Serena Williams won her 18th major at the US Open last September, putting her briefly in a glorious triumvirate of champions. But Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Serena were together in second place among all-time Grand Slam singles winners for just a few months. Serena’s convincing win at the Australian today–her 19th Grand Slam–puts her alone in second, just three wins now behind the once seemingly unapproachable Steffi Graf, who holds 22 Grand Slam singles titles.
That means if Serena were to win the rest of this year’s Slams, she’d tie Graf by defending her title at the US Open in September. It’s obviously a tall order. Serena has never won all four majors in a single calendar year–though she’s won four consecutive majors–aka the “Serena Slam.” But she also has never looked stronger. Serena took care of world No. 2 Maria Sharapova, her closest rival, in straight sets down under.
