Who is the Greatest Tennis Player of All Time (Female)?
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There are a lot of great female tennis players out there, but who is the greatest of all time? We take a look at the stats and achievements of the top contenders to try and answer this question.
Serena Williams
Serena Williams is an American professional tennis player who is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, more than any other player in the Open Era. Williams has also won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, four Olympic gold medals, and is the only tennis player to have won a singles gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Grand Slam Titles
Serena Williams holds the record for the most Grand Slam singles titles with 23. She has also won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, all with her sister Venus Williams.
Overall Record
Serena Williams has been ranked world No. 1 by the Women’s Tennis Association on eight occasions, from 2002 to 2017. She first became the world No. 1 on July 8, 2002, and regained this ranking for the fifth time on November 2, 2009. Williams holds the most Grand Slam titles of any active female tennis player, having won 23 in singles, 14 in women’s doubles, and two in mixed doubles. She is also the most recent player, male or female, to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously (2002–03 and 2014–15) and the second player to achieve this “Career Golden Slam” (Steffi Graf was first, achieving it in 1988).
Margaret Court
Margaret Court is considered by many to be the greatest tennis player of all time (female). She has won a record 24 Grand Slam singles titles, more than any other player in history (male or female). She is also the only player in history to have won all four Grand Slam singles titles in a single year (1970).
Grand Slam Titles
Margaret Court has the record for the most grand slam titles with 24. This is 3 more than Serena Williams, who is in second place with 21 titles.
Overall Record
In her career, Court won 24 Grand Slam singles titles, which is an all-time record for a female tennis player. Court is also the only player (male or female) to have won all four Grand Slam events in a single year twice: in 1962 and 1969.
She holds the record for most Major wins in the combined history of the sport (overall, male or female). In 1970, Court became the first woman in tennis history to surpass $1 million in career prize money. When she retired from competitive tennis in 1977, she had won more prizes than any other tennis player to that date.
Steffi Graf
Heading into the 2020 Wimbledon Championships, Serena Williams has the chance to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. This got us thinking, who is the greatest female tennis player of all time? In our opinion, it’s Steffi Graf.
Grand Slam Titles
In tennis, a Grand Slam is when a player wins all four major tournaments in a single year. These tournaments are the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Winning all four Grand Slams in a single year is known as a calendar-year Grand Slam. Steffi Graf is one of only six women in history to have accomplished this feat. The others are Maureen Connolly (1953), Margaret Court (1970), Martina Navratilova (1984), Serena Williams (2002, 2014, 2015), and Jennifer Capriati (2001).
Overall Record
In tennis, Steffi Graf holds the record for the most Grand Slam singles titles with 22. She is also one of only five women (along with Margaret Court, Helen Wills Moody, Maureen Connolly, and Serena Williams) to have won all four major singles titles (the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open) at least four times each.
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is often considered to be the greatest female tennis player of all time. She has won 39 Grand Slam titles, including 12 singles, 16 women’s doubles, and 11 mixed doubles titles. She has also been a pioneer in the fight for gender equality in sports.
Grand Slam Titles
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She is considered one of the greatest female tennis players of all time. During her career, she won 39 Grand Slam titles, including 12 singles, 16 women’s doubles, and 11 mixed doubles. She also won a record 20 Wimbledon titles, including six singles, 10 women’s doubles, and four mixed doubles.
Overall Record
In her professional career, King won 129 singles titles, including 12 major singles crowns. She also won a record 20 Wimbledon titles — six in singles, 10 in women’s doubles, and four in mixed doubles. In all, she amassed an impressive tally of 52 Grand Slam tournament titles overall.
Widely regarded as one of the best tennis players of all time, Martina Navratilova won an astounding 18 Grand Slam singles titles during her career. She also holds the record for the most Wimbledon singles titles – an incredible 9 times. Let’s take a look at her incredible career.
Grand Slam Titles
Martina Navratilova is a Czech-American former professional tennis player. She is a United States and Czech Republic citizen. In 2005, Tennis magazine selected her as the greatest female tennis player for the years 1965 through 2005. Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 major women’s doubles titles (an all-time record), and 10 major mixed doubles titles. A total of 58 Grand Slam titles across singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles richly attest to Navratilova’s legendary achievements in tennis.
Overall Record
In her professional career, Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 major women’s doubles titles (an all-time record), and 10 major mixed doubles titles. A total of 58 Grand Slam titles across singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles matches ranks her as the most decorated player in tennis history.
In 1985, Navratilova reached the Wimbledon singles final for the tenth time in eleven years, a record that still stands as of 2021. She won the ladies’ singles title that year for a ninth time (at the time a record), equalling the all-time record held by Helen Wills Moody. In 1986, she defeated Hana Mandlíková to capture her tenth Wimbledon title overall, setting an all-time record. The following year she won her sixth French Open title and became only the second woman after Margaret Court to achieve a career Grand Slam in both singles and doubles. In 1987, Navratilova set an Open Era record by winning 167 singles matches.
Conclusion
After analyzing the data, it is clear that Serena Williams is the greatest female tennis player of all time. She has more Grand Slam titles than any other player in history, and she has been ranked No. 1 in the world for more weeks than any other player. There is simply no one who can match her accomplishments.
