There's a lot of history at stake for Serena Williams at the 2015 US Open. She's looking to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win all four Grand Slam women's singles titles in one year, and a win in New York this year would give her more US Open championships than any other woman in the Open era.
Here's a look at some other numbers surrounding Serena as she begins her 16th tournament in the Big Apple.
.898: Serena’s winning percentage at the US Open. It’s the highest mark in the Open era, ahead of Chris Evert (.894), Steffi Graf (.890) and Pete Sampras (.887).
3: The number of women who have completed the calendar-year Grand Slam – Maureen Connolly (1953), Margaret Court Smith (1970) and Steffi Graf (1988).
5: Players in the world Top 10 Serena has never met at Flushing. She has never faced No. 2 Maria Sharapova -- who withdrew with a leg injury on Sunday – No. 3 Simona Halep, No. 4 Petra Kvitova, No. 7 Agnieszka Radwanska or No. 8 Lucie Safarova at the US Open. Of this group, Sharapova is most surprising considering they’ve met in the final of the Australian Open (2007 and 2015), Roland Garros (2013), Wimbledon (2004), the WTA Championships (2012) and the Olympics (2012).
6: US Open titles Serena has won, tying Chris Evert for the most in the Open era.
12: The number of consecutive games won by Serena in her 2013 US Open quarterfinal against Carla Suarez Navarro. It is the only double-bagel to occur at the quarterfinal stage or later at the US Open in the Open era.
18: Serena’s age when she won her first Grand Slam – at the 1999 US Open.
19: Consecutive wins in Grand Slam finals after winning the first set. She’s 19-0 in these matches.
21: Grand Slam women's singles titles for Serena. Should she win the US Open, she’ll match Steffi Graf’s record for the most in the Open era. Margaret Court owns the all-time record with 24.
27: The number of sets Serena has lost at the US Open in 15 years.
28: The number of consecutive Grand Slam victories for Serena, who last lost a match at a major in the third round of Wimbledon in 2014. If she wins the US Open, she will be the fourth player in history to win five consecutive Grand Slams, joining Graf (five) and Maureen Connolly Brinker and Margaret Court (six).
29: The number of Serena’s singles matches at the US Open that have not taken longer than an hour. Her quickest victory was a 2002 second-round win over Dinara Safina which took just 40 minutes. She won the first set, 6-0, in 18 minutes, and the second set, 6-1, in 22 minutes. Serena has also won three quarterfinal matches (Daniela Hantuchova, 2002; Ana Ivanovic, 2012; Carla Suarez Navarro, 2013) and two semifinal matches (Martina Hingis, 2001; Ekaterina Makarova, 2014) in an hour or less.
33 years, 352 days: Serena’s age if she wins the US Open. Already the oldest player to win a major title, she will increase the record should she follow her Wimbledon title with a record-breaking seventh victory in Flushing Meadows.
50: The percentage of break points Serena has converted in her 15 years at the US Open. She’s taken 382 of 762 chances. By contrast, opponents have only converted 37 percent (128 of 343) of their chances against her.
50: Matches Serena has won at each of the Grand Slams. She’s won 54 singles matches at the French Open, 68 at the Australian Open and 79 at each of Wimbledon and the US Open. She’s the only woman in history to win at least 50 singles matches at each major.
68: The number of career titles Williams owns. She surpassed Billie Jean King’s 67 at Wimbledon and is now tied with Evonne Goolagong Cawley.
68: Also the number of unforced errors Serena made in her first ever US Open match in 1998 against Nicole Pratt. In her following 87 matches, she never committed more than 57. In 2014, she recorded 117 unforced errors in seven matches. That first match also featured Serena’s US Open career-highs for break point chances (21) and net approaches (47). She won, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
75: Matches Serena has won in Arthur Ashe Stadium, the most of any player in US Open history. Venus is second among women with 59 wins; Roger Federer leads all men with 60 wins in Ashe.
81: Consecutive singles matches Serena has played in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Only four of her 88 singles matches have been played anywhere other than Ashe, and none since 1999.
256: Weeks at No. 1 in the WTA rankings. Chris Evert is the next milestone for Serena (260 weeks), followed by Martina Navratilova (332 weeks) and Steffi Graf (377 weeks).
280: Serena’s career Grand Slam victories. She sits behind only Chris Evert (299) and Martina Navratilova (306) in the Open Era.
2012: The last year Serena recorded double-digit aces in a singles match at the US Open. Serena recorded 13 aces in her three-set final against Victoria Azarenka three years ago.
5,782: The number of days between Serena’s first Grand Slam title (1999 US Open) and her most recent (2015 Wimbledon). It’s the longest span between a player’s first and last major in the history of tennis.
12,371: Serena’s current ranking points, which is almost double the number of world No. 2 Maria Sharapova (6,386). After Serena won Wimbledon in June, she became the first player in history to have more than twice the number of points of the No. 2-ranked player.
$1,285,842: Annual prize money earned by Steffi Graf in 1988 when she completed the calendar-year Grand Slam. At age 19, Graf went 73-7 and won 11 titles. Should Serena win the US Open, her prize money for 2015 will top $12,000,000.
