Serena Williams and her 13 Grand Slam titles Part II
This is the second instalment of the series which discusses Serena Williams’s thirteen Grand Slams and pays homage to the tennis great. The American player is indeed a force to be reckoned with; she is considered one of the most feared players on the court
due to her dominance and aggressive style of play. She has also held the position of World Number 1 on the Women’s Tennis Association rankings on five different occasions, although she is currently World Number 4. While a lesser player might be daunted by
the drop in rankings, Serena Williams seems to be unfazed by it. But then, her focus has never really been rankings, as mentioned before. The pro tends to concentrate on Major tournaments which actually count, and because of this she has won a total of 27
Grand Slam titles (considering singles, doubles and mixed doubles). She was dethroned from the top spot because of injuries sustained due to stepping on a glass shard. She is currently in rehabilitation and plans to join the tour once again as soon as she
can.
The first instalment of this article was an extensive recap of Serena Williams and her first four trophies at the Grand Slam. This accolades are the 1999 US Open, the 2002 French Open (the only clay court title she has won yet), the 2002 Wimbledon, and the
2002 US Open. She defeated her sister, Venus Williams, for the last three titles. Serena Williams has been winning titles since the very young age of 19. There are only three players who have managed to win more singles titles than Serena during the Open Era.
These players are Steffi Graf (the undisputed Greatest of All Time where women’s tennis is concerned) with 22 singles championships, and Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert with 18 titles each.
Grand Slam Number 5: the 2003 Australian Open
The year 2003 began with yet another final between the two sisters. However, this one is regarded as the most competitive match ever played between the two legendary pros. For the fourth time in a row, Serena was able to defeat Venus Williams for the title
although it took her three sets to do so this time. She won her first Down Under tournament 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4. After this victory she held all four titles for the major championships, and consequently won the “Serena Slam”, an achievement coined by her.
Grand Slam Number 6: the 2003 Wimbledon
In a repeat of the 2002 Wimbledon event, Serena once again decimated her sister Venus in the All England Club final for the second year in a row. She beat Venus in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. This was the sixth consecutive Majors final that the two Williams
played against each other. The two sisters have met each other at Grand Slam finals eight times, and this is one of only two finals which required a tiebreaker to decide the match.
Grand Slam Number 7: the 2005 Australian Open
Tennis pro Lindsay Davenport was one of the finalists in seven Grand Slam title matches; however this was the only final she played against Serena Williams. Davenport’s first Grand Slam defeat by Serena was at the American player’s first title, the 1999
US Open. Davenport got off to a remarkable start and upstaged Serena Williams 2-6 in the first set. Serena had been unable to defend her title in 2004, when Russian star Maria Sharapova defeated her in straight sets 6-1, 6-4, to take away her first Grand Slam.
Just when it seemed like Serena would be unable to defend her title once again, she rallied to meet Davenport’s firepower and defeated her with a score line of 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 (also known as a bagel in tennis terminology). Thus, she won her second Melbourne
title.
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