Wimbledon Divas 2000-22: Know Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Anna Kournikova
In the future, here are four divas of the current era, the last 20 years of international tennis. These four players have held the prestige of their predecessors high by showing the world why women can achieve anything they set their minds on
Serena Williams, one of the greatest of all time, has a powerful game, and no one can ever stand a chance before her if she's in form. Following the footsteps of Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova, Williams has made many noteworthy records in her career. With four singles grand slam titles to her name, her sister, Venus Williams, has also shown remarkable performance on the Wimbledon court. Mentored by Martina Navratilova, the GOAT in tennis, Maria Sharapova was one of the leading players in the early 21st century, having many important grand slam titles to her name. Last but not least, Anna Kournikova gave tough competition to many of the greatest players of her time while also showing a noteworthy partnership with Martina Hingis.
Serena Williams
Known for her powerful game, Serena Williams became the first African American woman to win a grand slam title by defeating Martina Hingis in the 1999 US Open women's singles final. She has 22 grand slam titles, out of which 7 are Wimbledon singles titles. She also won 14 grand slam doubles titles in partnership with her elder sister Venus Williams, who she also defeated in the 2003 Australian Open final to become the 6th woman to have a career grand slam winning all four grand slam titles in a year. Subsequently, in 2014-15, she again won all four grand slams in a year to become the third woman on the tennis field. In 2012, she also won a gold in Olympics, completing her career golden slam. Though Serena was defeated this year in the first round itself by Harmony Tan, her incredible history in the sport gives us reason to believe that there might still be great performances left to see.
Venus Williams
Serena's elder sister, Venus Williams, is also regarded as one of the biggest players in the field. Venus has 5 Wimbledon singles titles to her name. Seven total Grand Slam singles titles, 14 Grand Slam doubles titles and two mixed doubles grand slam titles have preserved Venus' name in the history of tennis in golden letters. To stop this, Venus Williams also has 4 Olympic gold medals for her powerful game style. She also became the first-ever African American woman to hold rank one position in international tennis. She has blatantly fought against racism and sexism throughout her career and has become an icon for many aspiring African American tennis players.
Maria Sharapova
Born in 1987, Maria Sharapova started playing tennis incredibly young age. In 1993, Martina Navratilova saw her play and recommended she move to Florida to boost her tennis career. At 17, in 2004, Sharapova won her first Grand Slam title by winning the Wimbledon singles final. She has 5 Grand Slam and 35 singles titles across all major tournaments. She became the first Russian woman to hold rank 1 in the world tennis rankings and the third-youngest woman to win a Wimbledon title. Sharapova has not only shown a remarkable performance on court but is also a celebrated model owing to her good looks and her amazing fitness regime.
Anna Kournikova
Though Kournikova hasn't won many singles titles in her tennis career, her two Grand Slam wins are worth mentioning. She has given tough competition to the greatest players of her time, won 16 double titles across all tournaments, including the Australian Open, and finished as runner-up in Wimbledon and US Open. Despite suffering many injuries in her career, Anna Kournikova maintained her place in the top 15 in the tennis circuit and also made it to the top 10 in 2000, holding the 8th position.
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