Serena Williams thanks her sister Venus Williams for her impact on her career and the sport of tennis after the 2017 Australian Open final: "She's my inspiration. She's the only reason I'm standing here today, and the only reason that the Williams Sisters exist."
"The narrative is ‘she didn’t make it’": Serena Williams doesn't get credit for reaching four Grand Slam finals after becoming a mother says Kim Clijsters
WTAFriday, 12 January 2024 at 01:30
Former
world No. 1 Kim Clijsters declares that Serena Williams did not receive enough
credit for reaching a Grand Slam final after the birth of her first daughter,
Olympia, in September 2017. In that year, Williams won the Australian Open by
defeating her sister Venus 6-4, 6-4, securing her 23rd Grand Slam.
Days after
winning the title, Williams announced her pregnancy during the tournament and
took some time off. The American didn't stay away for long and made a comeback
in March 2018 at Indian Wells.
Undoubtedly,
Serena Williams' major goal was to break Steffi Graf's record of 23 Grand Slams
and equal Margaret Court as the all-time Grand Slam title leader. She came
close but lost four consecutive finals before announcing her retirement at the
2022 US Open.
Four-times
Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters is the only tennis player so far who returned
after becoming a mother and won a Grand Slam title . In fact, the Belgian
achieved this feat three times: US Open in 2009 and 2010, and then the
Australian Open in 2011.
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Clijsters
recently expressed her opinion that Williams doesn't get enough credit for
reaching four Grand Slam finals after returning from pregnancy: “I don’t think
there’s a clear answer as to why no one has done it since. Serena Williams has
been very close,” she told The Telegraph.
“I feel
like a lot of times she didn’t get enough credit for being in all those grand
slam finals after having her daughter. The narrative is ‘she didn’t make it’
and it takes away from the level she was playing. I think it will happen. I
think it’s just the competitive nature and depth of our sport that has
increased from when I was younger,” she added.
Grand Slam finals for Williams after pregnancy
The
American achieved a record of 23-6 in Grand Slam finals, but after the birth of
her daughter, she lost four consecutive finals, failing to win a set in any of
them. She lost the 2018 Wimbledon final to Angelique Kerber (3-6, 3-6) and the
2019 final to Simona Halep (2-6, 2-6).
In the US
Open, she also reached the finals in 2018 and 2019, although they were also
defeats, first against Naomi Osaka (2-6, 4-6) and finally against Bianca
Andreescu (3-6, 5-7).
2018 - #OnThisDay in 2018, Angelique #Kerber defeated Serena #Williams and became the first German to win Wimbledon since Steffi Graf in 1996. Groundbreaking. @WTA @WTA_insider
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