Tennis world pays tribute as Serena Williams wins record 23rd major

Serena Williams won the Australian Open Saturday, her record 23rd major. Tributes from around the tennis world were quick to flood in.

Serena Williams won her record 23rd Grand Slam Saturday, defeating her sister Venus 6-4,6-4 in the Australian Open final. She didn’t drop a set throughout the fortnight, and regained her status as world No. 1.

The 2017 Australian Open has been a display of showmanship for the current legends of the sport. The combined ages of all the singles finalists this year is 136 (Venus Williams, 36; Serena, 35; Roger Federer, 35; Rafael Nadal, 30).

With the win down under, Serena now equals her seven Wimbledon titles:

https://twitter.com/AustralianOpen/status/825309158916239360

“It’s never enough, 23, 24, 25,” Serena said to the Rod Lever arena crowd. “I felt like I really elevated my game this year.”

And it’s only January. There’s one more record to chase, Margaret Court’s 24 majors across the Open and amateur eras.

“Good on her if she’s good enough to do it,” Court said earlier during the tournament.

Williams spent just six months tied with Steffi Graf on 22 majors after her Wimbledon win last year. When Williams equaled Graf’s record at Wimbledon last year, the German player, ever gracious, congratulated her both on Facebook and Twitter.

“What an incredible performance by Serena at Wimbledon,” Graf wrote on her Facebook page.

Both sisters were serious throughout the match, but shared a long embrace at the net at the end of the contest.

“Your win has always been my win,” Venus, 36, told the crowd, who had been pulling for her during the final. “All the times I couldn’t be there, didn’t get there, you were there.”

Her remarks were echoed in kind by Serena.

“There’s no way I would have anything without her. She’s my inspiration,” Serena said about Venus in her remarks at the ceremony afterwards. “She’s the only reason I’m standing here today, and the only reason that the Williams sisters exist. So thank you, Venus, for inspiring me to be the best player I could be and inspiring me to work hard. Every time you won this week, I felt like I’ve got to win, too.”

This year’s victory was a stark contrast from last year, when she lost the final to Germany’s Angelique Kerber in three sets. Williams was ousted from the US Open in a surprise loss to Czech player Karolina Pliskova in the semis. Kerber went on to win that tournament and gained the No. 1 ranking with it.

https://twitter.com/AngeliqueKerber/status/825302561762709504

Williams is still tied for consecutive weeks at No. 1 with Graf, at 186 weeks. She’s third in cumulative weeks at No. 1 behind Graf (377 weeks) and Martina Navratilova (332).

If Williams continues her tennis renaissance for the coming year, she could easily take both those records.

More congratulations:

https://twitter.com/BBCSport/status/825282518358319108

With achievements come awesome gifts, like these new Air Jordans:

https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/825329729209237504

The sisters have come a long way:

https://twitter.com/Shawnife_/status/825323347533819904

A stat that I don’t think most people know:

A picture says a thousand words:

https://twitter.com/Karabo_Mokgoko/status/825288260121403392