Serena Slam

American tennis player Serena Williams won four consecutive Grand Slam singles tournaments beginning with the 2002 French Open and ending with the 2003 Australian Open. Because she did not win these tournaments within the same calendar year, her achievement was not a traditional Grand Slam. In various pronouncements to the news media, Williams named her achievement the "Serena Slam." [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/27/sports/web.0127tennis.php "Williams shocks Sharapova to win Australian Open," International Herald-Tribune, January 27, 2007] ]

The player who came closest to stopping Williams from completing the "Serena Slam" was Belgian Kim Clijsters, who held two match points against Williams in the third set of the 2003 Australian Open semifinals before falling 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. Williams's Grand Slam streak was ultimately halted by Belgian Justine Henin in the semifinals of the 2003 French Open.

Prior to this streak, Williams had only won one Grand Slam singles title, the 1999 US Open. Since this streak ended, she has won four Grand Slam singles titles (2003 Wimbledon, the 2005 and 2007 Australian Open, and the 2008 US Open).

Similar achievements

The International Tennis Federation ruled that Martina Navratilova completed a "Grand Slam" when she won the fourth of her six consecutive Grand Slam singles titles in 1983 and 1984 even though Navratilova failed to win one of the four Grand Slam singles titles in each of those years. Under this expanded definition, Steffi Graf also won a "Grand Slam" twice, the first time beginning with the 1988 French Open and the second time beginning with the 1993 French Open. This was in addition to Graf's winning a Calendar Year Grand Slam in 1988. The other players who have won a Calendar Year Grand Slam in singles are Maureen Connolly Brinker (1953), Margaret Court (1970), Don Budge (1938), and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969).

Serena Slam

Notes