1 Record each of Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters that might never be broken
Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters are some of the greatest tennis players ever, who mesmerized spectators during their playing days.
Women’s tennis over the last two decades and a half has seen a number of wonderful players grace the court. The late 1990s, 2000s and 2010s saw the emergence of a number of such great female players.
In this article, we have picked four women, namely Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters _ who achieved some wonderful records. We will mention one record each of the above four that may never be broken.
#4. Kim Clijsters - Playing in the most number of matches in a calendar year:
Clijsters was one of the best female players on hard courts of the era she played in. The Belgian won four Grand Slam titles in her career.
However, in 2003, she achieved a feat that was quite exceptional. Clijsters finished the year with a 90-12 win-loss record in singles and thus became the second female player after Martina Navratilova to register 90 wins in a single year. Moreover, she also played in doubles matches extensively and thus appeared in a total of 170 matches that year, the highest by any female in a single year.
Clijsters record is still unbroken and might remain so for a long, long time.
#3. Maria Sharapova - Dropping the fewest games en route to the semifinal of a Grand Slam
Sharapova was a very successful Russian player and went on to win five Grand Slam singles titles. She also won the Wimbledon championships as a teenager.
However, in the 2013 Australian Open, Sharapova achieved a rare feat. She dropped only nine games in her first five matches, beating Venus Williams among others in the process.
She eventually lost to Li Na in the semifinals, but her record of dropping the fewest games up to the semifinal in a Grand Slam remains unbroken. With women's tennis becoming increasingly competitive every year, her record might not be broken anytime soon, even if we consider the dominance of the likes of Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka.
#2. Venus Williams - Winning most number of Olympic medals:
Venus Williams is the older of the Williams sisters and has won seven Grand Slam titles in her career. Aside from having a very successful singles career, she also formed a lethal doubles pair with her sister Serena.
Venus Williams appeared in four Olympics in her career and also won five medals, the highest by anybody in tennis. She won gold in both singles and doubles in 2000 in Sydney and then went on to win the doubles golds in Beijing in 2008 and in London in 2012.
She then won the silver in Rio de Janeiro to collect her fifth medal. This record will take some beating, as the Olympic Games is a quadrennial event and there aren't too many players who win medals in both singles and doubles.
#1. Serena Williams - Winning the career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles:
Serena Williams is arguably the greatest female tennis player of all time. She has won a staggering 23 Grand Slam singles titles. Moreover, Serena Williams was a leading doubles player, too, forming a formidable pair with her elder sister Venus.
Williams achieved the career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles by winning the Olympic gold in both categories at the 2012 London Olympics. She had won each of the four Grand Slams already prior to that.
Steffi Graf famously won the Golden Slam in a calendar year (1988) previously, but she only managed it in singles. Hence, Serena Williams' monumental feat might go on to stand the test of time.