Serena Williams is on the cusp of tennis history.
Williams will look to tie the all-time major singles title record Saturday in the U.S. Open final.
Williams will be seeking her 24th major singles title that would tie her for the all-time lead owned by Margaret Court.
Williams will also be seeking her seventh U.S. Open title, which would be the most ever and break the tie that she currently shares with Chris Evert.
And that’s not it!
With a U.S. Open victory on Saturday, Williams will also join a select group of seven mothers in the history of the sport to win majors, most recently in the Open era (since 1968) by Kim Clijsters.
At 36 years and 349 days, Williams is the third oldest Grand Slam finalist in the Open Era. Should she win the title, Williams would be the oldest Grand Slam singles champion in the Open Era, overtaking her own record set at the 2017 Australian Open.
Despite being seeded No. 17, Williams, based her amazing track record, was the U.S. Open betting odds favorite – by virtue of her amazing career record and her success at Wimbledon in July, where she reached the final. However, Williams was also the strong favorite to win that final but was upset against Angelique Kerber. Williams was flat against Kerber and was perhaps overcome with emotion and nerves – even for a player as experienced as Williams – perhaps affected by the tremendous attention and affection she has received for her incredible comeback to tennis after her difficult child-birth during last year’s U.S. Open.
In the final, Williams will face 20-year-old Naomi Osaka, the explosive No. 20 seed, who is the first woman from Japan to reach a major final. Osaka has been highly-regarded for the last two years and burst onto the scene by winning the prestigious hard-court title in Indian Wells in March. In July, she was definitively picked to win Wimbledon by ESPN’s Patrick McEnroe, before falling in the round of 16. But perhaps her Grand Slam breakthrough form is one Grand Slam tournament delayed. An interesting side note to the final is that Osaka is coached by Sascha Bajin, who for years was the hitting coach for Williams.
