Serena Williams Martina Navratilova Chris Evert Australia county Williams tennis Sporting rowing athletics Serena Williams Martina Navratilova Chris Evert Australia county Williams

Serena Williams set the marker that matters – no asterisks needed

theguardian.com

Seven years ago, as Serena Williams continued to consolidate her career records and her claims as the greatest of all time, a reporter asked her to identify the all-time record in her sights.

Williams had 19 grand slam titles back then, just past the marker of 18 set by Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. She sighed deeply, but she was smiling: “Stefanie Graf has it, she has [22],” she said, without hesitation. “It’s there, I can see it, just because you can see it doesn’t mean you can reach it.” Williams will play out the final tournaments of her career in the coming weeks after announcing her imminent retirement in Vogue on Tuesday and, for the record, she did achieve the ultimate goal she had set for herself then.

At the 2017 Australian Open while pregnant with her daughter, Alexis Olympia, Williams surpassed Graf to clinch the open-era record of a 23rd grand slam title.

But then the narrative shifted. Even though the Open era of professional tennis has long been the important marker of the sport’s records, the 24 grand slam titles won by Margaret Court came into view.

Related News
Serena Williams and Iga Swiatek have met each other ahead of the US Open, which is set to be the American’s last tournament before she retires from tennis. Williams says she is “evolving away from tennis” and is expected to retire after Flushing Meadows, which begins on Monday. Ad World No.
Serena Williams’ fellow players have been queuing up to praise her impact on and off the court ahead of her farewell to tennis.
Serena Williams is about to play the US Open which is very likely to be the final tournament of a career which has brought her 23 Grand Slam singles titles and accolade of the greatest player of all time. AFP Sport looks at six of her most memorable finals at the majors:

Latest News

Change privacy settings
This page might use cookies if your analytics vendor requires them.