January 30, 2017: The day a pregnant Serena Williams became the oldest woman in history to hold the world No 1 ranking
Every day, Tennis Majors goes back in time to look at a landmark event on the tennis world. Today, we return to 2017 to see how, at the age of 35, Serena Williams, who had just won the Australian Open, became the oldest world No 1 in the history of women’s tennis
Serena Williams (USA) def Venus Williams (USA)
What happened EXACTLY on this day: Serena Williams’s comeback continues
On this day, January 30, 2017, Serena Williams reached world No 1 for the seventh time in her career, thanks to her triumph at the Australian Open, two days earlier, over her sister Venus in the final (6-4, 6-4). With this 23rd Grand Slam title, she broke two records at once: she surpassed Steffi Graf’s 22 Grand Slams (Open era record) and, at 35 years and 124 days, became the oldest woman to hold the world No 1 ranking.
The player involved: Serena, a living legend
Serena Williams, born in 1981, was the youngest of her family. A few years earlier, in 1997, her older sister Venus, then just starting out on the circuit, had declared that her main rival would be Serena. At the time, observers weren’t sure whether she had said this seriously or out of pure provocation. They soon realised just how serious Venus really was.
Serena exploded in 1999. In September of that year, she surprised everyone by winning her first Grand Slam title before her older sister, overcoming Hingis in the final (6-3 7-6). Partnering Venus, she also won the doubles title, finishing the year ranked fourth in the world. In 2001, in the final of the US Open, she lost to Venus in the first match played by two sisters at such a high level of competition.
Between the 2002 French Open and the 2003 Australian Open, her career took on a new dimension when she achieved what came to be known as the “Serena Slam”: she won all four Grand Slam tournaments in succession, beating her sister Venus in the final each time. From 2004 to 2006, she took a step back from tennis and, despite another major title at the 2005 Australian Open, even went so far as to take a break in 2006.
She came back even stronger in 2007, winning numerous major titles over the years. And in 2015, after winning the first three major tournaments of the year, she came within two matches of achieving the calendar Grand Slam, losing to Roberta Vinci in the US Open semi-finals (2-6, 6-4, 6-4). At the 2017 Australian Open, she faced her sister Venus in the final of a major tournament for the ninth time, beating her for the seventh time, 6-4 6-4. She now holds 23 Grand Slam titles.
The FACTS: From Super Woman to Super Mum
At the start of 2017, Serena Williams, now aged 35, was the most dominant player of the last five years. Her grip on the circuit had even increased since 2015: in the last eight Grand Slam tournaments, she had triumphed four times, finished runner-up twice and reached the semi-finals twice. In 2015, after winning the first three major tournaments of the year, she was just two matches away from the calendar Grand Slam, but, to everyone’s amazement, she lost in the US Open semi-finals to Roberta Vinci (2-6, 6-4, 6-4).
In 2016, her dominance was challenged by the likes of Angelique Kerber, who beat Serena in the Australian Open final (6-4, 3-6, 6-4), and Garbiñe Muguruza, who dominated her in the French Open final (7-5, 6-4). However, thanks to her seventh Wimbledon triumph, she equalled Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam titles in the Open era, and although she relinquished top spot to Kerber in September, she was still considered by many experts to be the favourite for the 2017 Australian Open.
Despite a disappointing defeat in the second round of her warm-up tournament in Auckland (against world No. 72 Madison Brengle, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4), Serena made it through the Australian Open without a hitch, reaching the final without dropping a set, eliminating Belinda Bencic, Lucie Safarova, Nicole Gibbs, Barbara Strycova, Johanna Konta and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. In the final, she faced her sister Venus, who nobody had expected to reach this stage of the tournament: her last appearance in a Grand Slam final was almost eight years ago, at Wimbledon in 2009 – and that, incidentally, was against Serena.
For the seventh time in nine finals, the youngest of the Williams sisters came out on top, in two sets, 6-4, 6-4. With this title, she surpassed Steffi Graf’s 22 Grand Slam titles and took over the world No 1 spot from Angelique Kerber, the defending champion, who lost in the round of 16 to Coco Vandeweghe (6-2, 6-3). This particular achievement came as a great surprise to her, as her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, had deliberately withheld this information from her before the match in order, he said, “to avoid putting extra pressure on her at an already delicate moment”, according to the New York Times. At the age of 35 years and 124 days, she was the oldest woman ever to have achieved this feat.
“I’ve been chasing it for a really long time,” said Serena of her achievement. When it got on my radar, I knew I had an opportunity to get there, and I’m here. I’m here. It’s a great feeling. No better place to do it than Melbourne.”
Her next goal would be to equal Margaret Court’s 24 titles.
“I think that no player will be able to beat my record of 64 Grand Slam titles in total,” Court said in 2019. “But if someone will win more than 24 in singles, well, she’ll deserve it.”
What next: Maternity leave for the champ
Serena Williams would stay away from the circuit for the next few weeks and, in early April, she would announce on social media that she is 20 weeks pregnant – meaning that she was already pregnant in Melbourne when she won the Australian Open. She would last appear at the top of the WTA rankings on May 14, 2017. She gave birth to daughter Olympia in September 2017. Williams later spoke extensively about the health problems she faced during pregnancy and birth.
Returning to the circuit in 2018 to chase Margaret Court’s record, she lost four Grand Slam finals without being able to win a 24th title. At Wimbledon, she lost to Angelique Kerber in 2018 (6-3, 6-3) and to Simona Halep in 2019 (6-2, 6-2), while at the US Open, she lost to Naomi Osaka in 2018 (6-2, 6-4) and to Bianca Andreescu in 2019 (6-3, 7-5).
Her last match – at the time of writing – was at the US Open in September 2022, when she lost to Ajla Tomljanovic in the round of 32, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-1.
Williams gave birth to a second daughter, Adira, in August 2023.
