Legendary Serena, Graff, and Navratilova in the greatest five tennis Player

We are going to disscuss about legendary Female Tennis Player. Among them Serena Williams, Steff Graff and Martina Navratilova are included . Margaret court and Chris Evert are among the list.

1.Serena Williams

Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, by a lot of pundits and experts. She was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) for 319 weeks, including a joint-record 186 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. She won 23 Grand Slam women’s singles titles, the most in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time. She is the only player to accomplish a career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles.
Along with her elder sister Venus, Serena Williams was coached by her parents Oracene Price and Richard Williams. Turning professional in 1995, she won her first major singles title at the 1999 US Open. From the 2002 French Open to the 2003 Australian Open, she was dominant, winning all four major singles titles (each time over Venus in the final) to achieve a non-calendar year Grand Slam and the career Grand Slam, known as the ‘Serena Slam’.

The next few years saw her claim two more singles majors, but suffer from injury and decline in form. Beginning in 2007, however, she gradually returned to form despite continued injuries, retaking the world No. 1 singles ranking. Beginning at the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, Williams returned to dominance, claiming Olympic gold (completing the Career Golden Slam in singles) and winning eight out of thirteen singles majors, including all four in a row from 2014–15 to achieve a second “Serena Slam”. At the 2017 Australian Open, she won her 23rd major singles title, surpassing Steffi Graf’s Open Era record. She then took a break from professional tennis after becoming pregnant and reached four major finals upon returning to play. In August 2022, Williams announced her impending “evolution” away from professional tennis and played what was expected to be her final match at the 2022 US Open.
Williams also won 14 major women’s doubles titles, all with her sister Venus, and the pair was unbeaten in major doubles finals (the best unbeaten record in major finals in any discipline of the sport).[21][22] The pair achieved a non-calendar year Grand Slam between the 2009 Wimbledon Championships and the 2010 French Open, which granted the sisters the doubles world No. 1 ranking. Serena won four Olympic gold medals, three in women’s doubles—an all-time joint record in tennis, shared with her sister.

The duo are the only women in the Open Era to win Olympic gold in both singles and doubles. She also won two major mixed doubles titles, both in 1998. She is the only single player, male or female, to complete three Career Golden Slams – one in women’s singles and two in same-sex doubles.

The arrival of the Williams sisters has been credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on the women’s professional tennis tour. Serena holds a combined 39 major titles: 23 in singles, 14 in women’s doubles, and two in mixed doubles. She is joint-third on the all-time list and second in the Open Era for total major titles. She is the most recent woman to simultaneously hold all four major singles titles (2002–03 and 2014–15), and the most recent woman to win the Surface Slam (major titles on hard, clay, and grass courts in the same calendar year), doing so in 2015. She is also, with Venus, the most recent player to have simultaneously held all four major women’s doubles titles (2009–10).

Williams was the world’s highest-paid woman athlete in 2016, earning almost $29 million. She is the highest-earning woman athlete of all time.[32]

2.Steffi Graf

In 1984, Steffi Graf, just 15 years old, won the Olympic tennis demonstration tournament despite being its youngest entrant. By 1987 she was ranked number one in the world. In 1988, Graf won the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and, less than a week before the Seoul Olympic Games, the US Open. This made her only the fifth player in history to win tennis’ Grand Slam.

She arrived at the Seoul Games on a 35-match winning streak. In the Olympic final, she defeated Argentina’s Gabriela Sabatini 6-3, 6-3 to achieve the first “Golden Slam” – all five Grand Slam titles plus the Olympic gold medal. No one in women’s tennis has achieved it since.

Graf retired in 1999 while still number three in the world, having dominated the sport for over a decade. In the same year she was awarded the Olympic Order.

Widely regarded as one of the best players in the game’s history, Steffi Graf now lives in Las Vegas, USA, with her husband, American tennis great Andre Agassi.

3.Martina Navratilova

Martina Navratilova dominated tennis for a long time. One of the toughest competitors to ever grace the court, Martina Navratilova dominated women’s tennis from the late 1970s through a good portion of the 1980s. Known for her extreme physical conditioning, Martina brought the big serve and volley back to the women’s game.
She holds the Open Era record for career titles with 167 and has 59 total Grand Slam titles, which includes singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. Martina also holds the record for career Wimbledon titles with an amazing nine championships. She will be remembered as one of the greatest doubles players ever, having won 31 Grand Slam Doubles titles and 10 Grand Slam Mixed Doubles titles.
She was popular among the fans in the 90s decade after winning the 9th Wimbledon title.
Navratilova was ranked as the world No. 1 in singles for a total of 332 weeks (second only to Steffi Graf), and a record 237 weeks in doubles, making her the only player in history to have held the top spot in both disciplines for over 200 weeks. She won 167 top-level singles titles and 177 doubles titles, both Open Era records.

She won a record six consecutive singles majors across 1983 and 1984 while simultaneously winning the Grand Slam in doubles. Navratilova claims the best professional season winning percentage, 98.8% in 1983 (going 86–1 for the season), and the longest all-surface winning streak of 74 straight match wins. She reached the Wimbledon singles final 12 times, including for nine consecutive years from 1982 through 1990, and won the title a record nine times. Navratilova is one of the three tennis players, along with Margaret Court and Doris Hart, to have accomplished a career Grand Slam in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles, called the career “Boxed Set”. She won her last major title, the mixed doubles crown at the 2006 US Open, shortly before her 50th birthday, and 32 years after her first major title in 1974.
Originally from Czechoslovakia, Navratilova was stripped of her citizenship when, in 1975 at age 18, she asked the United States for political asylum and was granted temporary residence. She became a US citizen in 1981. On January 9, 2008, Navratilova reacquired Czech citizenship, thus becoming a dual citizen.

She stated she has not renounced her U.S. citizenship nor does she plan to do so, and that reclaiming Czech nationality was not politically motivated. Navratilova has been openly gay since 1981 and has been an activist on gay rights.

4. Margaret Court

Court is considered as one of the GOAT tennis stars, who became successful in politics also.
Margaret Court was born on 16 July 1942, also known as Margaret Smith Court. She is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player and a Christian minister. Considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Her 24 women’s singles major titles and total of 64 major titles (including 19 major women’s doubles and 21 major mixed doubles titles) are the most in tennis history.
Court was born in Albury, New South Wales. In 1960, aged 17, she won the first of seven consecutive Australian Open singles titles. She completed the career Grand Slam in singles aged 21 with her victory at Wimbledon in 1963. Taking a brief hiatus in 1966 and 1967, Court played as an amateur until the advent of the Open Era in 1968. She completed the Grand Slam by winning all four major singles titles in 1970, part of a record six consecutive major singles victories. Court gave birth to her first child in 1972 but returned to tennis later in the year and won three major singles titles in 1973. She took similar breaks after her second and third children were born, retiring from the game in 1977.

Court’s all-surface (hard, clay, grass, and carpet) singles career-winning percentage of 91.69 is the fourth best of all time. Her Open-Era singles career winning percentage of 91.02% (608–60) is unequaled, as is her Open-Era winning percentage of 91.67% (11–1) in major singles finals.[3] Her win–loss performance in all major singles tournaments was 90.00% (207–23). She was 95.24% (60–3) at the Australian Open, 89.80% (44–5) at the French Open, 85.00% (51–9) at Wimbledon, and 89.66% (52–6) at the US Open. She also shares the Open-Era record for most major singles titles won as a mother with Kim Clijsters, at three.[4] In 1973, Court set the record for the most singles titles won at a single major (for either women’s or men’s), with 11 Australian Open titles. This record was surpassed by Rafael Nadal in 2019 when he won his 12th French Open title, but it remains a women’s record.
The court is one of only three players in history (all women) to have won the “Boxed Set”, consisting of every major title (the singles, doubles, and mixed doubles). She is the only player in tennis history to complete a double-boxed set. Uniquely, she won all twelve events as an amateur and then, after a hiatus from the sport, returned as a professional to win all twelve again (including a shared title in the 1969 Australian Open mixed doubles after the final was abandoned and not contested). The court is also one of only six tennis players to win a double career Grand Slam in two disciplines, matching Roy Emerson, Martina Navratilova, Frank Sedgman, Doris Hart, and Serena Williams. She also won the Fed Cup with Australia on four occasions.

The International Tennis Hall of Fame states “For sheer strength of performance and accomplishment there has never been a tennis player to match (her).” In 2010, the Herald Sun called her the greatest female tennis player of all time, a view supported by Evonne Goolagong Cawley.

Having grown up as a Roman Catholic, Court became associated with Pentecostalism in the 1970s and became a Christian minister in that tradition in 1991. She later founded Margaret Court Ministries.

5. Chris Evert

Many of her fans have given the title America’s Tennis Sweetheart to Christine Marie Evert. But to those who had to face her, “human backboard” might have been a more apt description.
Evert’s muscle memory was engrained in her at age 5 when she began hitting tennis balls under the watchful eye of her coach and father Jimmy Evert.
The sound of balls coming off her racquet in rhythmic measure could be substituted for a metronome that musicians use to keep tempo. Her two-handed backhand was flawless and emulated by players around the world — young and old, who wanted to hit the ball as cleanly, smoothly, and as precisely as Evert.
Evert had grace and beauty. and she was cool, calm, and collected with the steely focus of a heart surgeon. Evert’s concentration on the court was intense, “She concentrates to the last point,” remarked Margaret Court. “It makes her a champion. Even when she is losing she concentrates and never gives up.”
Evert was stoic and commonly referred to as “The Ice Maiden”: between the lines, a quiet, deadpan champion; the only noise coming from her side of the court was the constant ping of balls being returned again and again and again. Evert had inherent athletic gifts that blossomed quickly. She was a relentless and fierce competitor. Her focus and grit could not be disrupted under any circumstance. She was poised, patient, and particular about her game. It also earned her the nickname “Little Miss Cool.” Regardless of gender, she will always be the model of excellence and her career is populated by record-setting accomplishments Evert became the first player, male or female, to win 1,000 singles matches and compiled the second most career match wins (1,309), behind Martina Navratilova, who won 1,442. Evert won 18 major Championships, tied for fifth-best in women’s history. Evert won at least one major singles title a record 13 years in a row.

Evert won the second-most singles titles in history (157), behind Navratilova’s 167, and was the first to top the 150-plus mark. Evert owns a .900 winning percentage (1,309-148), the best in history, male or female. She was ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in the world from 1975 to 1986, and 260 weeks in total.
Evert won a record seven French Open singles titles, only surpassed by Rafael Nadal in 2013. Evert won a record six US Open singles titles, since tied by Serena Williams in 2014. Evert won a then-record 55 consecutive matches achieved in 1974 (Navratilova broke the mark with 74 consecutive wins in 1984). Evert was the first female player to reach $1 million in career prize money in 1976 ($8,896,195 total). Evert was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year four times (1974, 1975, 1977, 1980).
The Evert household was in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and soon Chris would become a household name and recognizable face to the entire world. Her father Jimmy, who taught tennis at the nearby Holiday Park, helped groom a mini tennis factory, Evert’s brother John and sisters Jeanne and Clare were all terrific players. Jeanne was a professional tennis player in the early 1970s and all four of Jimmy’s children won titles as junior players at the prestigious Orange Bowl Tournament in Miami.
Evert’s two-handed backhand was developed out of necessity more than desire. She was a slight youth not strong enough to hit a one-hander, so employed two hands, and before long it became the most impenetrable backhand in tennis. Evert was a 5-foot-6 slugging machine, not the biggest player on tour, but it hardly mattered when her groundstroke accuracy was the best in the game. They were hit deeply, effectively, and with pace. All of this is attributed to preparation and underrated foot speed.

After winning the national 16-and-under tournament, she was invited to compete in an eight-player tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina. She advanced to the finals after defeating reigning major champion and world No. 1 ranked player Margaret Court, 7-6, 7-6. Playing Evert on clay courts would later become a complete exercise in futility. She would compile a 72-6 match record on the red clay at Roland Garros and rack up seven French Open titles (1974, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1986), a record that stood for 27 years until Rafael Nadal won his eighth in 2013. Most impressively and remarkably, Evert reeled off a 125-match clay court winning streak that ran from August 1973 to May 1979, encompassing 24 tournaments.
As a 16-year-old who attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Evert made her major tournament debut as an amateur at the 1971 US Open at Forest Hills and thumped German Edda Buding, 6-1, 6-0. Her next three matches all went three sets, with Evert coming back from behind each time, to defeat Mary-Ann Eisel, Françoise Dürr, and Lesley Hunt before eventual champion Billie Jean King put a halt on Evert’s run as the youngest semifinalist in the US Open history, 6-3, 6-2.
That afternoon on the grass courts in New York set Evert’s career in motion. She remained an amateur until turning professional on her 18th birthday in 1972, signing a racquet deal with Wilson to commemorate the occasion. Evert then began her assault on the record books — winning 18 major singles titles (fifth best in history) and appearing in 16 additional finals. Before her 21st birthday, Evert had already won the US Open (1975, 1976), Wimbledon (1974, 1976), the French Open (1974, 1975), the Italian Championships (1974, 1975), and the arduous Virginia Slims Championship (1972, 1973, 1975). Evert tacked on three major titles in women’s doubles (1974 and 1975 French, 1976 Wimbledon), tied for 13th best in history with Lenglen. A record six crowns (since tied by Serena Williams) were won at the US Open (1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982); two were achieved at the Australian (1982, 1984). Before she arrives at Wimbledon in 1972, the British media dubbed her “The Ice Princess” and Evert would accommodate the description, with workmanlike precision in winning three titles (1974, 1976, 1981).