Inimitable on court and off, Serena transformed her sport

Since exploding onto the tennis scene as a 14-year-old, Serena Williams has achieved everything on a tennis court — but her incredible collection of titles and trophies barely define the imprint the American has left on her sport.

Shortly before turning 41, Williams looked to be headed into the sunset on Friday after her final competitive singles match, fittingly played at the U.S. Open, where she won her maiden Grand Slam singles title in 1999 at the age of 17.

For the next two decades, Williams dominated the sport, creating an aura of invincibility and winning 23 major titles - the most by any player since tennis turned professional in 1968.

Only Margaret Court is ahead with 24 slams, but 13 of the Australian's titles came before the Open Era.

It seemed only a matter of time before Williams would surpass Court's haul when she lifted the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup in Melbourne in early 2017 but it turned out to be the last time Williams would hoist a major trophy.

She took a break from tennis to give birth to daughter Olympia and though she reached four more Grand Slam finals after returning to the tour in 2018, she lost them all.

TENNIS 'GOAT'

Even those defeats contributed to her reputation as the "GOAT", or "greatest of all time" of women's tennis.

"There are people who say I'm not the GOAT because I didn't pass Court's record," Williams wrote in the article in which she revealed her imminent retirement. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't want that record."

Williams signed off with 73 singles titles and spent 319 weeks as world number one.

She also claimed 14 women's Grand Slam doubles titles with older sister Venus, two mixed doubles titles at the majors and four Olympic gold medals - one in singles (2012) and three in