Serena Williams' 14 Grand Slams compared to Other #1 Players

By winning her 14th Grand Slam trophy, Serena Williams now trails three other tennis greats in the Open era who have won more majors than her. Steffi Graf's haul is 22, while Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova have won 18 each. But those three other players were from different generations, and in Serena's generation, she is considered unanimously - by peers, critics, experts, and fans alike - as the best player of her generation. So, what does 14 Grand Slam wins mean in terms of the current generation of WTA players?

For starters, let's have a list of how many Grand Slams were won by current or former world no. 1 players in the last 15 years.

Martina Hingis - 5 GS (3 Australian Open, 1 Wimbledon, 1 US Open)
Lindsay Davenport - 3 GS (1 Australian Open, 1 Wimbledon, 1 US Open)
Jennifer Capriati - 3 GS (2 Australian Open, 1 French Open)
Venus Williams - 7 GS (5 Wimbledon, 2 US Open)
Serena Williams - 14 GS (5 Australian Open, 1 French Open, 5 Wimbledon, 3 US Open)
Kim Clijsters - 4 GS (1 Australian Open, 3 US Open)
Justine Henin - 7 GS (1 Australian Open, 4 French Open, 2 US Open)
Amélie Mauresmo - 2 GS (1 Australian Open, 1 Wimbledon)
Maria Sharapova - 4 GS (1 Australian Open, 1 French Open, 1 Wimbledon, 1 US Open)
Ana Ivanović - 1 GS (1 French Open)
Jelena Janković - 0 GS
Dinara Safina - 0 GS
Caroline Wozniacki - 0 GS
Victoria Azarenka - 1 GS (1 Australian Open)

Svetlana Kuznetsova is the only player since Wimbledon 1997 who have won multiple Grand Slams without ever reaching the no. 1 ranking. She won the 2004 US Open and the 2009 French Open.

Here's some interesting observations regarding Serena's 14 Grand Slam win total, and how it compares to the Grand Slam success of other former world no. 1 players in the past 14 years:

1. She owns same number of major wins as the total of the two other most successful players in her generation. Serena's older sister Venus, and another rival, Justine Henin each won 7 Grand Slam titles each. Serena can actually contend for more Grand Slams, while the chances of Venus' winning another Slam is very small. Henin has already retired in 2011.

2. The nation of Belgium produced two superb players in Clijsters and Henin, both in the same generation as Serena. Their total Grand Slam wins fall three short of Serena's total.

3. Russia has produced two world no. 1 players (Sharapova and Safina), and three Grand Slam winners (Anastasia Myskina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Sharapova) - all in the past 14 years. Russian players total Grand Slam wins is 7 - half of what Serena has won.

4. Hingis, Davenport, and Capriati all were ahead of Serena in terms of number of Grand Slams won by end of 2001. Their combined total is three less than Serena's total as of Wimbledon 2012.

5. Serena has won more Wimbledon titles than the total Grand Slam wins of five former no. 1 players - Davenport, Capriati, Clijsters, Mauresmo, and Sharapova.

6. On a more humorous note, Serena has won 14 more Slams than the combined wins of three recent number 1 players in the past 4 years (Janković, Safina, Wozniacki).