Serena Williams has done it all in tennis, but there’s so much more to come from this game
Serena Williams is in a class of her own. You’re likely to find no one else who has been the greatest tennis player in the history of the game, regardless of gender, country or style of play. She’s won 16 Grand Slam singles titles, seven Grand Slam doubles titles, has won a record-tying 11 Olympic gold medals, and is one of only six players ever to have won a Grand Slam in each of the four major USTA tournaments: the US Open (1996), the Australian Open (2001), Wimbledon (2002), the US National Doubles Championships (2003) and the US Open in mixed doubles (2016).
It’s not just her success in the game that makes her so special, a lot of the credit also goes to the fact that she has been one of the most consistent competitors in the game. It’s difficult to overstate how great Serena has been since turning 30 years old. On the surface, this year’s season can be summed up by the fact that she’s been the world No. 1 for the 11th time. She has six Grand Slam singles titles and nine Grand Slam doubles trophies to her name. She has also completed 17 Grand Slam matches for the year.
This last point, however, is a major reason why this year’s campaign is the most highly anticipated in years for women’s tennis. Williams has an unarguable talent for winning Grand Slam titles and is one of only two players (along with Lindsay Davenport) to have won nine doubles titles in the years 2006 and 2008. She is currently on the verge of becoming the first woman to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles in a calendar year, a feat that would be unprecedented and almost certainly outshine the feats she has already achieved. That’s why this season is on the front-lines of women’s tennis, in my opinion.
Williams is also the only player to average more than a triple-double in a single season (2015 – 32.33 at Queens, 32.33 at Wimbledon and 30.38 at Cincinnati). She’s the only player to ever win a singles title five times