By Nick Georgandis
With her 16th career Grand Slam title secured on Saturday, Serena Williams closed within two Slams of Chris Evert and Martin Navratilova for second place in the Open Era, and within six of Open Era career leader Steffi Graf.
Four players whose games and personalities could not have been more different, the quartet have combined to dominate the WTA basically since Evert won her first Slam at age 19 in 1974.
There have been 153 Grand Slam events from the time Evert won the 1974 French Open until Williams won the same tournament on Saturday. Navratilova, Graf, Evert and Williams have combined to 74 of those - 48.3% of all the majors won.
Of the three women ahead of her, Williams' career has become most like that of Navratilova, who defied logic by becoming better with age.
Navratilova won five Slams between ages 19 and 25, then added 12 more between ages 26 and 30, the period where most female players start to slow down.
Williams has won eight of her 16 Slams between ages 26 and 31, a really remarkable number when you consider she missed the 2010 US Open and 2011 Australian and French Opens during her long injury layoff.
Graf was the polar opposite, winning 16 of her 22 major titles between 17 and 25, then just six between 26 and 30. In the side-by-side breakdown, Evert's performance is the most phenomenal - the American won either 1 or 2 Slams every year from the time she was 19 until she was 31.
The Navratilova-Williams comparison makes sense particularly given two things both women improved on as their careers advanced - physical fitness and mental toughness.
As she has said in multiple interviews and particularly her ESPN 30 for 30 documentary alongside Evert, Navratilova was overweight and overemotional early in her career, and it cost her plenty as she would break down over close losses.
Once she started getting mentally tougher, including when she came out publically about her homosexuality, she took off, particularly when combined with her rigorous workout program that had her far and away the strongest player in the game.
Williams' mental toughness largely came when she and sister Venus stopped relying so much on father Richard and did a lot more speaking, and presumably thinking, for themselves. And Williams' physical gifts are like virtually no other player ever - her power and strength unmatched.
A look at the year-by-year Slam wins for Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Serena Williams.
|
Age |
Graf (22) |
Navratilova (18) |
Evert (18) |
Williams (16) |
|
17 |
1 |
DNP |
0 |
1 |
|
18 |
2 |
DNP |
0 |
0 |
|
19 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
|
20 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
|
21 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
|
22 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
23 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
24 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
25 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
|
26 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
|
27 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
|
28 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
29 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
|
30 |
1* |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
31 |
DNP |
0 |
1* |
1* |
|
32 |
DNP |
0 |
DNP |
|
|
33 |
DNP |
1 |
DNP |
|
|
34 |
DNP |
0 |
DNP |
|
|
35 |
DNP |
0 |
DNP |
|
|
36 |
DNP |
0 |
DNP |
|
|
37 |
DNP |
0* |
DNP |
|
* = last/most recent year of career