Serene Serena has always been in control
Has there ever been someone who has dominated a sport the way Serena Williams has controlled women’s tennis? Since bursting on to the professional stage in late 1995, Williams has played 913 singles matches and lost just 130 of these, with an 85 per cent winning rate.
Her win at the Australian Open secured her 23rd grand slam singles title, surpassing Steffi Graf’s 22 titles as the most won in the Open era – a record many considered to be untouchable.
Now, she sits just one grand slam title behind Australian Margaret Court, who won 24. However, Williams’ 23 tally is already more impressive when you take into account that 11 of Court’s titles came at the Australian Open, an event many of the big names around the world chose not to play in until the early 1980s.
It took just seven years in the pros for Williams to claim the spot as the best in the world, reaching her first No 1 ranking in July 2002, and since then she has spent a total of 309 weeks at the pinnacle of the sport - 186 of which were consecutive.
The next closest still in the game today is Caroline Wozniacki who has spent 67 weeks at No 1 over her career.
You just have to look at Williams’ head-to-head records against her nearest rivals to see just how dominant she has been.
She holds a 19-11 record over her sister Venus, a 6-2 edge over No 2 Angelique Kerber, 8-1 over Simona Halep, and a 19-2 record over Maria Sharapova.
In 2005, there was talk that Williams was a declining force in the world of women’s tennis. Since then she has won 16 grand slam titles.
Now, at 35 years old, Williams is the most powerful player on the women’s circuit and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
Until she decides to call it quits, Williams will continue to be a force in the tennis world.
After all is said and done, the past 20 years of women’s tennis will likely go down in history as the Serena Williams era.