page_title: Serena Williams
section_title: 2014–2015: Second 'Serena Slam'
hierarchical_section_title: Serena Williams / Professional career / 2014–2015: Second 'Serena Slam'
caption_attribution_description: English: Serena Williams won her 20th grandslam singles title at the French Open 2015
context_page_description: Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and former world No. 1 in women's single tennis. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time behind Margaret Court. The Women's Tennis Association ranked her world No. 1 in singles on eight separate occasions between 2002 and 2017. She reached the No. 1 ranking for the first time on July 8, 2002. On her sixth occasion, she held the ranking for 186 consecutive weeks, tying the record set by Steffi Graf. In total, she has been No. 1 for 319 weeks, which ranks third in the Open Era among female players behind Graf and Martina Navratilova.
  Williams holds the most Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles combined among active players. Her 39 Grand Slam titles put her joint-third on the all-time list and second in the Open Era: 23 in singles, 14 in women's doubles, and two in mixed doubles. She is the most recent female player to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously and the third player to achieve this twice, after Rod Laver and Graf.
context_section_description: Williams defended her title at the Brisbane International by defeating No. 2, Victoria Azarenka, in the final. At the Australian Open she ended up losing to former No. 1, Ana Ivanovic, in the fourth round. At Dubai, Williams lost her semifinal match to Alizé Cornet in straight sets. Williams next headed to the Miami Open where she won her record seventh title with a straight-sets victory over No. 2 Li Na. Williams lost to Jana Čepelová in the second round of the Family Circle Cup. She made it to the quarterfinals at the Madrid Open before withdrawing with a left thigh injury. Williams won her third title of the season at the Rome. She was then handed the worst loss of her Grand Slam tournament career by Garbiñe Muguruza at the second round of the French Open, who defeated Serena losing just four games in two sets. Alizé Cornet defeated Williams for the second time in the year in the third round of Wimbledon, thus handing Williams her earliest Wimbledon exit since 2005. Serena was then forced to withdraw from the doubles event alongside sister Venus while trailing 0–3 in the second round. A disoriented Serena hit 4 consecutive doubles faults and was having trouble with both her ball toss and movement before being removed from what has been described as one of the most unusual scenes ever seen in tennis.
  Williams rebounded by winning 19 out of her next 20 matches (losing only to sister Venus in the semifinals of the Rogers Cup). This streak include titles at the Bank of the West Classic as well as her first Western & Southern Open title and her third consecutive and sixth overall US Open singles title which she won without having dropped a set. With this victory Williams tied Chris Evert for most singles titles won by a woman at the US Open in the Open Era. Williams also tied Evert and Navratilova's 18 Grand Slam singles titles won in the Open Era. By virtue of having won both the US Open and the US Open Series, Williams collected $4,000,000 – the biggest payday in tennis history. At the Wuhan Open a viral illness forced her to retire while up a break in the first set against Alizé Cornet. Cornet thus became the first woman since Justine Henin in 2007 to record three victories over Williams in one year. At the China Open Williams retired prior to her quarterfinal match versus Samantha Stosur. At the 2014 WTA Finals in Singapore Williams advanced to the final for the third consecutive year despite having equaled her career-worst loss in her second round robin match versus Simona Halep. Williams won her fifth WTA Finals title by avenging her loss to Halep in the championship match for her seventh title of the year. Williams finished the year ranked No. 1 for the fourth time in her career. She held the No. 1 ranking for the entire calendar year, a feat not accomplished since Steffi Graf in 1996. She was also voted WTA Player of the Year and ITF World Champion for a third consecutive year (sixth overall).
  Williams began the 2015 season by representing the United States alongside John Isner at the Hopman Cup. The American pair lost the final to the Poland. At the Australian Open Williams defeated Maria Sharapova for the 16th consecutive time to claim her 6th Australian Open singles title and 19th career Grand Slam singles title, winning the title on her third match point in the second set. With this victory Williams surpassed both, Evert and Navratilova, for second most Grand Slam singles titles won in the Open Era. The title was also her sixth Grand Slam singles title since turning 30 years of age, three more than the next closest to do so (Margaret Court, Martina Navratilova with three each). She is the only player in history to win all four Grand Slams at least once after having turned 30. The following weekend, Serena and sister Venus traveled to Buenos Aires to face Argentina in a World Group II tie for Fed Cup. She played and won her only match against María Irigoyen to help Team USA to a 4–1 win over Argentina. Williams announced that she would be competing at the Indian Wells Masters ending her 14-year boycott of the ev
caption: Williams celebrating her third French Open title
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