One More in the Books

Serena Williams won her first Grand Slam championship in New York in 1999.

Fifteen years later she was hoisting Major trophy number eighteen, becoming only the fourth player in the Open Era -- man or woman -- to hit that mark.

Anticipation was high for this moment since last summer, when a fifth U.S. Open title brought her within a stone's throw of the milepost achieved by legends Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova a quarter century or longer ago. But while there may have been times this year when she showed she could be just as vulnerable as anyone on the biggest stages, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that the long-time world #1, and arguably the most dominant player this century, got there eventually.

Serena's almost always the favorite at any tournament she enters -- on paper or not -- but players had gotten used to her bringing her best at the Slams. There was a stretch between early 2008 and mid-2011, in fact, where the only tournaments she won were Majors and year-end championships. Things changed a bit this year, though, and she was in danger of posting her first Major-free year -- of those in which she entered all four -- since 2001. After an easy win in Brisbane, she suffered her first career loss to Ana Ivanovic in the Australian Open fourth round; after her win in Rome, she was stunned early by upstart Garbiñe Muguruza in defense of her Roland Garros crown; and she failed to avenge her Dubai loss to Aliz&eactue; Cornet at the All England Club.

This year, somewhat uncharacteristically, it seemed a strong warm-up season was no indication of future results, so even with a 12-1 record since Wimbledon, Serena's prospects in Flushing Meadows were uncertain.

But Williams was able to regroup just in time. She began her New York campaign with some easy straight set wins, only facing her first real test in the quarterfinals when Flavia Pennetta ran off to a 3-0, two-break lead to start their match. But the task would be a little tougher in Sunday's final against a resurgent Caroline Wozniacki -- the 2009 runner-up was playing some of the best tennis of her career, taking out French Open champ Maria Sharapova in a gripping fourth round before totally demolishing thirteenth seed Sara Errani in the quarters. The former world #1 also took Serena to three sets in two matches over the summer, and having put together her best Major run in five years, she could have given Serena more than a little bit of trouble.

Serena, though, had other plans -- though the pair traded breaks early in the match, Williams was the aggressor from the start. She fired off fifteen winners in the first set compared to just one service ace from Wozniacki, and in the next actually cleaned up her game with twice as many winners as errors. She didn't allow a break opportunity in the second set and after just over an hour had wrapped up the win, officially making the U.S. Open her most successful Major.

Of course now the question becomes if and when Williams will match or surpass Steffi Graf's haul of twenty-two Slam singles titles. The way she played this fortnight, there's no reason to believe she can't get it done even next year. Still, plenty of others will be trying their best to start a record collection of their own -- but if Serena's performance in New York showed us anything, it's that she's not ready to go anywhere yet.

The Era of the Grand Slam

Is it just me, or have we been seeing a lot of career Grand Slams recently?

After a seven-year drought, first there was Roger Federer with the French in 2009, a little more than a year later, Rafael Nadal did it in New York. And now we have this.

I don't know that too many people expected a much different result from today's women's final in Paris. New #1 Maria Sharapova, three times a Major winner before, took on Italian Cinderella Sara Errani, who'd never made it past the third round of a Slam prior to this year. The scoreline was one-sided: Sharapova ran off with the first four games, won more than eighty percent of her first serves in the opening set, hit more than three times as many winners as her opponent, and despite an unflagging challenge from Errani was ultimately crowned the French Open champion.



Perhaps more important than the title itself is what Sharapova accomplished with the win -- her career Grand Slam, it turned out, was a long time in the making.

A breakout star with her astonishing 2004 run to the Wimbledon title, Maria went on to pick up the U.S. Open crown in 2006 and another in Australia in '08. She rose to #1 in the world, holding the position for seventeen weeks in total, but saw her career stall when a shoulder injury and subsequent surgery kept her out of the game for nine months. Her return was well-documented, but it took a while for her to really get her stride back -- at her first Slam post-injury, she battled to the Roland Garros quarters, but needed four three-setters to do it. It took another two years before she got past a Major fourth round, and her struggles made those first couple titles seem a few light years in the past.

But things started to turn around last year. She fought her way back to the Wimbledon final, albeit without facing an opponent ranked higher than she was, and kicked off 2012 with another runner-up showing in Melbourne. After going undefeated on the red clay this season, she proved she was truly one to watch in Paris and, though she avoided potential event-ending showdowns with Serena Williams or Caroline Wozniacki, she was able to live up to those high expectations.

At seven years and eleven months, hers was the longest length of time needed by man or woman to complete the career Slam -- Chris Evert needed two months less -- but the victory is just as sweet. I'm not sure many thought she'd be the next one to complete the feat, but now she joins an elite group of seventeen that includes the likes of Serena, Steffi Graf, and of course Rod Laver. And the better news is that this might be just the start of many more records to come -- with the Olympics just a few weeks away, she might have that elusive Golden Slam in her sights too.

Tomorrow Novak Djokovic will try to one-up even that. Currently reigning champion at three Majors, he has the opportunity to complete the Nole cycle Sunday, holding the title at every Slam at the same time -- something last done by Laver in 1962. Of course he'll have to go through clay court king Rafael Nadal to do it, but if he can pull off the upset -- yes, it'd be an upset despite the Serb's #1 ranking -- that would be four completed career Slams in three years, the most prolific period in history.



Of course that won't make the achievement any less prestigious, but it sure makes the divide between the sport's elite and everybody else that much greater. And with the latest entrants (or possible entrants) into the illustrious group separating themselves from the pack, they've put up notice for anyone who steps on court with them.