Serena Williams' memorable moments at the U.S. Open

Serena Williams has won six U.S. Open championships to reach the highest of highs, but has also been in the thick of controversy. Some of those highs and lows at the Open:

1999 Final

Williams wins her first of 23 Grand Slam titles, just one month after she began competing on the tour. The 17-year-old beats No. 1 Martina Hingis in the final to become the first African-American woman since Althea Gibson in 1958 to win a Grand Slam singles title.

2001 Final

The popularity of Williams and her sister Venus vaulted the women’s game into prime time as they faced off in the first women’s final not to be played in the afternoon. Venus wins, 6-2, 6-4, but women’s tennis is forever changed as 22.7 million  viewers tuned in.

2002 Final

In a rematch of 2001, Williams beat her sister, 6-4, 6-3. It was Serena's third straight major title and the third straight final where she beat Venus. Four months later, at the Australian Open, Serena beat Venus in the final to complete the first Serena Slam — holding all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously.

2004 Quarterfinal

In the early 2000s, a few incidents push forward the idea of electronic line calling. The most famous was in Flushing when Serena faced several obviously bad calls during a quarterfinal loss to Jennifer Capriati. U.S. Open officials apologized to Williams and the umpire in question wasn’t allowed in the chair during the rest of the event.

2008 Final

Hampered by injuries, Williams fell outside the top 100 rankings and entered the Open as a wild card. She did not drop a set in the tournament and claimed her third Open title with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Jelena Jankovic.

2009 Semifinal

Williams bizarrely lost her semifinal match to Kim Clijsters after a threatening tirade directed toward a lineswoman. With Williams serving the lineswoman called Williams for a foot fault which made it a doublefault, taking the score to 15-40 Clijsters. Her  profanity laced rant resulted in a code violation and that penalty point gave Clijsters the match.  Williams, who later apologized, was fined a record $82,500 for her tirade.

2012 Final

Two points from elimination against Victoria Azarenka, Williams won the last four games for a 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 win. It was her 15th Grand Slam title and fourth Open championship.

2013 Final

Williams won the rematch of the 2012 final, defeating Azarenka, 7-5, 6-7, 6-1. With the win, she becomes the first woman to earn $50 million in prize money.

2014 Final

Williams won her sixth Open title and tied Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert with 18 Grand Slams. Williams did not lose a set, and defeated Caroline Wozniacki, 6-3, 6-3, in the final. It would be Williams' last Open victory. 

2018 Final

Williams’ attempt for a record 24th Grand Slam as a new mother failed in a surreal fashion after chair umpire Carlos Ramos penalized her a game deep into the second set after she had called him a “thief.” Ramos had already issued two code violations and then accused Williams of taking coaching from Patrick Mouratoglou. Naomi Osaka took it from there and won her first Grand Slam, 6-2, 6-4, but Osaka's play was overshadowed by the meltdown. Both players stood and cried on the trophy stand as fans booed officials.  Williams called for them to stop booing and congratulate Osaka on her achievement.

By Barbara Barker

barbara.barker@newsday.commeanbarb

Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.