Serena’s 23 major singles titles give her the strongest trophy foundation in our Open Era ranking. Her first came at the 1999 US Open and her last at the 2017 Australian Open: a span that makes the case about repeated excellence, not one extraordinary season. These are singles majors; doubles and mixed titles are excluded.

She beats Graf because we give that larger major record and long title-winning span the edge over a single calendar-year peak. Graf’s Golden Slam is the strongest counterargument. Choose your priority before choosing your winner: does sustained major success outweigh the most complete season?

Source: Records.

Photo: Edwin Martinez · CC BY 2.0. Resized/compressed; license retained.