Who’s the Best Women’s Tennis Player Ever?
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The answer to this question is difficult to determine as there are many great women tennis players throughout history. However, there are a few players who stand out above the rest.
Serena Williams
It’s hard to dispute that Serena Williams is the best women’s tennis player ever. She has 23 grand slam titles, the most of any active female player. She’s been ranked number one in the world eight times. She has an incredible winning record of 89%. She’s also a force to be reckoned with on the doubles court, where she has 14 grand slam titles.
Grand Slam titles
Serena Williams has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most in history for a tennis player, male or female. She has also won 14 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, all with her sister Venus Williams, and the pair is unbeaten in Grand Slam finals.
Overall record
Serena Williams has won 73 singles titles, 23 Grand Slam singles titles, four Olympic gold medals, and numerous other awards. Her record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title came at the 2019 Australian Open.
In the Open Era, only two other female players have won more Grand Slam singles titles than Serena Williams: Margaret Court (24) and Steffi Graf (22). Serena Williams has the second-most major victories in tennis history — behind only Margaret Court (108) — and she is the only player in history (male or female) to have won majors on all three playing surfaces (hard court, clay court, and grass court).
Steffi Graf
When it comes to the best women’s tennis player ever, the discussion usually starts and ends with Steffi Graf. The German superstar won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, the most in the Open Era. She also spent a record 377 weeks at the No. 1 ranking in the world.
Grand Slam titles
In 1988, Graf became the only tennis player (male or female) to achieve the Golden Grand Slam, that is, winning all four Grand Slam singles titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year. Furthermore, she is the only tennis player to have won each Grand Slam tournament at least four times.
Overall record
Steffi Graf is often considered the greatest women’s tennis player of all time. She was the world No. 1 for 377 weeks, a record for any tennis player, male or female. In 1988, she became the only tennis player to achieve the Golden Slam by winning all four Grand Slam singles titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year.
Graf retired in 1999 while she was ranked World No. 3. In total, she won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, which is second only to Margaret Court’s 24. She also won 11 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles and three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles.
Margaret Court
Margaret Court is a former professional tennis player from Australia. She is currently a preacher at the Victory Life Centre in Perth, Western Australia. She was previously married to Barry Court, with whom she had four children.
Grand Slam titles
In tennis, a Grand Slam title is won by winning all four of the biggest tournaments in a calendar year. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. Margaret Court holds the record for the most Grand Slam titles, with 24.
Overall record
As of 2020, Margaret Court has the most overall wins of any tennis player in history, with 1,442 total wins. This includes her singles wins (1,213), doubles wins (227), and mixed doubles wins (2).
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player who is widely regarded as one of the greatest female tennis players of all time. She won 39 Grand Slam titles, including 12 singles, 16 women’s doubles, and 11 mixed doubles titles. She also won the inaugural WTA Tour Championships in 1972. King was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987.
Grand Slam titles
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player who was born on November 22, 1943, in Long Beach, California. She is considered to be one of the greatest female tennis players of all time. During her career, she won 39 Grand Slam titles, which is more than any other female tennis player in history.
King began playing tennis at a young age and quickly began winning junior tournaments. She turned professional in 1968 and won her first Grand Slam singles title at the French Open that same year. She went on to win Wimbledon for the first time in 1972.
In 1973, King defeated Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match, which was one of the most-watched television events of all time. King used her platform to advocate for gender equality in sports and society. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987.
Overall record
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player who is considered one of the greatest women’s tennis players of all time. She has an overall record of 1,247 wins and 219 losses.
Widely considered the best women’s tennis player ever, Martina Navratilova dominated the sport in the 1970s and 1980s. She won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 major women’s doubles championships (an all-time record), and 10 major mixed doubles titles. She was also the year-end world No. 1 singles player a record 10 times.
Grand Slam titles
Martina Navratilova is a former Czech tennis player who became a United States citizen in 1981. She won 18 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles and 10 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. She was also runner-up in singles at the Wimbledon – in 1979 (to truncated title), 1982 and 1983 (both to Chris Evert), as well as at the French Open – in 1975 and 1977 (both to Evert),1984 (to Helena Sukova) and 1986 (to Manuela Maleeva). She won 54 Grand Slam women’s doubles tournaments, more than any other player since the introduction of open tennis, and 90 overall including mixed doubles.
Overall record
Martina Navratilova is widely considered to be the best female tennis player of all time. Her overall record speaks for itself:
-She won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 major women’s doubles titles (an all-time record), and 10 major mixed doubles titles.
-She reached the Wimbledon singles final 12 times, winning nine of them.
-At the French Open, she reached the final seven times and won twice.
-She won 107 singles tournaments and 177 doubles tournaments during her career.
-Navratilova retired from competitive tennis in 2006, but she remains active as a coach and broadcaster.
