How many times did Serena Williams win the Wimbledon women’s singles championship?
Serena Williams has dominated that grass courts in Wimbledon since winning her first title there in 2002. This year she has a chance to win her 8th title.
We have known for a long time that the clock on Serena Williams career is inching closer to the end with each passing tick and tock. She has been the most successful tennis player in the modern era, male or female, but all good things must come to an end.
From Compton to All England Club
It doesn’t seem all that long ago that were were hearing about two sisters out of Compton, California who were going to reshape the landscape of women’s tennis. With their beaded hair and massive serves, they came leaping on to the WTP scene and didn’t let go for almost three decades.
Serena made her professional debut in 1995 at the Bell Challenge in Quebec, before sitting back and letting her game and her body develop for the professional ranks. In 1997, she returned to the professional circuit and had some stunning wins over some of the top players in the world as a 16 years old.
She would win her first tournament two years later at the Evert Cup, and then later that year captured her first Grand Slam which came at Flushing Meadows at the US Open. She took down Martina Hingis in the final and announced her presence on one of tennis’ biggest stages.
Wimbledon breakthrough in 2002
She would have to wait for almost three years before she would reach the pinnacle of the tennis world again. When she returned, there was absolutely no stopping her. She went on to win the French Open to snap her spell of Grand Slams without a trophy, and then win Wimbledon just weeks later for her first title at the All England Club.
At that time, her sister Venus was still the dominant force in tennis and in the family, but that all changed at Wimbledon in 2002 when Serena defeated her sister in the final. That would be the first of seven Wimbledon titles she won in a span of a decade and a half.
In the same year as her first Wimbledon, the younger Williams sister completed what we know as the Serena Slam, holding all four Grand Slams at one time. She lost the French Open in 2003, but responded by winning her second straight Wimbledon title.
Serena’s seven
She would have to wait six years before she would lift the title on the grass courts in Wimbledon again. After seeing her sister win three times. Serena would go on a roll, winning back to back Wimbledon’s and three of the next four from 2009-2012 ending Venus’s reign on grass.
Marion Barotoli and Petra Kvitova held off Serena and the rest of the field in the next two years, but Serena was back on center court raising the hardware on Championship Saturday in 2015, and did so again the next year to tie Steffi Graff with 7 Wimbledon titles, second only to Martina Navratilova.
That was her last Grand Slam trophy on grass, and since then she has only won one other Grand Slam, which came in the Aussie Open in 2017 breaking Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of 22 Grams Slams.
One last dance?
Shortly after that she withdrew for the rest of the season preparing for the first of her first child. She made a magnificent return the next year finishing runner up in the US Open and in Wimbledon in 2018 and 2019.
Oh we should not forget about her six doubles titles she has won with her sister Venus. No matter what Serena does this year at the All England Club, she will be received as the Queen of Grass and will forever be etched in the history of Wimbledon and tennis history. But if, if, if she can find a way to win it may be heralded as one of the greatest accomplishments, not just in tennis, but in sports history.