On this day in 2012, Serena Williams completes her Golden Slam at the London Olympics. The WTA star stormed through the draw, dropping only 17 games in six matches at the All England Club, to become the only tennis player in history to possess a Golden Slam in both singles and doubles. In doing so, she also became the first woman to earn $10 million during a career.
Williams started off her Olympic campaign by brushing aside Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-0, 6-4. The American then moved onto China's Zheng Jie, who she beat in straight sets as well 6-3, 6-4. In the semifinals, Serena met Germany's Andrea Petkovic, who she defeated in two close sets after being down 0-5 in the first set. The final was against Russia's Maria Sharapova, who she also beat in two tight sets (6-4, 7-5).
In total, Serena has won 23 Grand Slam titles throughout her career. She is the all-time winningest female tennis player in the Open Era.
As for the Golden Slam itself, it is considered to be the most prestigious award in tennis. The term "Golden Slam" was first used by John McEnroe in 1983 when describing Margaret Court's record of winning Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in the same year.
Serena Williams won the most Grand Slam singles championships (23) of any woman or man during the open era. In addition, she and her sister Venus won 14 Grand Slam doubles championships, the second most for a duo in the open era, as well as three Olympic doubles gold medals. Also, if you include their achievements before the Open Era, then they have all the major titles with the exception of the French Open.
Their dominance on the court is without question, but what about off it? Well, according to some critics, they are seen as untouchable by many people because of their status as world champions. But others praise them for being role models who have helped transform tennis into a more popular sport.
Whether you believe that they are successful or not depends on how you define success. If you think that winning all the major tournaments is necessary for someone to be considered successful, then they haven't done anything yet since they have yet to lose even one match. However, if your definition of success is winning over your opponents, then they are certainly successful already.
Tennis player Serena Williams Serena Williams has won the most Grand Slam singles championships (23) of any woman or man in the open era. They are also the only twins to have won the same grand slam more than once.
In total, Serena has won 33 major titles, which is two more than male tennis star Roger Federer. The two leaders on the all-time list of champions are women's tennis legends Billie Jean King and Margaret Court. King won seven Grand Slam singles titles while Court won 11.
They were both dominant players at the peak of their careers, which made them difficult to compare but they were very different characters. King was a feminist who fought for equal pay for men's and women's sports and who created the Women's Tennis Association when men's tennis was not considered important enough to have its own governing body. Court, on the other hand, was openly hostile to feminism and argued that women should stay home and look after the house instead of going out to work.
She also had a prolific record on the circuit: between October 1959 and March 1960, she played in 22 tournaments worldwide, winning 17 of them, which makes her the first player in history to win three consecutive Australian Open titles.
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