By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
With her 6-4, 6-4 Wimbledon final win over Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, Serena Williams has won the third leg of a calendar year Grand Slam in 2015. The win also completes a her second “Serena Slam” with her fourth consecutive major title, giving her 21 majors in total, three shy of Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24. In New York at the U.S. Open, Serena Williams will attempt to become only the fourth woman – and the sixth player – to win a calendar year Grand Slam, joining Don Budge (1938), Maureen Connolly (1953), Rod Laver (1962, 1969), Margaret Court (1970) and Steffi Graf (1988) to sweep all four majors in a season.
While achieving so much history – and perhaps more in the months ahead – how does the Serena Williams 2015 record – so far – compare to the other great singles seasons in tennis?
After her Wimbledon final win over Muguruza, the Williams match record for the year is 39-1, her lone loss coming in the semifinals of the clay event in Madrid to Petra Kvitova 6-2,6-3. She has won only four titles so far this year – her three major titles in Australia, France and Wimbledon – plus Miami, but withdrew from Rome after the first round and in Indian Wells before the semifinals with injuries (walk-overs do not count as match losses). In the majors, she has lost nine sets (two in Australia, five in France and two at Wimbledon.)
When Graf won the Grand Slam in 1988 she lost only two sets in her four major tournament run and posted a 72-3 won-loss record for the year, winning 11 of 14 events.
In 1983, Martina Navratilova posted the best won-loss record in the Open Era with an 86-1 tally during her dominant season (she completed a non-calendar “Martina Slam” at the 1984 French Open). She won 16 of 17 events during the year, her lone blemish being a fourth-round loss to Kathy Horvath at the French Open.
Margaret Court’s 1970 Grand Slam season featured a 104-6 record, winning 21 of 27 tournaments and losing only three sets in her run through all four major titles.
In the pre-Open era, Maureen Connolly’s run to the Grand Slam in 1953 featured the loss of only one set in her four major title runs. She won 10 of 12 tournaments and compiled a 61-2 record for the year.
To read more about the history of the Grand Slam, click here to Randy Walker’s story “The Grand Slam – Origins and Correct Verbiage” here: http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/12027 or watch his video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L7CrpyVpLE
