Serena Williams: Did you know she's so strong on sand?
Serena Williams and the sand? Measured against French Open titles: no extreme love affair. Serena is a force on the red ashes!
by Florian Goosmann
last edit:
Dec 27, 2020, 02:48 pm
Serena Williams has won 23 Grand Slam tournaments: 7 times the Australian Open, 7 times Wimbledon, 6 times the US Open - and "only" 3 times the French Open. Which suggests that sand is Serena's "weakest" surface.
This idea has now been impressively refuted.
We had already celebrated statistics friend Enrico Maria Riva in the matter of Angelique Kerber and turf , now we are extending the adulation to our colleague Alex Boroch.
How so? Riva had calculated the top 10 victories on the individual surfaces between 2011 and 2020 via Twitter, and who is surprised: In percentage figures, Serena is almost everywhere in front. She has the best record on grass (88.89 percent wins), on hard courts (86.94 percent), among the majors overall (88.27 percent) and in general (88.49 percent).
On sand? Sara Errani is in front with the most wins (143), in percentages Maria Sharapova (85.32 percent). Because Riva had deliberately only included players with at least 100 matches in its calculations.
Serena Williams with 93.5 win rate on clay
What called the colleague Boroch on the scene: He calculated that Serena Williams only completed 93 matches on clay, but these were extremely successful: with 87 wins and only 6 defeats. Makes a win rate of an outstanding 93.5 percent! "Perhaps the most neglected statistic on the WTA tour," he writes.
Quite possible. Because Williams made herself quite rare on clay, but when she did, she was a force!
Serena Williams and her sand record between 2011 and 2020
A look at Serena Williams' sand appearances over the years:
- 2011: no game on clay
- 2012: 17 wins, 1 loss (tournament successes in Charleston and Madrid, w / o in the semi-finals in Rome, first round in Paris)
- 2013: 28 wins, 0 defeats! (Tournament wins in Charleston, Madrid, Rome, Paris, Bastad)
- 2014: 9 wins, 2 defeats (including tournament victory in Madrid, second round out in Paris)
- 2015: 16 wins, 1 defeat (including victory in Paris)
- 2016: 11 wins, 1 loss (win in Rome, final in Paris)
- 2017: no game on clay
- 2018: 3 wins, 0 defeats (w / o in round 3 in Paris against Maria Sharapova)
- 2019: 3 wins, 1 defeat (including third round out in Paris against Sofia Kenin)
- 2020: 1 win, no defeat (w / o in round 2 in Paris)
Bitter: Williams was unable to compete in a total of seven matches during this period.
The bottom line: Serena Williams and the sand? A great combination - if your body plays along!