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List of career achievements by Serena Williams

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This page lists various career, tournament, and seasonal achievements by tennis player Serena Williams.

Records

Grand Slam tournaments

  • At the 1999 US Open, became the second African-American woman to win a Grand Slam title at 17 years old [1]
  • By winning the 2001 Australian Open doubles championship with Venus Williams, became the fifth pair to complete a Career Doubles Grand Slam and the only pair to win a Career Doubles Golden Slam.
  • At the 2001 US Open, marked the first time in the Open Era, and second time in 117 years that sisters met in a Grand Slam final (with Venus Williams)
  • At the 2002 Roland Garros final, she became the first younger sister to defeat her older sister in a Grand Slam singles tournament.
  • At the 2002 Roland Garros, she defeated her older sister Venus for the first time as a Grand Slam final victory [1]
  • By winning the 2003 Australian Open, became the fifth woman to hold all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously.
  • By winning the 2003 Australian Open, became the first African-American to win the championship.
  • By winning the 2003 Australian Open, she became the sixth player to win a Career Grand Slam.
  • By winning the 2003 Wimbledon ladies' title, Williams became just the fifth woman in the Open Era to win back-to-back Wimbledon crowns. She followed Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, and Venus Williams. Since then, the feat has been accomplished 3 more times, once by Venus Williams and twice by Serena Williams.[1]
  • By reaching the final of the 2003 Australian Open, she and sister Venus became the first players to compete in 4 consecutive slam finals.
  • By winning the 2005 Australian Open by defeating Mauresmo and Davenport, became the only player in tennis history to win three Grand Slam singles titles (1999 U.S. Open, 2002 Roland Garros) by beating the top two ranked players.[citation needed]
  • By winning the 2007 Australian Open became the first unseeded player since Chris O'Neil (1978) to win a slam, she was ranked #81 in the world.
  • Her six-year gap between Wimbledon titles (2003–2009) is second only to Evonne Goolagong Cawley's nine years in the Open Era.
  • Her eleven-year gap between Roland Garros titles (2002–2013) is the longest in the Open Era.
  • Only player to have won three Grand Slam singles titles after saving match points (2003 Australian Open versus Kim Clijsters, 2005 Australian Open versus Maria Sharapova, and 2009 Wimbledon versus Elena Dementieva).[2]
  • Against Elena Dementieva, she played the longest recorded Wimbledon women's semifinal (2009) in the open era: 2 hours, 49 minutes.[1][3]
  • By winning the 2010 Roland Garros doubles with sister Venus, they became the first pair since 1998 to hold the four doubles slams at the same time.
  • By winning the 2010 Roland Garros doubles with sister Venus, they became the first pair in the Open Era to complete the Career Doubles Golden Slam twice (2001 & 2003 Australian Open, 1999 & 2010 Roland Garros, 2000 & 2002 Wimbledon, 1999 & 2009 U.S. Open, and 2000 & 2008 Olympic gold medalists).
  • In 2012 Wimbledon, in her semifinal match against Azarenka, she hit a record 24 aces in a match, which was surpassed by Sabine Lisicki at the 2015 Aegon Classic in Birmingham.
  • At the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, she set a record for most aces served in a tournament, hitting 102 aces in the tournament, which was the most of men or women at the Championships that year.
  • In 2014, she won her 6th US Open title, the most in the Open Era (tied with Evert)
  • In 2017, she won her 7th Australian Open title, the most in the Open Era (stands alone).
  • Most hardcourt grand slam singles titles: 13 [7 Australian Open & 6 US Open] (stands alone).
  • In 2015, she won her 6th Wimbledon title. She became the only person in history, male or female, to win three of the four grand slams 6 times (AO 2003/2005/2007/2009/2010/2015, WIM 2002/2003/2009/2010/2012/2015, and USO 1999/2002/2008/2012/2013/2014).
  • She is only the fourth woman in the Open Era to win a tournament six or more times after Steffi Graf, Chris Evert, and Martina Navratilova. She's won 8 Miami Masters, 7 Australian Opens, 7 Wimbledons, and 6 US Open titles.
  • She is also only the third player to achieve a Career Grand Slam in singles and doubles after Margaret Court and Martina Navratilova
  • Second player to win a slam singles titles in three decades after Martina Navratilova (USO 1999, FO 2002, AO 2010)
  • Winner of all four Grand Slam singles titles in two decades (along with Court and Graf)
  • Longest span between first (2003) and last (2017) Australian Open titles: 14 years (tied with Nancye Wynne Bolton)
  • Longest span between first (2002) and last (2015) Roland Garros titles: 13 years
  • Longest span between first (2002) and last (2016) Wimbledon titles: 14 years
  • Longest span between first (1999) and last (2014) US Open titles: 15 years
  • Roland Garros 2015, Williams became the first woman to win 50+ career matches in all four Grand Slams in the Open Era.[4]
  • Roland Garros 2016, Williams became the first woman to win 60+ career matches in all four Grand Slams in the Open Era (AO 74 match wins, FO 60 match wins, WIM 79 match wins, and USO 84 match wins).
  • Roland Garros 2015, became first woman to win a grand slam tournament losing five sets en route to the title
  • Oldest player to hold all Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously (2014–2015)
  • In 2015, Williams won 4 consecutive grand slam titles for the second time in her career, also accomplishing the feat in 2002–2003. She and Steffi Graf are the only two players in the Open Era to win 4 consecutive grand slam singles titles on 2 separate occasions.
  • Only player, male or female, to complete the Career Golden Slam after turning 30 years of age (WIM 2012, OLY 2012, USO 2012, FO 2013, AO 2015).
  • Third female player to win 70+ matches at 3 of the 4 grand slam events. She had AO 70 match wins, WIM 79 match wins, USO 84 match wins. (tied with Steffi Graf who had USO 73 match wins, WIM 75 match wins, and FO 87 match wins, and Chris Evert who had FO 72 match wins, WIM 98 match wins, and USO 103 match wins)
  • In 2017, Williams became the first player, male or female, to win 80+ matches at 3 of the 4 grand slam events. She had AO 81 match wins, WIM 86 match wins, USO 89 match wins.
  • In 2016, she won her 7th Wimbledon singles title, the 2nd most in the Open Era (tied with Steffi Graf, only behind Martina Navratilova's 9 titles).
  • In 2016, won 6th Wimbledon doubles title with Venus Williams. It was the 4th time Serena Williams won the singles and doubles titles at Wimbledon in the same year (2002, 2009, 2012, 2016). Venus also accomplished this feat twice (2000, 2008).
  • Serena and Venus Williams improved their grand slam doubles finals record to 14-0. Only Martina Navratilova/Pam Shriver own more grand slam doubles titles as a team with 20 championships.
  • In 2017, by virtue of her 7th Australian Open singles title, she won her 23rd grand slam singles title and surpassed Steffi Graf's Open Era record of 22. Williams now trails only Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 grand slam singles titles. (During Court's Australian Open wins from 1960–1964, there were less than 50 athletes per Australian Open. Current grand slams have 128 athletes in every main draw. This is why there is often a reference to the Open Era which started in 1968. 13 of Court's 24 grand slam singles titles came before the Open Era.)
  • In 2017, as of the Australian Open, Williams holds a 316–43 singles record in grand slams, winning 114 of those since turning 30 years old. Her 316 grand slam singles match wins is equal to Roger Federer and the most in tennis history, for men and women.
  • Her 2017 Australian Open crown was her 10th grand slam singles title since reaching her 30th birthday. No other female player has won more than 3 grand slam singles titles after turning 30 years of age. (Note: Steffi Graf was 29 years, 11 months and 22 days when she won Roland Garros on 5 June 1999, shortly before retiring.)
  • As of the 2017 Australian Open, Williams has won 10 of the 12 grand slam titles to complete the Box Set (winning the singles, same gender doubles, and mixed doubles in each of the four grand slam tournaments). The only 2 she's lacking are the mixed doubles titles at Roland Garros and the Australian Open. Her best finishes in those events were runner-up finishes at the 1998 Roland Garros and 1999 Australian Open.
  • As of the 2017 Australian Open, she is the only player, male or female, to win 10+ grand slam singles titles in two separate decades (10 in the 2000s and 12 in the 2010s).

Prize money and earnings

  • First woman to win US$6,000,000 in prize money in a single year: 2009.
  • First woman to win US$12,000,000 in prize money in a single year: 2013. (Record: $12,385,572)
  • First, and only, woman to win US$40,000,000 in career prize money (in 2012).
  • First, and only, woman to win US$50,000,000 in career prize money (in 2013).
  • First, and only, woman to win US$60,000,000 in career prize money (in 2014).
  • First, and only, woman to win US$70,000,000 in career prize money (in 2015).
  • First, and only, woman to win US$80,000,000 in career prize money (in 2016).
  • Holds the record for most seasons (18) earning US$1,000,000 or more. In 1999–2005 and 2007–2017.
  • Holds the record for most seasons (15) earning US$2,000,000 or more. In 1999, 2001–2004, 2007–2010, and 2012–2017.
  • Holds the record for most seasons (6) earning US$5,000,000 or more. In 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.
  • Holds the record for most seasons (6) earning US$6,000,000 or more. In 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.
  • Holds the record for most seasons (5) earning US$7,000,000 or more. In 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.
  • Holds the record for most seasons (3) earning US$9,000,000 or more. In 2013, 2014, 2015.
  • Holds the record for most seasons (2) earning US$10,000,000 or more. In 2013 and 2015.
  • She stands as the highest earning female athlete of all-time in terms of prize money across all sports, with $84,463,131 (as of 30 January 2017) and is about $48,000,000 ahead of the 2nd and 3rd highest women, Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams, respectively.[5]
  • As of 2 February 2020, Williams has the 4th highest career earnings, $92,590,416, of any tennis player, male or female.[1] She trails Novak Djokovic ($131,040,932), Roger Federer ($123,632,204 ), and Rafael Nadal ($106,957,186 ).[6]

Olympic Games

  • In 2012, after winning the singles and doubles gold in the Olympics became the most decorated tennis player in the Olympics with a record of 4 gold medals shared with sister, Venus. (Venus would go on to win a 5th Olympic medal, a silver, in the Mixed Doubles event)
  • At the 2012 Olympics in London, Serena Williams won gold medals in singles and doubles, joining sister Venus Williams (2000 Sydney) and Helen Wills (1924 Paris) as the only women to win a gold medal in both singles and doubles in the same year at the Olympics.
  • At the 2012 Olympic Games – singles in London, Williams lost the least number of games in history en route to winning the Olympic gold. She lost just 17 games over the course of 6 matches. Of the 12 sets played, 7 of them were either 6–0 or 6–1 and she lost no more than 3 games in any given set.
    • R64 #20 Jelena Jankovic 6–3, 6–1
    • R32 #44 Urszula Radwanska 6–2, 6–3
    • R16 #14 Vera Zvonareva 6–1, 6–0
    • QF #8 Caroline Wozniacki 6–0, 6–3
    • SF #1 Victoria Azarenka 6–1, 6–2
    • F #3 Maria Sharapova 6–0, 6–1
  • In 2012, she and sister, Venus, became the first team to win a record 3 doubles golds in the Olympics as a team (won 2000, 2008, 2012).
  • Oldest player to hold all Grand Slam titles in singles and the Olympic Gold in singles, simultaneously (Olympics 2012, US Open 2014, Wimbledon 2015).

Ranking

  • Oldest player to reach No.1 ranking at 35 years, 6 months and 29 days on 24 April 2017.
  • Oldest player to hold No. 1 ranking at 35 years, 7 months and 5 days as of 1 May 2017.
  • Oldest player to win a grand slam singles title at 35 years, 4 months and 2 days when she won her 7th Australian Open crown on 28 January 2017.
  • At 1997 Ameritech Cup in Chicago, became the lowest ranked player in tennis history (No.304) to defeat two Top-10 players, No. 4 Monica Seles and No. 7 Mary Pierce, in one tournament.
  • On 10 June 2002, Serena and Venus Williams became the first sisters to hold the No. 2 and No. 1 spots in the singles rankings, respectively. Serena Williams would supplant Venus Williams for the No. 1 ranking on 8 July 2002 and they would remain at No. 1 and No. 2 in the rankings until Venus fell to No. 3 on 14 April 2003.
  • On 7 June 2010, became the 7th player to hold the No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles, simultaneously.
  • In 2012, after winning the 2010 Roland Garros doubles title, they became the co-world No. 1 players in women's doubles.
  • On 21 June 2010, Serena and Venus Williams again occupied the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the singles rankings, respectively. This came almost exactly 8 years after first accomplishing this feat. At the time, Williams was three months shy of her 29th birthday and Venus had just celebrated her 30th birthday, both ages at which many of their peers had retired.
  • At 2007 Miami Open became lowest ranked player (No. 18) to defeat the Top-2 players in the world in the same tournament by defeating No. 1 Henin & No. 2 Sharapova
  • Longest winning streak against No. 1 player (years): 4 (shared with Davenport, Graf and Venus Williams).
  • By winning the 2008 U.S. Open she makes the longest-ever gap between stints at No. 1 (five years, one month)
  • During the 2002 Miami Open, became the second player, after Steffi Graf, in the Open Era to defeat the No. 1 (Jennifer Capriati), No. 2 (Venus Williams), and No. 3 (Martina Hingis) ranked players at the same tournament. Her sister, Venus Williams would become the third, and last, to accomplish this feat at the 2008 WTA Tour Championships with one of those wins being over Serena.
  • On 13 July 2015, became the 1st player to have more than twice as many points as anyone else on the WTA Rankings.[7]
  • Held the No. 1 ranking for 186 consecutive weeks (13 February 2013 – 11 September 2016), which is tied for first place all-time (w/Steffi Graf).
  • On 24 April 2017, Serena ascended to the No. 1 ranking for the 8th time. Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova have held the No. 1 ranking on a record 9 different occasions.
  • As of 3 July 2017, Serena has held the No. 1 ranking for a total of 319 weeks, which is the third best all-time. (Steffi Graf holds the record with 377 weeks and Martina Navratilova sits in second place with 332 weeks).
  • Serena holds the record for the longest time between first ascending to No. 1 (8 July 2002) and last holding the No. 1 position (14 May 2017), 14 years, 10 months and 6 days. (Second longest was Chris Evert, 10 years 21 days)

Other

  • At the 1998 Miami event became the fastest woman in tennis history to record 5 top-10 wins (in only 16 matches) by defeating Irina Spîrlea in 2nd Round.
  • At the 1999 Open Gaz de France in Paris marking the first time in tennis history that sisters won titles in the same week (Venus Williams won Oklahoma City)
  • At the 1999 Indian Wells event, she became the second non-seeded player to win a Tier I event when she beat Steffi Graf in the final.
  • At the 1999 Miami event, Serena and Venus became the first pair of sisters in the Open Era to meet in a tournament final with Venus the eventual victor.
  • At the 2001 WTA Tour Championships, Serena became the first player in tennis history to win the Season-Ending Championships on her debut.
  • In 2012, Serena became the first player, male or female, in history to win singles titles at (1) a Grand Slam event, (2) a Premier Mandatory event, (3) the Olympics [gold medal], and (4) the WTA Championships in the same season. (In 2016, Andy Murray joined Serena as the only two players in history to accomplish this feat.)
  • Only player, male or female, to ever accomplish a Career Golden Slam in singles and doubles [Singles: US Open 1999, Roland Garros 2002, Wimbledon 2002, Australian Open 2003, Olympic gold 2012. Doubles: Roland Garros 1999, US Open 1999, Wimbledon 2000, Australian Open 2001, Olympic gold 2000]. A second Olympic gold in singles would have her complete the Career Golden Slam for a second time.
  • 24 March 2015, Serena won a record 8th Miami Masters title from her record 10th appearance in a Miami final. No male or female has more than 6 Miami Masters singles titles (Andre Agassi & Novak Djokovic each own 6 titles).
  • Since the turn of the millennium, Serena and her sister, Venus Williams have dominated the Wimbledon singles title. They won 12 of the last 17 Wimbledon singles crowns with Venus winning in 2000 & 2001, Serena winning 2002 & 2003, Venus won in 2005, 2007, and 2008, with Serena winning in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2016. Additionally, they have partnered to win the 2000, 2002, 2008, 2009, 2012, and 2016 women's doubles titles.
  • Since returning in 2011, from a medical break, Serena has made at least 1 grand slam final in each year and has won at least 1 grand slam title in each of the last six years. In two of those years, 2012 & 2013, she won 2 grand slam titles, while in 2015 she won 3 grand slam titles.
  • In 2020, Serena became the first player in the Open era (male or female) to win a title in 4 different decades after winning the 2020 Auckland Open.[citation needed]

Awards

Recognition

In 2005, Tennis Magazine ranked her as the 17th-best player in 40 years.[13]

In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time.[14] In 2014 she was named one of ESPNW's Impact 25.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Serena Williams 21 Grand Slam titles: A visual guide". livetennis.com. Retrieved 2016-10-24.
  2. ^ "SERENA & MARGARET: AN UNMATCHABLE FEAT?". WTA. 2008-12-04.
  3. ^ "Sister act part II: Serena, Venus, set up all-U.S. Wimbledon final". USA Today. Retrieved 2016-10-24.
  4. ^ Serena: 50 Wins At Every Grand Slam
  5. ^ Serena Leads Career Money List Archived 2011-06-26 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Loudenback, Cork Gaines, Tanza. "The 30 highest-paid tennis players of all time, ranked". Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-02-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Historic Ranking Milestone for Serena
  8. ^ "Tiger is Still America's Favorite Sports Star, but Shares Title with Kobe Bryant". Harris Interactive. July 20, 2010. Archived from the original on November 15, 2013. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  9. ^ "Serena Williams named WTA Player of the Year". Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  10. ^ "Djokovic and Williams named 2012 ITF World Champions". Retrieved December 11, 2012.
  11. ^ "Serena Williams is Sports Illustrated's 2015 Sportsperson of the Year". Sports Illustrated. 14 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  12. ^ Young, Henry; Davies, Amanda (April 19, 2016). "Laureus Awards: Novak Djokovic & Serena Williams win 'Sport's Oscars'". CNN. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  13. ^ "40 Greatest Players of the Tennis Era (17–20)". Tennis Magazine. May 17, 2006. Archived from the original on October 26, 2009. Retrieved April 22, 2009.
  14. ^ William Lee Adams (June 22, 2011). "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future – Serena Williams". TIME. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
  15. ^ "2014 espnW Impact 25". espnW.
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