Serena clinches 23rd Grand Slam title

Graf, who won every major honour in 1988 and claimed three slams in four subsequent years, only secured one after her 28th birthday, the 1999 French Open, while Court’s last three slams were all earned in the year the Australian turned 31.

With the win, Serena will regain the WTA No. 1 ranking from Angelique Kerber.

In keeping with their head-to-head record – Serena now leads 17-11 and 7-2 in grand slam finals – it was her kid sister who would have the final say in Melbourne.

Serena Williams had barely begun her championship celebration when sister Venus strode to the other side of the net to embrace the Australian Open champion.

Call it nerves of meeting each other in a Grand Slam final after a long time, both Serena and Venus traded multiple breaks during the first set.

Coming up tonight, Rafael Nadal (rah-fay-EHL’ nah-DAHL’) and Roger Federer renew their Grand Slam final rivalry when they meet for the Australian Open men’s singles title.

With history beckoning, she wasn’t about to throw it away and she served out the match, falling to the floor in celebration before a long embrace with Venus to share the biggest moment of her career. With five Wimbledon singles titles, she is tied for eighth most all-time. After winning the match, Serena said, “Playing Venus, it’s stuff that legends are made of”.

This marks her seventh Australian Open victory, seeing her defeat her older sister 6-4 6-4. In 2015, Serena became the oldest woman to win a Grand Slam at age 33.

Serena victoriously won her emotionally-draining All-Williams Final matchup 6-4, 6-4. There’s no way I would have anything without her.

“There’s no way I could be at 23 without her”, Serena, 35, said of her sister.

Later near the locker room Serena exchanged hugs with her team and fiance Ohanian, the Reddit founder.

“She was not motivated by 22, she was motivated to win grand slams”, he said.

When Serena went back out to the court to pose for photographers, she had one pair of the shoes on. “I don’t think I’m chump change either, you know”, she said.

“She’s an fantastic person”, Serena said of Venus. She easily reached the finals. “I mean, between Martina, myself, Steffi Graf, hands down we are leading that conversation”, she said. And she did just that.

“(I’m) ready to kill it this year”, Venus added.

“If I had lost, it wouldn’t have been a loss, because I know everything that Venus has gone through”.