Serena Williams
Serena Williams reacts after a point against Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova during their women's singles quarter-final match on day ten of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Jan. 23, 2019. JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

Serena Williams has been stuck on 23 women’s singles Grand Slam titles since she won the Australian Open title in 2017. Many claimed it was only a matter of time before she equaled Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 major titles and surpassed them but it has not been the case.

The American took a hiatus of over a year to give birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia before returning to the court in 2018. The quest for her 24th Grand Slam has continued since her return and Williams in impressive fashion made the finals at Wimbledon in 2018 just months after returning to court.

The 37-year-old lost to Angelique Kerber at SW19 and has since made two more Grand Slam finals but the results have been the same. Williams lost a controversy-filled US Open final to Naomi Osaka and then the 2019 Wimbledon final to Simona Halep.

The manner of Williams’ loss to Halep at Wimbledon has raised questions about her ability to win another major with former World No. 7 Barbara Schett recently suggesting that a change of guard is in effect. The American, however, believes she is on the right track to getting back to her best despite the recent struggles in finals matches.

“In my 20s -- I'm always expected to win, but it's a different circumstance for me. Seems like every Grand Slam final I'm in recently has been an unbelievable effort to get there,” Williams said, as quoted on Tennis World USA. “It would be interesting to see how it would be under different circumstances. I can't say that I have a lot of tension or super tense. The only thing I can say is today I think my opponent played unbelievable. I feel like I'm still incredibly competitive or else I wouldn't really be out here, per se."

“For the most part, I feel like I'm on the right track. I'm just going in the right direction in terms of getting back to where I need to be. My knee feels great. I couldn't be happier with it. So, yeah, I'm really excited to test it out and keep going,” she added.

Williams is widely considered one of the greatest to ever play the game and she is certain to be competitive when the final Grand Slam of the year – US Open - approaches at later in September. However, the emergence of the Halep, Osaka and Kerber, the 23-time women’s singles Grand Slam champion is sure to find it difficult to equal Court’s all-time record.

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