The Matches that Made Serena the GOAT: Williams d. Venus Williams, 2017 Australian Open final

Tennis Honors: Naomi Osaka on Serena Williams

This week, Steve Tignor looks back at five contests that made Serena Williams the greatest of all time.

There’s no way I would be at 23 without her.

Serena never wanted her win over her sister Venus in the 2017 Australian Open final to be her Grand Slam swan song. Even though she was 35 at the time, was entering her third decade as a pro, and would give birth later that year, she soldiered on for five more seasons, and reached four more major finals.

But as far as swan songs go, it doesn’t get much better than this one. With it, she won her 23rd major title and passed Steffi Graf for second on the all-time list, behind Margaret Court, who has 24. Serena admitted she would have loved to have passed Court, too—“I’d by lying if I said I didn’t want that record”—but she also realized she didn’t need to: “I showed up 23 times, and that’s fine. Actually, it’s extraordinary.”

When it comes to Open Era champions, Graf is Serena’s closest competition, and on this day she rose above her. Yet this final was about more than a number or a GOAT race. It was about a sister, too. This was the 20th meeting between the Williamses, and like many others, it was a tough, tense, back-and-forth fight that never soared to the stylistic heights. The match opened with four breaks, a stretch that included a Serena racquet smash. But after some stubborn play from Venus, Serena gradually grabbed control. It started with a backhand return and a drop volley at 3–3, and continued with a series of thumping aces.

This was a quiet, focused Serena, until late in the second set, when she finally let out a grunt on a winning return at break point. In the final game, some more stubborn play from Venus inspired one of Serena’s few fist-pumps. And when Venus’ last backhand landed wide, Serena turned away from her sister to celebrate.

It has always been hard, in matches against Venus, for Serena to show how much she wants to win. This time she paid tribute to the woman whose love for tennis had inspired her to pick up a racquet, and become the best ever.

“There’s no way I would be at 23 without her,” Serena said of Venus during the trophy ceremony. “I wouldn’t be at one without her. She’s the only reason I’m standing here today.”

The match turned out to be a family affair in one more way. Later we found out that while Serena was defeating her sister, she was also carrying the next Williams generation—her daughter Alexis Olympia—inside her. It was a fitting finale for a player who never met a limit she couldn’t break through.