Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic took the men's prize for the fourth time, having won seven titles this season and the year-end top ranking for the third time in four years, while Serena Williams won the award for the fifth time in a career that has brought her 18 Grand Slam singles titles -- the most recent at this year's US Open.
World No 1 Serena Williams retired from her Hopman Cup match against Australian Jarmila Wolfe on Tuesday with a knee injury barely two weeks before launching her bid for a seventh Australian Open title.
Serena Williams said the work is never done for mothers who are also professional tennis players following her victory over fellow mom Tsvetana Pironkova in the US Open quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Serena Williams is a year short of spending a quarter of a century as a professional player but the learning has never stopped for the 23-time Grand Slam winner.
Serena Williams crashed out of the Auckland Classic after fellow American Madison Brengle pulled off a 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4 upset in a see-saw second round contest.
Serena Williams' memory is not as powerful as her first serve these days, although with so many achievements to recall it would be churlish to hold that against the American great.
World No 1 Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams have been named as top seeds for the US Open, which will commence from August 29.
Serena Williams crashed out of the US Open after losing in the semi-final to Karolina Pliskova costing her a shot at a 23rd Grand Slam title and resulted in her losing her record 187th straight week at number one.
Serena Williams 'almost died' after giving birth to her daughter last September, the former women's world number one tennis player wrote.
Serena Williams was forced to go on the attack once again to defend equal prize money after she reached a ninth Wimbledon final in a new record time. The world number one blasted Russia's Elena Vesnina off Centre Court in just 48mins 34sec, the fastest ever semi-final at the All England Club. Vesnina earned 500,000 ($649,000) by making the last four.
Former World No 1 Kim Clijsters says, "I admire both Serena and Venus because they have a perseverance that is incredible. They're able to do a lot of things that other people can't do, physically and mentally, so I don't doubt that she will come back, I don't doubt it, but it just takes a little bit of time."
Images from Tuesday's action at the Australian Open.
If Serena Williams' rivals were hoping that the American would take some time out to savour drawing level with Steffi Graf's professional-era record of 22 grand slam titles, her coach Patrick Mouratoglou fired off an immediate warning.
'I don't know. It's tough to explain my emotion right now. Maybe tomorrow morning I can tell you something, but now it's amazing'
Iga Swiatek will be looking to join a select band of players who have lifted the Suzanne Lenglen Cup four times
" As six-time Melbourne Park champion, Serena will be clear favourite, of course, more so because she has reached her 34th grand slam semi-final without losing a set. Lucic-Baroni's path to the last four has been more of a battle, as befits a woman who has overcome huge adversity to get back to the top of the game after years in the wilderness.
Serena Williams has used her painful defeat at the French Open to spur her on at Wimbledon.\n\n
In a professional career lasting more than two decades, Venus Williams is closing in on a 50th WTA title and credits her longevity to a love of the game and a desire to constantly improve.
World number ones Serena Williams, aiming to complete the first calendar-year Grand Slam in 27 years, and Novak Djokovic have been named the top seeds for the US Open championships starting on Monday in New York.
She becomes only the fifth woman to hold all four grand slam titles at the same time.
Serena returned from a maternity break to lose 6-2, 3-6, 10-5 to the 20-year-old Latvian.
Serena Williams has never been one to approach the net until it is time to exchange post-match pleasantries with an opponent but on Thursday she broke from tradition and it paid off with a trip to the U.S. Open final.
Images from the US Open women's singles third round matches, at Flushing Meadows, New York, on Friday.
The World No 1 Serena was joined by Hollywood actress Eva Longoria at a Champ'Seed party in Monaco.
The 23 time Grand Slam champion made not one but two appearances at the Oscars on Sunday night.
For the second straight year Serena Williams saw her bid for a seventh U.S. Open title halted in the semi-finals with a 6-2 7-6(5) loss to Karolina Pliskova on Thursday that also ended her long reign as world number one.
Serena Williams overcame a gritty challenge from unseeded Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens, winning 7-6(7), 6-4, to reach the French Open final, in Paris, on Friday. She will meet Garbine Muguruza, who reached her second Grand Slam final when she beat Australia's Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-4 in the first semi-final at Roland Garros.
While trying to surpass Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam titles might be one of the reasons she pushed herself to get back on court despite all her complications in childbirth, she also wants to see if she recover her pre-pregnancy form.
Images from Day 4 of the 2021 French Open in Paris on Wednesday.
Venus Williams' return to action following a five-month injury layoff ended in defeat.
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki shocks tennis world with comeback announcement
Twenty-three time grand slam champion Serena Williams will play her first match since the birth of her daughter when she faces off against French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi next week.
Venus has beaten Muguruza in three of their four meetings to date
A marvel on the tennis court, new mum Serena Williams is now sporting her own superhero outfit as she makes her return to Grand Slam tennis.
The Romanian broke Williams's serve in the first game but that was the only one she managed for the rest of the opening set as the American bulldozed her way through the set in 20 minutes, serving it out with an ace.
"It's kind of hard to say because she -- there's nothing I did wrong on those match points," Williams told reporters after her bid for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title ended.
Serena Williams has been fined $17,000 (13,156) for the code violations she received during the US Open final, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) said on Sunday.
Halep finds groove to reach Prague semi-finals.
This will be her first appearance at the tournament since she was ousted in the second round in 2017.
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