The strength of her claim to be the greatest player of all time lies not only in her longevity – and 23 Grand Slam singles titles – but in her dominance over women of all ages in tennis. She regularly beat out the stars who ruled tennis before her, and she held herself up against recent incidents on the court. Between those generations, Williams overwhelmed the women she grew up with in the sport—and then outlived many of them by more than a decade.
Williams turned pro at the age of 14. Her first title at the top of the tour came in 1999 against Steffi Graf, who ended her career with 22 Grand Slam championships. Williams was 17 at the time and eventually surpassed Graf’s big win with her victory at the 2017 Australian Open.
As Williams settled into her prime, she regularly found enemies in a group of women who came through the ranks around the same time. She went toe-to-toe with Martina Hingis, Jennifer Capriati, Lindsay Davenport, Kim Clijsters, Justin Henin, and Venus Williams—all of whom reached No. 1 in the Serena Williams era, and all of whom she lost more times than she won. took. Serena Williams had an overall record of 63–38 against those teammates in WTA matches, the Fed Cup, and the Olympics.
With the exception of Venus Williams, who is still playing at age 42, those other former top-ranked women had largely retired from WTA singles competition at around age 30. But when Serena Williams scored 30, she came out stronger.
From 30 to 35, he won 89% of his matches to set a record of 288–34. She spent 186 consecutive weeks in this time frame – from February 2013 to September 2016 – and dominated other women in that era to reach the top echelons of tennis. Her career record was 19–5 against Victoria Azarenka, 10–3 against Simona Halep, 10–1 against Caroline Wozniacki and 20–3 against Maria Sharapova.
Williams became a mother just before she turned 36, and although she returned to court the following year, her time on tour since then has been limited by injury. As a result, the top contenders from this era have had more success against them than the previous ones. Naomi Osaka is up 3-1 and Bianca Andreescu 2-0 against Williams. Both of those young stars beat Williams in the US Open final – Osaka in 2018, Andreescu in 2019.
For the next batch of phenoms, he didn’t have as many chances to play Williams, due to his limited schedule and his less deep runs in the tournament over the past three years. Current No. 1, Inga Swietek never encountered him. Neither is second-placed Annette Kontaveit, although she will be Williams’ next opponent if both win their first round matches. Emma Radukanu, who won the US Open last year, played with Williams for the first and perhaps only time this month at the Western and Southern Open.
Radukanu, who won, said she appreciates playing a woman she idealized, even when in the twilight of Williams’ career: “I appreciate the experience of being able to play her and our careers.” So grateful for crossing over.”
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