Serena Williams won 23 Grand Slam titles during her career, with the final one coming at the Australian Open in 2017.
For many years, the younger of the two Williams sisters was the dominant force in professional tennis, and she remains the benchmark for inspiration when it comes to the women on the WTA Tour.
Williams carried on for five years after her final Grand Slam was determined to add more of the game’s major honours to her list of titles before the curtain came down on her glittering career.
She reached four further finals at Grand Slam events, but her legacy remained intact and she still goes down as the game’s greatest ever player from a female perspective – and one of the best in any sport ever.
Photo by Fred Lee/Getty ImagesWang Qiang stuns Serena Williams at the Australian Open in 2020
Before the world was shocked into lockdown in 2020, shockwaves were rife in the world of tennis too when China’s Qiang stunned Williams by knocking her out of the Australian Open.
The third-round defeat was the earliest that Williams had been dumped out for 14 years in Melbourne, with Qiang winning the clash 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 to end her quest for another title at that event.
For Qiang, it proved to be a case of after the Lord Mayor’s Show, with Ons Jabeur thrashing the player in the very next round to end her quest for glory at the event.
However, nobody can ever take this win against one of the legendary figures in women’s tennis away from her but she will look back on the match with a tinge of sadness that she never managed to truly build on it.
Wang Qiang never made the top 10 after Serena Williams shock
The following year, Williams bounced back to a certain extent and reached the semi-finals in Melbourne, while Qiang, on the other hand, was beaten in the first round by Sara Errani.
It proved a hard act to follow for the Chinese player after beating Williams. She was on the cusp of making the top 10 around that time, but her highest ranking remains number 12 and right now she sits way down in 370th place.
Tennis is an unforgiving mistress. When you’re winning and claiming success on the big stages, it’s all sweetness and light, but once you start on a freefall down the rankings, there can be no parachute sometimes.
That is the challenge that Qiang has faced and right now she’s struggling to even earn the chance to qualify for the big tournaments and it’s not certain what the future will hold for the 33-year-old as a tennis player.