Serena Williams hits another milestone with ranking feat
16 July 2015 12:14 AM GMT
The WTA Tour revealed Tuesday that world number one Williams is the first top-ranked player ever with more than twice as many points as her nearest rival.
Records dating to the WTA’s 1973 founding show the 33-year-old American’s domination to be the greatest of any point in the rankings’ history, with Williams on 13,161 points and Russia’s second-ranked Maria Sharapova on 6,490. (Calendar Slam no Swear for Serena)
In addition to sweeping the US, French and Australian Opens plus Wimbledon over the past 12 months, Williams won last year’s WTA Finals in Singapore and at Miami last March to help build her runaway rankings margin.
Williams beat Sharapova in the Wimbledon semi-finals and downed Spain’s Garbine Muguruza in last Saturday’s final to win her sixth Wimbledon crown and 21st Grand Slam title overall. (Serena Inspired by Ageless Federer)
That puts Williams one shy of matching Steffi Graf for the Open Era-record of 22 Grand Slam singles crowns and just three shy of Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24.
Williams has won as many Grand Slam titles as all other active women’s players combined, including
Sharapova’s five and seven for Venus Williams, Serena’s older sister. Petra Kvitova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Victoria Azarenka have won two major titles each while Samantha Stosur, Ana Ivanovic and Francesca Schiavone own one each.
US Open singles champs to get record USD 3.3 million
US Open men’s and women’s singles champions will receive a record USD 3.3 million in prize money this year, a 10 per cent boost over last year, the US Tennis Association has announced. The richest prizes in the sport will be part of a record USD 42.3 million total purse, which jumps 10.5 per cent from 2014. Runner-ups will take home USD 1.6 million each with every player who makes the New York main draws of 128 assured at least USD 39,500. Wimbledon champions Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams each won USD 2.9 million last weekend while this year’s Australian Open winners each made USD 2.5 million and the French Open champions each took USD 2 million.
Next Story
