It is the end of an unfathomable era.
Tennis fans witnessed what is likely the conclusion of the mind-blowing career of Serena Williams, as the 23-time Grand Slam champion fell to Ajla Tomljanovic, 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-1, in her third-round match in Arthur Ashe Stadium Friday night.
Now that the curtains have closed on one of the most momentous careers in tennis history, USOpen.org takes a look back at Serena’s most noteworthy statistical achievements, keeping in mind that Williams was a woman who truly transcended the sport, and the record books she repeatedly rewrote.
Serena is an activist, pioneer, phenom, warrior, shape-shifter, advocate, mother and—perhaps more than anything—a constant reminder to everyone, especially women and people of color, that there are no limits to what can be achieved.
Numbers could never do the career of an icon of such utter proportion justice, but they do help us sit back and marvel at what Serena was able to achieve since she hit the ground running on tour in 1997.
One for each of the 23 Grand Slam titles she took home, let’s count down 23 magnificent Serena Williams stats, by the numbers…
1: Williams has held the WTA’s No.1 ranking for 319 weeks, including 186 weeks in succession, which is tied for the longest streak among women, with Steffi Graf.
2: In 1999, Williams became the second Black woman to win a Grand Slam singles title, and the first since the legendary Althea Gibson won her fifth and final major singles title at the 1958 US Open.
3: Number of Roland Garros singles titles claimed by Williams, who won titles in 2002, 2013, and 2015 and compiled a 69-14 lifetime record in Paris.
4: Number of Olympic gold medals that Williams has won. She won three doubles gold medals with sister Venus Williams at the 2000 Sydney Games, the 2008 Beijing Games, and the 2012 London Games, and also added a singles gold medal in London in 2012.
5: Williams claimed the prestigious title at the WTA’s season-ending championships five times. In 2014 she became the oldest champion in tournament history, at the age of 33.
6: Williams ends her career tied with fellow legend Chris Evert atop the US Open’s all-time women’s singles title list with six.
7: Only nine-time champion Martina Navratilova has more Wimbledon women’s singles titles than Serena's seven. She's tied with Steffi Graf for second on the all-time list at SW19. Williams finishes her career with a 98-14 all-time record at the Championships, where she also won six doubles titles and another in mixed.
8: The number of Grand Slam titles that goes into two “Serena Slams.” Williams held all four major titles at once two times during her career, winning the lot in succession in 2002-03 and 2014-15. Williams is the oldest player in history to have held all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously.
9: Number of Grand Slam finals Serena played against Venus, winning seven of the nine.
10: Number of major singles titles Williams has won since turning 30. No other woman has claimed more than three after that age. She’s also the only player to have won 10-plus Grand Slam titles in two different decades.
11: Against Venus, Serena won 11 Grand Slam matches out of the 16 they have played at the majors.
12: Number of Wimbledon singles crowns that the Williams sisters have won, combined. On Wimbledon’s hallowed lawns, the 21st century has been all about the sisters. Either Venus or Serena stood at the podium 12 times in a period of 17 seasons, starting with Venus’ first title in 2000.
13: Williams owns more hard-court Grand Slam singles titles than any other player, with a combined 13 between the Australian Open (seven) and the US Open (six).
14: Number of major doubles titles won by Williams, all with her sister Venus by her side. The pair put up an impeccable 14-0 record in Grand Slam doubles finals.
15: Williams owns the record for the longest span between first (1999) and last (2014) US Open titles: 15 years.
16: Williams finished in the WTA’s Top 10 a whopping 16 times, and concluded five seasons with the No.1 ranking in tow.
17: Williams was just 17 when she won her first US Open title, defeating Swiss Miss Martina Hingis in the 1999 US Open final, 6-3, 7-6(4). It was a title run fit for an icon—Williams defeated Kim Clijsters, Conchita Martinez, Monica Seles, Lindsay Davenport and Hingis in her final five matches of the tournament. Of the quintet of victims, only former World No. 2 Martinez never held the No.1 ranking.
18: More on Williams’ remarkable longevity: the American icon holds the record for longest gap between first and last Grand Slam titles—18 seasons lie between her first Grand Slam title (the US Open in 1999) and her most recent (the Australian Open in 2017). Three women previously held the record with a 12-year gap—Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and Steffi Graf.
19: Length of Williams' winning streak against Maria Sharapova, which lasted from the 2005 Australian Open all the way through the pair’s last meeting at the 2019 US Open.
20: Serena lost two of her first three matches against Sharapova, then dominated her rivalry with five-time champion, winning 20 and losing two overall.
21: Williams was barely old enough to drink—in America, at least—when she won her first Serena Slam in 2003, at the age of 21.
22: She has finished inside the WTA’s Top 25 a remarkable 22 times. She has finished inside the Top 10 17 times, and has ended a season ranked inside the Top 5 11 times.
23: Williams won her 23rd major singles title in 2017, defeating her sister Venus at the Australian Open. She is the all-time Open Era leader in Grand Slam singles titles, and the oldest woman to ever win a Grand Slam singles title.
