Having played just one tournament since mid-September due to various injuries and a recent bout of flu, Serena Williams is now itching to get back into competition with the Rio Olympics among her top priorities for the year.
Images from the matches played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, in Wimbledon, London, on Monday.
Comeback queen Williams demonstrated that she still belonged among the elite as she annihilated Sharapova to win her eighth Grand Slam trophy.
France's Alize Cornet beat a despondent Serena Williams 6-4, 6-4 in the semi-finals of the Dubai Championships on Friday in what the world number 26 described as the biggest win of her career.
Serena Williams's love affair with winning tennis tournaments, and Paris, began 14 years ago and the American's passion for both remains intense after winning the French Open on Saturday.
Naomi Osaka announced her arrival on the big stage at the US Open on Thursday, beating last year's runner-up Madison Keys 6-2, 6-4 to reach her first Grand Slam final.
Serena Williams won her eighth Miami Open title with little trouble, enjoying a 6-2, 6-0 win over Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro in just 56 minutes on Saturday.
Novak Djokovic held off a Roger Federer fightback as he reached the final of the Australian Open for the fifth time in six years. Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska was taken apart 6-0 6-4 by the reigning women's champion Serena Williams.
Andy Murray is on the verge of crowning Britain's golden summer by ending one of the longest droughts in sport. Only the formidable figure of Novak Djokovic stands in his way of winning Monday's US Open men's final.
Images from the US Open women's singles third round matches, at Flushing Meadows, New York, on Friday.
Venus and Serena Williams won the US Open women's doubles crown on Monday with a dominating 6-2, 6-2 victory over top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber.
The past, present and future of women's tennis will all come together at the Australian Open on Thursday when Serena Williams and Justine Henin square off against Chinese opponents for a place in the final.
Serena Williams and Andy Murray had brief hiccups on the way to convincing victories at the US Open, each choosing different tactics to remain on track for a long ride into the year's final Grand Slam.
Serena Williams edged past Spain's Garbine Muguruza 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the quarters.
Serena Williams, who held all four of tennis's grand slam titles for the second time in her career and won 53 of 56 matches in 2015, was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine on Monday.
Serena Williams moved another step closer to a record-tying 24th career Grand Slam title with a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 victory over Czech Karolina Muchova on Friday to reach the last 16 at the US Open.
Williams, a record 23-times Grand Slam champion, will be returning to the All England Club for the first time since giving birth to her daughter last September.
Seven-time champion Serena Williams endured an unlikely scrap in her Wimbledon opener and will look to shake off more rust in the second round on Thursday when she faces another qualifier in 18-year-old Kaja Juvan.
Breeze though the outfits that caught the maximum shutterbugs at the final Grand Slam of the year.
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Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams are among a number of players who will feature in an exhibition match ahead of this month's Australian Open to raise funds for bushfire relief efforts, organisers announced on Wednesday. All funds raised from the two-and-a-half hour event on January 15 at Rod Laver Arena -- called AO Rally for Relief -- will be donated to the relief cause with tickets priced at A$54 ($37.09).
"I'm drama, and I don't want to be drama," Williams said after reaching the fourth round with a ill-tempered 4-6 6-3 6-4 win over Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
Serena Williams' decision to end a 14-year boycott of the BNP Paribas Open has been warmly welcomed by her peers with good friend and rival Caroline Wozniacki saying it was "great for tennis".
Juan Martin del Potro suffered the first real upset and Victoria Azarenka had a big scare, but Serena Williams and Andy Murray eased through challenging ties to reach the last 16 of the Australian Open on Saturday.
World No 1 Serena Williams overcame a wobbly start to open the defence of her Sony Open crown with a spirited 7-6(9-7), 6-2 win over Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova on Thursday.
World number one Serena Williams was named WTA Player of the Year for a second time at a tour ceremony on Thursday. Williams, who did not attend the event, won the US Open last year and reached the Wimbledon final. She also claimed a gold medal with sister Venus in the doubles at the Beijing Olympics. In her career, the American has claimed ten Grand Slam titles and she was also the WTA Player of the Year in 2002.
Men's second seed Rafael Nadal starts against Israel's Dudi Sela while three-time champion Novak Djokovic faces American Tennys Sandgren.
The triumph also lifted the 26-year-old back to the summit of the world rankings for the first time since August 2003 and this time she does not want to let go.
Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka advanced to the Rogers Cup quarter-finals on Thursday to set up their first meeting since the American's infamous row with an umpire overshadowed last year's US Open final.
Serena Williams admitted that a bad back sustained during practice hampered her movement during her shock fourth round loss to Ana Ivanovic on Sunday, but refused to blame the injury for her stunning exit that blew the Australian Open wide open.
Images from the Australian Open matches played on Sunday.
Serena Williams weathered an early challenge from Russian Vera Zvonareva before the former World No 2 crumbled to lose 7-5, 6-0 in the second round of the Australian Open on Thursday.
After feeling the full force of Garbine Muguruza's ferocious forehand and being made to scrap like a bloodied street fighter, Serena Williams has seen enough of the Spaniard to make a bold prediction -- soon she will be a Wimbledon champion too.
Former champion Serena Williams shocked the French Open crowd, and herself, by losing to Virginie Razzano in the first round on Tuesday, her earliest exit from a grand slam in the 47 appearances she has made in an outstanding career.
Serena Williams won her 750th career match to stay on track for her ninth Miami Open title when she beat Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 7-5 6-3 in the third round in Florida on Saturday. The world number one improved her career record to 750-125, seventh on the all-time list and just three match wins behind Lindsay Davenport's 753. Martina Navratilova sits atop the all-time list with 1,442 wins. The 34-year-old Williams will meet Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round. The 15th seed defeated France's Caroline Garcia 4-6 6-2 7-6(6). Unlike the last time they met, when Williams required 54 minutes and Diyas won just two games, the 22-year-old Kazak gave the American some trouble in the heat and humidity of Miami.
India's teen tennis sensation said it was good to know that she could match the six-time Grand Slam champion.
Images from Day 7 of the 2024 French Open.
Defending champion Serena Williams finished her last US Open tune-up in style by beating Romanian third seed Simona Halep 6-3, 7-6(5) to win the Western & Southern Open on Sunday.
World No 1 Serena Williams comfortably beat 15-year-old CiCi Bellis.
