A lot has changed in the world since Serena Williams won her 23rd Grand Slam singles title at the 2017 Australian Open. At the time, Donald Trump was a mere eight days into his presidency. Williams’ daughter, Olympia, wasn’t born yet (though it would later be revealed that Williams was nearly two months pregnant when she won in Melbourne). Nobody had ever heard of Tiger King. And there was no such thing as COVID-19.
Of course, one thing has not changed in the 44 months since Williams passed Steffi Graf for the most Grand Slam singles titles in the Open era and moved within one championship of tying Margaret Court’s all-time mark: She is still chasing that elusive 24th title.
Just as it once seemed a fait accompli that Tiger Woods would cruise past the legendary Jack Nicklaus to achieve the record for most Grand Slam golf championships, the same was assumed of Williams passing Court. Age, injuries and other issues have kept Woods at bay in the back nine of his career. So the question for Williams, who turns 39 in late September, is: How many more chances will she get?
It’s not that she hasn’t come close. Williams has reached four major finals since her quest for 24 began—losing in the Wimbledon and US Open championships in both 2018 and 2019. She lost to a different opponent in all four of those tournaments—Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep at Wimbledon, Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu in Flushing Meadows.
More than anything she’s done wrong, Williams credits the depth of skilled players as the reason her 24th Grand Slam singles title has been harder to reach.
“The game has just changed; I think there's so much more depth,” she said. “I think when I first started, you could win a lot of easy matches, then you're in the quarterfinals, that's when it starts to get a little more tough. Now, like, there's no easy match. Everyone's playing great. Everyone's just doing a lot better.”
Still, there has been an impressive group of women’s tennis players throughout Williams’ 23-year career, but that didn’t stop her from being one of the most dominant forces in any sport for such a long time. In the 16-year stretch netween 2002 and 2017, there were only three years (2004, 2006, 2011) in which she did not capture at least one Grand Slam title. In the first 20 years of this century, from 2000-19, there were only two years (2000, 2006) when she didn’t make at least one Grand Slam final appearance.
If the current drought is a matter of age, Williams has some bad news for her opponents. She said this week that she feels she is as fit as she’s been since Olympia was born in 2017.
That’s probably got something to do with the extended break from action due to the pandemic.
“I haven't had this much time off since the baby,” Williams said after her win over sister Venus at the Top Seed Open in Lexington, Ky., earlier this month. “So now I'm just trying to get some rhythm and see what happens."
After her second-round win at the Western & Southern Open, she reiterated that she’s in great shape. “I think physically I'm fit,” she said. “Tennis is mental. You know, it's all mental.”
Which brings us back to the pressure of chasing that 24th career Grand Slam. Or is it emotion? Or are they the same thing?
"When you play a Grand Slam final, there is a lot of emotion," said Serena's coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, before last year’s US Open final. "There is a lot of emotion for everyone, including Serena, all the champions. When you play for a record like this one, there is even more. It's called pressure, and I think Serena has had to experience a bit of pressure in her life."
Williams was 17 years old when she won her first Grand Slam championship at the 1999 US Open. If she wins another—at the 2020 US Open or one of the other majors—she will be the oldest player to win a Slam, man or woman.
Still, even if Williams does prevail in Flushing Meadows at the end of this fortnight, don’t look for her to make any sudden retirement announcements.
“I definitely would still be playing if I had already passed it,” she said before last year’s US Open.
On top of the pressures of chasing history, Williams has had to deal with the concerns about COVID-19. Because of a pulmonary embolism suffered during her labor in 2017, she is considered more at risk than your average professional athlete. For that reason, Williams passed on staying at the hotel bubble with other players competing in the Western & Southern Open and the US Open, opting instead to rent a house for the duration.
“At my house, I can control more,” she said last week. “There is no housekeeping, there is none of that type of stuff. And so, I mean, as much as I want to be here, it's great, but I have genuine health issues that I just really needed to put my mind at rest to even be able to perform in New York.”
In such an unusual circumstance, with a few of the top women not in New York for the US Open, what about the idea that winning her 24th Grand Slam might be capped with an asterisk?
“It still has to be tennis that's played, asterisks or not,” she said. “I think this whole year deserves an asterisk because it's such a special year—history we have never been through in this world, to be honest, not this generation, not this lifetime. It's just in history, period.
“So I think we are living a future history lesson. So I think regardless, there is always going to be some asterisk by it, because it's never been done before. And if you win, it was, like, ‘Wow, I was able to win in this crazy circumstance where there were no fans. It was just so sterile and weird. But I mentally came through.’ It might be a more mental test than anything. But it's interesting, and we will see. I don't think it really matters.”
Win or lose, Williams remains a prominent figure in tennis history. And if she can be the last player standing at this year’s US Open, asterisk or no asterisk, she will have her 24th Grand Slam crown.
