As Serena Williams and the rest of the tennis world are on hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, ESPN2 will present a 12-hour programming marathon on Friday, highlighting several of Williams’ championship victories over the past two decades.
The marathon slate will feature six marquee championship matchups — including four against Serena’s sister, Venus Williams. Here are some of Serena’s most interesting stats:
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Serena is one of two women in the Open era to win a major title in her teens, 20s and 30s, alongside Chris Evert.
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Serena has won 10 major titles since her 30th birthday, seven more than any other woman in the Open era (Margaret Court and Martina Navratilova).
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Her last major title came at the 2017 Australian Open at 35 years, 124 days old when she defeated sister Venus in the final. The run made her the oldest woman in the Open era to win a major title.
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Williams won four straight major titles twice (2002-03 and 2014-15). She’s one of two players — male or female — in the Open era to win four consecutive majors on multiple occasions (Steffi Graf).
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Serena is the oldest woman in WTA rankings history to hold the No. 1 ranking (was 35 years old when she last held the top spot in May 2017, despite missing time due to her pregnancy).
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Serena has won six major titles without dropping a set, tied with Navratilova for the most by any woman in the Open era.
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In July 2015, she became the first player to have more than twice as many points as anyone else in the WTA rankings (rankings were introduced in 1975).
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Serena held the No. 1 ranking for 186 consecutive weeks from February 2013 to September 2016, tied for the most consecutive weeks at WTA No. 1 since the inception of the rankings with Graf.
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From May 2009 to March 2018, she never lost back-to-back matches at any point in that span (a stretch of 405 matches without losing consecutive matches). That stretch was snapped at Indian Wells and Miami in 2018 — her first two tournaments back from giving birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia.
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Serena has won three major titles after saving match point (2003 Australian Open, 2005 Australian Open, 2009 Wimbledon). No other woman in the Open era has won multiple major titles after saving match point.
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Serena has the most hard-court major titles of any man or woman in the Open era (13).
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She has $92.7 million in prize money in her career, the most in WTA history (next closest: Venus Williams at $41.8 million).
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Serena has 17 career wins over WTA No. 1-ranked players, the second most in WTA history after Navratilova’s 18. When she defeated world No. 1 Simona Halep at the 2019 Australian Open at 37 years old, she became the oldest woman to beat a world No. 1.
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Serena is one of two players, male or female, to win each of her first three major titles on a different surface (Hana Mandlikova).
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Earned Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year in 2015 (was the first tennis player to win the award since Arthur Ashe in 1992).
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She is one of three players in the WTA rankings to defeat the world No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 at the same event, achieving the feat at 2002 Miami. The others to do so are Graf (1999 French Open) and Venus Williams (2008 WTA Championships).
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Serena is one major title away from tying Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24. By winning Auckland at the start of 2020, she already is the only male or female in the Open era to win a singles title in four different decades. Some cross-sport perspective there:
FROM ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU — No player in NBA, NHL, NFL or MLB history has ever won a title/championship in four different decades. In terms of other sports in which athletes have achieved that feat:
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NASCAR Cup Series: Dale Earnhardt
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PGA TOUR: Sam Snead, Raymond Floyd, Davis Love III
It’s somewhat obvious, but Serena Williams has the longest span between first and last major titles of any male or female in the Open era (1999-2017).