Serena Williams Reaches for Margaret Court at the Top
Serena Williams will face Bianca Andreescu of Canada in the United States Open final on Saturday in a quest to notch her 24th Grand Slam singles title, which would equal the mark of Margaret Court, above, who has held sole possession of the women’s record for decades.
The women at the top of the list of Grand Slam titles span many eras of tennis history, starting from a time when these championships were not considered the absolute currency that they are now when discussing the greatest players ever.
The Women With the Most Grand Slam Singles Titles
AUSTRALIAN
OPEN
FRENCH
OPEN
WIMBLEDON
UNITED STATES
OPEN
24
Margaret
Court
11
5
3
5
23
Serena
Williams
7
3
7
6
22
Steffi
Graf
4
6
7
5
19
Helen
Wills Moody
0
4
8
7
18
Chris
Evert
2
7
3
6
18
Martina
Navratilova
3
2
9
4
AUSTRALIAN
OPEN
FRENCH
OPEN
WIMBLEDON
UNITED STATES
OPEN
24
Margaret
Court
11
5
3
5
23
Serena
Williams
7
3
7
6
22
Steffi
Graf
4
6
7
5
19
Helen
Wills Moody
0
4
8
7
18
Chris
Evert
2
7
3
6
18
Martina
Navratilova
3
2
9
4
When players in the past set their tournament schedules, their priorities were often overall titles, holding the No. 1 ranking or prize-money standings.
In today’s game, players like Williams play a limited schedule of smaller tournaments, focusing instead on the Grand Slam events.
The six women with the most singles titles have taken different paths to the top of the list: Williams and Court both missed time while having children; Steffi Graf soared quickly to her 22 titles and walked away; and Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova had a dynamic head-to-head rivalry, often trading championships back and forth.
Climbing the Ladder of Grand Slam Titles
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
Margaret Court
24 titles
Serena Williams 23
Steffi Graf 22
20
Chris Evert
18
Helen Wills
Moody 19
Martina Navratilova 18
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
Margaret Court
24 titles
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Steffi Graf
22
Serena Williams 23
20
Chris
Evert 18
Helen Wills
Moody 19
Martina Navratilova 18
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Court
Williams
Graf
20
Wills
Evert
Navratilova
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
Serena Williams 23
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Serena Williams 23
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Williams
20
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
Serena Williams 23
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Serena Williams 23
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Williams
20
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
Serena Williams 23
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Serena Williams 23
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Williams
20
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
Margaret Court
24 titles
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
Margaret Court
24 titles
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Court
20
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
Margaret Court
24 titles
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
Margaret Court
24 titles
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Court
20
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
Margaret Court
24 titles
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
Margaret Court
24 titles
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Court
20
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
Margaret Court
24 titles
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
Margaret Court
24 titles
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Court
20
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
Steffi Graf 22
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Steffi Graf
22
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Graf
20
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
Steffi Graf 22
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Steffi Graf
22
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Graf
20
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
Steffi Graf 22
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Steffi Graf
22
20
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
Graf
20
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
20
Helen Wills
Moody 19
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
Helen Wills
Moody 19
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
Wills
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
20
Helen Wills
Moody 19
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
Helen Wills
Moody 19
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
Wills
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
20
Helen Wills
Moody 19
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
Helen Wills
Moody 19
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
Wills
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
20
Chris Evert
18
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
Chris
Evert 18
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
Evert
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
20
Chris Evert
18
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
Chris
Evert 18
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
Evert
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
20
Martina Navratilova 18
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
Martina Navratilova 18
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
Navratilova
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
25
GRAND SLAM TITLES
20
Martina Navratilova 18
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
Martina Navratilova 18
15
10
5
0
13
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
GRAND SLAM TITLES
25
20
Navratilova
15
10
5
0
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
AGE (at time of victory)
This chart shows the total number of Grand Slam titles for the top six women and how old they were when they won each title.
Williams won her last title, the 2017 Australian Open, at 35, while pregnant with her daughter. She has lost three Grand Slam finals since returning from maternity leave.
Williams never won a calendar-year Grand Slam, but she held all four major titles at the same time twice (known as the Serena Slams), in 2002-03 and in 2014-15.
Williams is one of only two players (Graf) to win all four majors plus a gold medal in the Olympics, giving them the so-called career Golden Slam.
Court won three Grand Slams in 1973, after having her first child in 1972.
She won 13 of her 24 major titles before the Open era began in 1968 and Grand Slam events allowed professional players to enter.
But Court had tough competition before the Open era, too. Two of her wins in pre-Open era finals were over Billie Jean King, and three came against Maria Bueno.
She also won 11 of the 24 at the Australian Open, which other top players often skipped in its early years because it was difficult to travel to and had relatively meager prize money.
Graf won her first major by defeating Navratilova, 8-6, in the third set at the French Open, a week shy of Graf’s 18th birthday.
In one of the most dominant two-year runs ever, from 1988-89, Graf won eight of nine majors and the gold medal at the Olympics.
Graf won at least three of the four majors in the same year five times. Court had done it as well, but twice before the Open era.
One of the most dominant players ever, Helen Wills Moody won 16 of the 17 majors she entered between 1927 and 1938.
In total, Wills won 19 of her 24 Grand Slam events. She never played in the Australian championships.
Wills won the gold medal in singles and doubles at the Olympics in 1924, the last time tennis was an Olympic sport until 1988, when Graf won.
Evert not only won the most French Opens (seven), she also won the U.S. Open three times while it was briefly played on clay. Her 10 major titles on clay is also a women’s record.
Evert and Navratilova met 14 times in Grand Slam finals; Evert won four.
Navratilova won nine Wimbledon singles titles, the most of anyone, woman or man.
During her main Grand Slam playing years, from 1973-94, Navratilova did not participate in 12 Australian Opens and 10 French Opens.
The different eras and the different experiences of the game’s top players make for difficult comparisons.
King, herself a 12-time Grand Slam singles champion, said she would like to see tennis records accompanied with asterisks, like those used in baseball statistics, that could signal the incongruity of eras in tennis.
“We don’t understand the history of tennis at all,” King said on the eve of this year’s Wimbledon. “It’s terrible — we don’t connect the generations as well as I would like.”
One thing is hard to dispute: Williams and Court dominated women’s tennis in the eras in which they played.