Adieu Serena Williams: 15 career-defining moments of the American tennis star
By: FPJ Web Desk | September 03, 2022
Serena Williams' first tour-level match came on Oct. 28, 1995, about a month after her 14th birthday. It was in the first round of qualifying for an event Quebec City, Canada, and Williams lost 6-1, 6-1 to Annie Miller
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She won the first Grand Slam match of her career, at age 16 at the 1998 Australian Open, beating No. 6 seed Irina Spirlea 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1. Williams then lost in the second round to - guess who? - her older sister, Venus.
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She claimed her first Grand Slam title at age 17 by beating Martina Hingis 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the US Open final on Sept. 11, 1999, becoming the first Black woman to win a major tennis championship since Althea Gibson in 1958
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Serena beat Venus 7-5, 6-3 in the final of the 2002 French Open for her second Grand Slam, the first time in 11 Grand Slam matches between two sisters in the professional era that the younger one won
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Serena Williams first appeared at No. 1 in the WTA rankings on July 8, 2002, two days after winning Wimbledon. She would go on to spend 319 weeks there - the third-most of anyone - including a stretch of 187 consecutive weeks, tied with Steffi Graf for the most in a row.
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A 6-0, 6-3 defeat of Dinara Safina gave Williams her fourth Australian Open trophy and 10th Grand Slam in 2009
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Williams' career has seen its share of injury interruptions; one of her most difficult moments came a few days after her 13th Grand Slam title, when she cut her feet on broken glass while leaving a restaurant in Germany. She eventually needed two operations on her right foot and spent 10 weeks in a cast
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Two points from defeat, Williams turned things around and grabbed the last four games to edge Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 for her 15th Grand Slam by winning the 2012 US Open title, her fourth at Flushing Meadows
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She overcame a lingering illness to defeat Lucie Safarova 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-2 in the 2015 French Open final for a third trophy in Paris and her 20th Grand Slam title
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Williams' bid for the first true Grand Slam in tennis since 1988 — winning all four singles championships during one calendar year — came up just short: She lost in the 2015 US Open semifinals to 43rd-ranked Roberta Vinci 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
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Williams equaled Steffi Graf's record for most Grand Slam titles in the professional era (also known as the Open era, it began in 1968) by collecting No. 22 at Wimbledon in 2016 with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Angelique Kerber in the final
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She surpassed Graf by getting record No. 23 at the 2017 Australian Open with a win, fittingly, against Venus in the final, 6-4, 6-4. Only Margaret Court has won more Grand Slam singles titles in tennis history, 24
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She returned to singles action at Wimbledon in June 2022 and lost in the first round. She indicated the 2022 US Open would be the final tournament of her career
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The final goodbye! The US Open instantly became a celebration of Williams' career and she thrilled the loud fans who filled Arthur Ashe Stadium by winning twice. But the run came to an end in the third round against Ajla Tomljanovic, a 29-year-old Australian ranked 46th