Serena Williams (Photo : Reuters)
At 33 years old, current world number one Serena Williams can still compete with the best that women's tennis has to offer. This year at the Roland Garros, she defeated world number seven Lucie Šafářová of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-2, in the finals to capture the 20th Grand Slam title of her 18-year career.
Williams won her first career Grand Slam in the 1999 US Open when she defeated Martina Hingis, considered then as the best women's tennis player in the world. Sixteen years and 20 titles later, the Michigan native is still here giving excitement to her fans.
According to CNN's Ravi Ubha, only Germany's Steffi Graf has more career Grand Slams at 22. And Graf's record is definitely in danger as Williams has no signs of slowing down at this stage of her career.
Tying Graf's career Grand Slam record is not the only thing that Serena could accomplish in 2015. She also has a big chance of achieving a calendar year Grand Slam, which means winning all four majors in a single year. After winning the Australian Open in January and the French Open in June, next in line for Williams are the Wimbledon later this month and the US Open in August where she is a three-time defending champion.
The calendar year Grand Slam was last achieved in 1988, also by Graf.
While everything seemed so easy for Serena, she admitted that not everything is well as she entered the final round in Paris. ESPN's Jim Caple reported that Williams was actually battling a flu prior to the match and almost collapsed following her close semifinal victory over Swiss Timea Bacsinszky.
Patrick Mouratoglou, her coach, told reporters she had a fever Friday and spent the whole day resting in bed. Her condition started to get better the next day. The fever disappeared, she participated in the finals and was able to come from behind 0-2 in the third set to beat Šafářová.
