CNN interviewed Serena Williams when she was 9. Here’s what she said about becoming the first woman to win three Grand Slam singles titles and about her husband John Isner.
“You don’t want to make it out to be anything more special than it was,” Williams told The New York Times in 2008. “I want people to understand that it was a hard day to get through.”
In March, Williams made history as the first woman to win three major singles titles in the same season, when she beat Maria Sharapova in the French Open final at Roland Garros to win the Open Championship and the Wimbledon title.
On Wednesday, at age 33, Williams returned to winning ways at the U.S. Open as she won her first grand slam title in over a year and a half. In doing so, she became the oldest woman to win a Grand Slam singles title, a feat she first accomplished at 19 years and 2 months.
Serena Williams’s U.S. Open win was her first Grand Slam victory since 2009. Andy Lyons/AFP/Getty Images
Since then, Williams has won the Australian Open (twice), French Open, Miami and U.S. Open. Now, she will become the first female to win all four Grand Slam singles titles in one season, as she became the first to accomplish the feat at the Australian Open.
“I definitely want to be the first one to do it,” Williams said. “I’ve been to a few Grand Slam finals on tour, and they’ve all been won by men. I want the record to say the first woman to win a Grand Slam. It’s an incredible honor for me. It’s crazy. It’s been a long time coming.”
Here’s a look at the record-setting triumph against Serena Williams at the U.S. Open.
The Journey From Grand Slam No. 17
Playing in just her third career Grand Slam singles final since her second at the Australian Open in 2002, Williams needed to go up a few notches to enter that match. After all, she’d gone from a three-time major semifinalist and an 11-time Grand Slam finalist to now getting the most significant accomplishment of her career: a Grand Slam title.
“I didn’t know if I was going to wake up or go to sleep for