Serena Williams
2002–2003: "Serena Slam"

Early in 2002, injury saw Williams retire from the semifinal at the Medibank International Sydney and later withdraw from the Australian Open. After recovering, Williams won her first title of the year in Scottsdale, Arizona, defeating No.2 Capriati, in the final. She then won the Miami Masters for the first time after beating No.3 Hingis in the quarterfinals, No.2 Venus in the semifinals, and No.1 Capriati in the final, becoming only the second player in the Open Era to defeat the world's top 3 ranked players at the same event.

In May, Williams reached her first clay-court final at the Eurocard German Open, but lost to Justine Henin. Williams won her first clay-court title at the Italian Open, which raised her ranking to a new high of No.3. She then claimed her first French Open title, which elevated her to No.2, second only to Venus. During the summer, Williams won Wimbledon for the first time, defeating Venus in the final. The victory propelled her to No.1, making her the third African American woman to hold the top ranking. The Williams sisters also won the doubles event at the tournament.

At the US Open, Williams reached the final where, for the third Grand Slam in a row, she defeated her sister to win the title. Williams won two consecutive singles titles in the fall, defeating Clijsters to win the Toyota Princess Cup in Tokyo, and Anastasia Myskina to win the Sparkassen Cup in Leipzig. She reached the final at the Home Depot Championships in Los Angeles, where she lost to Clijsters in straight sets. Williams finished 2002 with a 56–5 win/lose record, eight singles titles, and the No.1 ranking. Her three consecutive Grand Slam titles in 2002 made her only the third player in history to win the "Surface Slam" after Martina Navratilova (1984) and Steffi Graf (1993, 1995, 1996).

At the 2003 Australian Open, Williams faced Venus for the fourth consecutive Grand Slam tournament final. She defeated her older sister and became the sixth woman in the Open Era to complete a Career Grand Slam, alongside Graf, Navratilova, Margaret Court, Chris Evert and Billie Jean King. She also became the fifth woman to hold all Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously, a feat which was dubbed the "Serena Slam" by the press. At this tournament, the Williams sisters also won their sixth Grand Slam doubles title as a team.

During the spring of 2003, Williams captured the singles titles at the Open Gaz de France and the Sony Ericsson Open. Her streak of 21 wins ended when she lost the final of the Family Circle Cup to Henin. She also lost to Mauresmo in the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. Despite these defeats, Williams was the top seed at the French Open, where she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Henin; this was Williams's first loss in a Grand Slam tournament since 2001. The match was controversial, with Williams questioning Henin's sportsmanship, and spectators applauding Williams's errors. Williams rebounded from the loss at the 2003 Wimbledon Championships, where she defeated Venus in the final. This was Williams's second consecutive Wimbledon title and her sixth Grand Slam singles title overall. Wimbledon was her last tournament of 2003; she pulled out of three events and then underwent surgery on the quadriceps tendon in her knee in early August. She was expected to be in recovery for six to eight weeks.
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