbledon triumphs between 1974 and
1981 saw Björn Borg become the first man in the Open Era to win 11 grand slam
singles titles. Superbly prolific, the Swede won 41 percent of the grand slam
singles tournaments he entered – and 90 percent of those matches. He won three
grand slams without conceding a set – and won the French Open and Wimbledon in
the same 12 month-period for three consecutive years.

A veritable teenage sensation, in 1979 Borg eventually became the first
player to earn more than one million dollars in prize money across one season.
He retired prematurely, at the age of 26, but attempted a comeback almost a
decade later. Sporting long hair and a wooden racket, Borg’s attempts to
rekindle his heyday failed, as he proved unable to win a set in the first nine
matches of his return. He later joined the Champions Tour, returning to shorter
hair and modern rackets in his kitbag.

Originally from Czechoslovakia, Ivan Lendl became a United States citizen in
1992. The 1980s saw Lendl maintain his status as the world number one for 270
weeks. A sparkling career brought Lendl 94 singles titles, including eight major
titles and a record 11 runner-up finishes. He was also victorious in seven
year-end championships and 22 Grand Prix Super Series titles.

With a strong forehand complemented by heavy top spin, Lendl remained near
the top of the rankings until the early 1990s.

Having missed 1991’s French Open
to prepare for Wimbledon, he lost in the third round – and eventually retired
having never clinched the coveted title at the esteemed All-England Club.

Chronic back pain brought an end to the then 34-year-old’s career in 1994.
December 2011 saw Lendl appointed as Andy Murray’s coach. Murray won the US Open
and Wimbledon in 2012 and 2013, respectively, during their first stint together.
Lendl rejoined the Scot’s coaching team in the middle of 2016 – and has since
guided him to a second Wimbledon title, second Olympic singles gold medal – and
a maiden ATP World Tour Finals title.

American James Connors held the top ATP ranking for 160 consecutive weeks,
from 1974 to 1977 – and a further 108 across his entire career. His 109
tournament titles include five US Open wins, alongside two at Wimbledon and one
at the Australian Open. He enjoyed particularly fierce rivalries with
contemporaries Björn Borg, Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe – and was compared to
bullish American baseballer Pete Rose due to his coarse behavior.

Connors, alongside promoter Bill Riordan, filed $10 million lawsuits against
the ATP – and president Arthur Ashe – for reportedly restricting his tennis
freedom. He had been banned from the French Open in 1974, having signed a
contract to play World Team Tennis. He eventually dropped the lawsuits and
parted ways with Riordan.

Somewhat of a maverick, Connors used steel rackets when others were playing
with wooden versions – and wound lead tape around the racket head to increase
the ‘feel’. After retiring he undertook television commentary – and had
unsuccessful coaching stints with Andy Roddick and Maria Sharapova. While his
working relationship with Roddick lasted almost two years, his time with
Sharapova spanned just one match.

Renowned for superb stroke selection and impeccable volleying skills, which
largely offset brash, confrontational behavior on the court, American John
McEnroe finished a sterling career with 77 singles and 78 doubles titles. He won
four US Opens and three Wimbledon titles – and contributed to five Davis Cup
titles for the United States, who eventually named him team captain.

Triumph in the 1984 Wimbledon final is arguably his greatest career
achievement, after arch rival Jimmy Connors was floored in three sets that
spanned less than 90 minutes. The late 1980s saw McEnroe take two separate
six-month breaks from competitive tennis – and struggle to string together
success on the court after those sabbaticals. He retired in 1992.

Retirement, though, has been busy for McEnroe, who continues to compete in
ATP Champions Tour senior events, and acts as a television pundit. A man who
unwittingly took steroids and purposely consumed cocaine has enjoyed several
television advert cameos – and was a guitarist on The Pretenders’ lead singer
Chrissie Hynde’s 2014 solo album.

Nicknamed ‘Pistol Pete’ due to a precise serve and near undeniable
cross-court accuracy, Pete Sampras was the first man to win 14 grand slam
singles titles. Seven Wimbledon, five US Open and two Australian Open crowns saw
the beloved American finish six consecutive seasons, from 1993 to 1998, as the
world number one. His career ended with a fifth and final US Open final victory,
against arch rival Andre Agassi, in 2002.

With a marvelous, naturally attacking serve-and-volley game, Sampras was
particularly impressive on grass, but admittedly weak on clay, which invariably
slowed his attacking flair. This weakness on clay would prove an insurmountable
obstacle in Sampras’ quest for a career grand slam, with the American’s
semi-final defeat at the 1996 French Open his best showing at Roland Garros.

Besides his plethora of tennis titles, he boasts numerous societal awards,
including GQ Magazine’s Individual Athlete Award for Man of the Year in 2000 –
and was voted the 48th athlete in ESPN’s SportsCentury Top 50 Greatest North
American Athletes. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine named him the greatest tennis player
for the period 1965 through 2005.

Unorthodox and charismatic, American Andre Agassi is largely credited for
spearheading the revival of the popularity of tennis during the 1990s, and was
once described by the BBC as ‘perhaps the biggest worldwide star in the sport’s
history’.

Renowned for a powerful return of serve, colorful apparel and long, spunky
hair prior to nowadays’ bald look, Agassi was one of the sport’s most dominant
players from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s.

He won eight grand slam singles
titles, including four Australian Opens, and was an Olympic gold medalist in
1996. Agassi was the first male player to win all four grand slam tournaments on
three different surfaces: hard, clay and grass, completing the career Grand Slam
when he won the French Open in 1999.

Fondly known as ‘The Punisher’, Agassi was forced into retirement by a
recurring back injury in 2006, and has since founded the Andre Agassi Charitable
Foundation. He is married to former tennis star Steffi Graf. The couple are
shrewd business partners, having invested in – among others – a Las Vegas water
park, online ticket-sales service and Caesars Palace nightclub.

Switzerland’s finest in many senses of the term, the man nicknamed ‘Fed
Express’, ‘FedEx’, ‘the Swiss Maestro’ or merely ‘Maestro’, Roger Federer’s
general demeanor and superb tennis skills have captured the hearts of fans the
world over, and propelled him to the front of the line in the race to be named
tennis’ GOAT.

The holder of a record 19 grand slam singles titles – and the number one
position in the ATP rankings for a marathon 237 consecutive weeks – Federer has
won Wimbledon, the Australian Open, US Open and French Open eight, five, five
and once, respectively. Staunch rivalries have been prevalent throughout, most
recently with Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray – and, of course, Rafael Nadal.

Several players and pundits have heralded Federer as the ‘greatest tennis
player of all time’. Recently listed in fourth position on Forbes’ ‘World’s
Highest Paid Athletes‘ list, Federer earns about $7 million per year from prize
money and endorsements. His off-court accolades include 14 ATPWorldTour.com
Fans’ favorite Award trophies and a dozen Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award
crowns. He has also won the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year Award twice,
and was lauded the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year four times in a row from
2005 to 2008.

In April 2017, Barcelona’s centre court named pista Rafa Nadal, after their
beloved countryman. Intriguingly, the Observatorio Astronómico de Mallorca
discovered a main belt asteroid in 2003 – and named it 128036 Rafaelnadal.

He is an avid fan of football club Real Madrid and, reportedly, has shares in
his local club, RCD Mallorca. Also a keen card player, he played the world’s
number one female poker player, Vanessa Selbst, in Monaco in 2014. Some of his
philanthropic work has seen Nadal take part in Thailand’s ‘A Million Trees for
the King’ project.

Unfairly disliked by some for ending the Federer-Nadal fairytale that had
captivated the tennis world, Djokovic quickly rose to fourth in the list of
grand slam winners on the back of 11 titles in six years from 2011 to 2016,
having opened his grand slam account at the 2008 Australian Open.

It is in Australia where the Serb has had his most success, winning five
titles in six years at Melbourne Park between 2011 and 2016. The French Open had
long eluded Djokovic, but in 2016 the then-world number one eventually triumphed
at Roland Garros, becoming the eighth player in the history of the game to
record a career Grand Slam.

A downturn in form followed the milestone, but while Djokovic has yet to add
further to his 14 grand slam titles, in July 2017 he still boasted the highest
win percentage (82.8%) in the Open Era, his place among the legends of the game
firmly entrenched.

When one of the main courts at Roland-Garros is named after a player, then
it’s fair to say they must have been an exceptional player, and that is exactly
what Suzanne Lenglen was – and then some. With a total of 31 Championships, two
Olympic gold medals, 241 titles and a 181-match winning streak, it is easy to
see why the Frenchwoman is regarded by some to be the greatest female tennis
player in history. Lenglen is often referred to as the person who revolutionized
women’s tennis as she dominated the sport for just over a decade.

It wasn’t just on the court where she was popular either, as many believe
Lenglen was the first female tennis celebrity with her flamboyant personality.
La Divine (the Goddess) – as she was dubbed by the French press – played in her
first major final, the French Championships, at the age of just 14 in May 1914
where she lost in three sets to defending champion Marguerite Broquedis. A few
months later she won the World Hard Court Championships at 15 and ruled the
sport until 1926. During her 12-year reign, she lost only seven of her 341
matches to finish her career with a 98% winning percentage.

“Little Miss Poker Face” is often spoken of as one of the greatest female
tennis players of all time thanks to nine years in which she dominated the sport
(1927 – 33, 1935 and 1938). Wills, who was as popular off the court as she was on
it due to her friendships with royals and film stars, dominated her opponents
from the baseline with pace and power.

From 1927 until 1933 she had a 180-match winning streak in singles, which was
made ever more remarkable by the fact that she didn’t lose a single set during
that run. Wills won her first women’s major title, the US Open, in 1923 at the
age of 17 and she would go on to win a total of 31 grand slams (19 singles, nine
doubles and three mixed doubles), as well as gold in the singles and mixed
doubles at the 1924 Paris Olympics. She won eight titles at Wimbledon, including
four in a row from 1927-1930, and her record stood until 1990 when Martina
Navratilova won nine at The All England Club. She finished her career on a high
as she retired in 1938 after winning at Wimbledon.

Evonne Goolagong caught the eye when she was just 10; her superb backhand
volley, enormous power and brilliant placement convinced one of Australia’s best
tennis coaches, Vic Edwards, to move her whole family from a small country town
to Sydney.

Goolagong only turned professional at the age of 20 in 1971, but once she got
going she was hard to stop and she remains the only player to have won the
French Open at the first attempt, in 1971. She also won the first of her two
Wimbledon titles that year, but her true dominance was at the Australian Open as
she appeared in seven consecutive finals in the 70s and won four in a row from
1974 until 1977. The ‘Sunshine Super Girl’ won a total of 14 grand slam titles
(seven singles, six doubles, and one mixed doubles) and played in 17 grand slam
singles finals in the 1970s. The only blight on her career was her inability to
win the US Open as she appeared in four consecutive finals from 1973 to 1976,
but finished runner-up on each occasion. When she retired after Wimbledon in
1983, her career win-loss percentage stood at 81.01% (704 – 165).

The all-conquering “Aussie Amazon” was a trailblazer in women’s tennis from
1960 until 1975, winning an astonishing 24 major singles titles as well as 19
doubles and 19 mixed doubles majors for a record 62 grand slams.

After taking up tennis at the age of eight, Margaret Court would win her
first grand slam nine years later at the age of 17 when she saw off Jan Lehane
in the Australian Open final in 1960.

It became the Margaret Smith (she was
still playing under her maiden name back then) show in Melbourne for the next
few years as she won seven consecutive titles. Her first grand slam success away
from home came at the French Open in 1962 and she won the US Open the same year,
while she claimed her maiden Wimbledon title the following year.

In 1970 Court became only the second female player to win the Australian
Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open in the same calendar year, while she
also achieved the feat in the mixed doubles in 1963 and 1965.

Although her powerful serve was a big weapon, it was her exceptional fitness
and athleticism that helped her to become the queen of tennis, and enabled her
to make three comebacks after giving birth. In total she won three singles grand
slams as a mother, before finally deciding to hang up her racket after falling
pregnant with her fourth child in 1977. Court ended her career with a win-loss
record of 1180 – 107.

The American is considered a pioneer for women’s rights as she played a big
role in gaining gender equality for women, not only in tennis, but also in other
aspects of life. Billie Jean King did her talking both on and off the court and
was named one of the “100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century” by Life
magazine.

Between the white lines she won an incredible 39 grand slam titles (12
singles, 16 doubles, and 11 mixed doubles), including a record 20 Wimbledon
crowns (six singles, 10 doubles, and four mixed doubles). King only took up
tennis at the age of 11 and six years later she made her mark as she won the
women’s doubles at Wimbledon. However, she had to wait until 1966 to taste grand
slam success in the singles when she won Wimbledon. It would prove to be the
start of an unstoppable run as for the next nine years as she won 32 of her
major titles between 1966 and 1975.

The American also won the famous Battle of the Sexes exhibition match in
1973, beating Bobby Riggs 6 – 4, 6 – 3, 6 – 3 to win $100,000. Although her final
Grand Slam singles title came at Wimbledon in 1975, King only retired in 1983
and holds the record as the oldest WTA player to win a singles tournament after
winning the 1983 Edgbaston Cup in Birmingham aged 39 years, seven months ,and 23
days.

Winning at least one grand slam title for 13 consecutive years sounds like an
impossible task, but that is exactly the feat achieved by Chris Evert between
1974 and 1986 when she won all 18 of her major singles titles. Her extraordinary
run started with her maiden grand slam win at the 1974 French Open, and she
would go on to win the Wimbledon trophy a few weeks later in what can be
considered the year of the “Ice Maiden”. She finished that year with a 100 – 7
match record and the world number one ranking, a position she would hold for
seven years (1974-1978, 1980 and 1981).

America’s tennis sweetheart first made people sit up and take note of her in
1970 when she beat the number one-ranked Margaret Court as a 15-year-old. It
would open many doors for her and she made her grand slam debut as a 16-year-old
at the 1971 US Open. Although Evert had to wait another three years to win her
maiden grand slam, she became the dominant force in women’s tennis as she
reached an astonishing 34 major finals.

On court, her rivalry with Martina Navratilova is considered one of the
greatest in sport, while off court she attracted attention for her relationship
with fellow professional Jimmy Connors and later on her marriage to British
tennis player John Lloyd. Evert finally called it a day in 1989 and finished
with 154 singles titles (a record for both men and women at the time) and a
winning percentage of 89.96% (1309 – 146) in singles matches, which is the highest
in the history of Open Era tennis.

It should go without saying that if you are one of only two females in the
top 20 of ESPN’s list of the ‘Top Athletes of the 20th Century’, then you must
have been trailblazer on and off the court – and there is no doubting that
Czech-born Martina Navratilova was.

Navratilova was born behind the Iron Curtain in Prague, Czechoslovakia, but
defected to the United States in 1976 before finally becoming an American
citizen in 1981. Navratilova tasted success at a grand slam for the first time
in 1974 when she won the mixed doubles at the French Open, and it wasn’t too
long after that she made her mark in the singles on the women’s tour when she
won her maiden title at the age of 18 in Orlando, Florida. It was the first of
167 WTA titles.

Navratilova won her maiden singles grand slam at Wimbledon in 1978, but had
to wait until 1981 to win a singles grand slam outside of England when she
claimed the US Open. Known for her athletic ability, Navratilova was the
dominant player on tour from 1980 until 1987, a period during which she won 14
grand slams, including six consecutive Wimbledon crowns from 1982 to 1987.

She retired in 1994, but returned to the tour in 2000 and won the 2003
Australian Open and Wimbledon mixed doubles titles, making her the oldest ever
grand slam champion at the age of 46 years and eight months. Incredibly, three
years later she won the US Open mixed doubles when she was just over a month shy
from turning 50. Navratilova hung up her racket for good in 2006 to end her
career with 18 grand slam singles titles, 31 major women’s doubles titles (an
all-time record), and 10 major mixed doubles titles.

Known for her elegance and grace on and off the court, Steffi Graf made her
professional debut in 1982 as a 13-year-old, but her first singles success only
came in 1986. The following year she would add her name to the grand slam roll
of honour as she won the French Open with a three-set win over Martina
Navratilova. In the same year she would also finish as runner-up at Wimbledon
and the US Open.

However, 1988 will forever be known as the year that the German wiped all
before her as she won the Golden Slam, which consists of the Australian Open,
French Open, Wimbledon, US Open and Olympic gold. Her dominance that year was
highlighted by her performance in the French Open final when she dispatched
Natasha Zvereva 6 – 0, 6 – 0 in just 32 minutes, which remains the shorted-ever
Grand Slam final. What set her apart from Maureen Connolly Brinker and Margaret
Court, who also achieved a calendar Grand Slam, was her gold medal at the 1988
Seoul Games, which made her the only player in history – both on the men’s and
women’s tour – to achieve the Golden Slam.

The German followed up her record-breaking 1988 with three more grand slams
titles in 1989 and achieved similar feats in 1993, 1995 and 1996. The last of
her 22 singles majors came at the 1999 French Open and she retired later that
year to end her career with win-loss record of 900 – 115. In total Graf spent a
record 377 weeks atop the world rankings, the longest period for a male or
female player.

The Yugoslav-born Monica Seles came through the famed Nick Bollettieri Tennis
Academy and played in her first professional tournament as an amateur at the age
14 in 1988. She turned pro in February the following year and it took her only
three months to secure her maiden title. After winning five tournaments in the
run-up to the 1990 French Open, Seles duly went on to win the singles title at
Roland Garros to become the youngest champion at the age of 16 years and six
months, a record that still stands today.

Seles would dominate the WTA Tour in 1991 and 1992 as she won the Australian,
French and US Opens in both years, with Wimbledon the only title that eluded
her. He also finished the year as the world number one. She made it three
Australian Opens in a row in 1993 and all eight grand slams titles were won by
the time her 20th birthday rolled around.

However, tragedy struck in April 1993 when she was stabbed in the back with a
knife by a fan obsessed with her main rival, Steffi Graf, during a tournament in
Hamburg, Germany. She suffered from Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder and only
returned to the tour in 1995. She won her comeback tournament in Canada and then
finished runner-up to Graf at the US Open later that year. The last of her nine
grand slam titles came at Melbourne in 1996 when she competed under the American
flag. Seles played her last match in 2003 and finished with 53 career singles
titles as well as a bronze medal (for the United States) at the 2000 Sydney
Olympics.

Despite being only 1.67m (5 ft 5 1/2 in) tall, Justine Henin punched well
above her size as she managed to overcome the power hitters with great footwork
and excellent shot-making ability.

Known as “Juju” to her fans, Henin became only the fifth player to win her
debut WTA Tour event when she claimed the Belgian Open in 1999 at the age of 17.

She regularly reached the latter stages of the grand slams over the next few
years and would finally end her major drought at the 2003 French Open with
victory over fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters. She followed it up with the US Open
title in August that year and the Australian Open in January 2004, while she
also won gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics. However, it was at Roland Garros
where she really made her mark as she would win three consecutive titles from
2005 until 2007. The last of her grand slam trophies came at the 2007 US Open.

The Belgian announced her retirement in May 2008, a decision that shocked the
tennis community. However, Henin went on to make a comeback in 2010 and would
finish runner-up to Serena Williams at the Australian Open. Although she managed
two more titles, Henin called it a day for good in early 2011. In total she
spent 117 weeks at number one in the world and finished her career with 43 WTA
titles.

Serena Williams may have won more titles and spent more weeks as world number
one, but there is no doubt that Venus paved the way for her younger sister to
become one of the sport’s all-time greats.

Coached by her father Richard, Venus took power hitting in women’s tennis to
another level. She made her professional debut as a 14-year-old in 1994.

It was evident that she was going to turn into one of the biggest stars on the WTA
Tour. However, she had to wait until 1998 to claim her first career singles
title at the US National Indoors. Her grand slam breakthrough came at Wimbledon
in 2000 when she defeated fellow American Lindsay Davenport in the final and she
would follow that up with success at the US Open. She confirmed her dominance
with two gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, one in the singles and one in
the doubles with her sister, Serena.

The following year she would win Wimbledon and the US Open again, but a
stumbling block in the form of her little sister appeared in her way as she
finished runner-up to Serena in their next five grand slam finals. Venus,
though, did add another three Wimbledon titles to her collection.

Williams was diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disease, in
2011, and spent several months on the sidelines, dropping outside the world 100.
She eventually made her comeback in March 2012 and again teamed up with Serena
to win the doubles gold at the 2012 Beijing Olympic Games. Despite her advancing
years, the 36-year-old reached the 2017 Australian Open final where she lost
against Serena. Venus would then reach the final of Wimbledon the same year,
losing to Garbiñe Muguruza a month after her 37th birthday.

Williams has won seven grand slam singles titles (five Wimbledon crowns and
two US Opens) while her WTA singles career tally stands at 49. She also holds
four Olympic gold medals and has 14 grand slam doubles titles (all partnering
Serena) and three grand slam mixed doubles crowns to her name.

Number one on the list of most grand slam singles titles won by a male or
female during the Open Era, the only player to win 10 grand slam singles titles
in two different decades, tied for the record for the most consecutive weeks as
the world number one, four Olympic gold medals, and a grand slam won while
pregnant…Serena Williams’ list of achievements just goes on and on.

Like her older sister Venus, Serena is a power hitter who turned
professional at the age of 14 – but she was only able to make her professional
bow in October 1995 as she was denied entry into tournaments due to the WTA’s
age-eligibility rules. The 1999 season would prove to be her breakthrough year
as she won her maiden singles title at the Paris Open and went on to claim her
first Grand Slam crown at the US Open.

After failing to win a grand slam in the two years that followed, Serena
returned with a vengeance in 2002 when she won the French Open, Wimbledon, and
US Open. She backed up that feat with the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles
in the year that followed. After another grand slam-less season in 2004, she was
back on her perch in 2005 when she won the Australian Open.

The Serena era was now well and truly underway as she often overawed her
opponents with her power, athleticism and consistency. She would collect another
16 grand Slam titles over the next 13 years. The last of her 23 grand slam
singles titles came at the 2017 Australia Open where she beat her sister, Venus,
in the final despite being eight weeks pregnant. She later announced she would
take a break from the game with a return date penciled in for 2018.

Aside from the 23 grand slam singles titles to her name, she has also won 14
grand slam doubles titles (all partnering Venus), two grand slam mixed doubles
crowns and four Olympic gold medals (one singles and three doubles with Venus).
In total Serena has 72 WTA titles and has spent 319 weeks top of the WTA
rankings, which puts her third in the Open Era list for female players.