Serena Williams and her 13 Grand Slam titles
Former World Number 1 Serena Williams is nothing short of a tennis phenomenon. She is the very epitome of domination in the tennis world, and her demeanour and aggressive attitude on the court have made her one of the most threatening tennis personalities.
Serena Williams has been awarded the position of World Number 1 five different times by the Women’s Tennis Association, and she is currently World Number 4. The drop in rankings is due to an injury sustained by a glass shard. This unfortunate incident severely
limited her scope within this year, and she pulled out of many tournaments to recover.
However, the World Number 1 position has never really been the player’s focus. She has won 13 singles titles, 12 women’s doubles titles and 2 mixed doubles titles, for a total of 27 Grand Slams. Williams is also the most recent player from the ATP or the
WTA, to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.
This feature details the 13 Grand Slam singles titles amassed by Serena Williams over the course of her career. It aims to inform and educate the reader, as well as pay homage to the tennis legend in the months of her absence from the Women’s Tennis Association
tour. While fans have been deprived of the pleasure of watching her play this year, hopeful spectators wait for her return. This walk down memory lane relives some of Serena’s finest moments.
Grand Slam Number 1: the 1999 US Open
Serena Williams made her pro debut in 1995 at the age of 15. Just two years later, at 17, she reached the US Open tournaments in her home nation and announced her arrival on the tennis scene as a serious contender. She upstaged World Number 1 Martina Hingis
in the final of the Major in Flushing Meadows in just two sets, winning her first Grand Slam title match with a final score line of 6-3, 7-6(4). On the way to the final, she also defeated World Number 2 Lindsay Davenport and World Number 4 Monica Seles at
the championship.
Grand Slam Number 2: the 2002 French Open
Serena Williams took almost three years after her first Grand Slam before seizing victory at the Roland Garros Stadium in 2002. She had waited out a total of nine Grand Slam tournaments before she re-entered the elite winner’s group. This is the longest
time that Serena has gone without winning a Grand Slam in her career. Her Paris win and the subsequent French Open crown was achieved with a straight sets 7-5, 6-3 victory over her elder sister, Venus Williams. It is still the only title that she has won at
the clay courts of Roland Garros.
Grand Slam Number 3: the 2002 Wimbledon
Just a few months after her French Open victory, Serena doubled her awards of the year with a win at the All England Club. She scored this victory over her sister Venus once again, and managed a straight sets 7-6(4), 6-3 win. This was the first of her Wimbledon
titles and there were plenty more to come after this first success. She would, over the course of her illustrious career, win four more titles on the grass surface.
Grand Slam Number 4: the 2002 US Open
Scoring her third Grand Slam and also her third Majors defeat of her sister, Venus, Serena Williams took away her second US Open title in 2002. This was a fitting revenge for Serena Williams, who had been defeated by the elder Williams in their 2001 US Open
final. She paid Venus back in kind with a deadly 6-4, 6-3 victory, and in the process managed to win each Grand Slam of the year except the Australian Open, which she took away the next year.
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