It was a rare sight to see Serena Williams standing as the runner-up after a Grand Slam final.
Williams won her first singles major at the 1999 US Open, and went on to win an Open Era record of 23 Grand Slam titles.
The American had a dominant record in Grand Slam finals, with Williams only losing 10 of her 33 major finals.
However, a fifth of those major final defeats were contributed by one player, who has since retired from tennis.
Angelique Kerber: The former number one who beat Serena Williams to win two Grand Slams
German player Angelique Kerber came into the 2016 Australian Open as the seventh seed, but made it all the way to her first Grand Slam final.
Kerber did not do it the easy way, having to save a match point in her first round match against Misaki Doi.
It was not going to get any easier in the Australian Open final, as she took on top seed Williams, who had not dropped a set en route to the championship match.
At the time, Williams had won four of the last five Grand Slam tournaments and had a 5-1 lead over Kerber in the head-to-head.
Despite the odds being stacked against her, Kerber produced a big shock to beat Williams, 6-4 3-6 6-4, to win her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.
Kerber would face Williams in another Grand Slam final later that year, but the American got revenge to win the Wimbledon title.
In 2016, Kerber would reach three Grand Slam finals and added the US Open to her collection to become the world number one.
Which tennis player am I thinking of?
They would not play each other for another two years after 2016, before meeting once again in the 2018 Wimbledon final.
This match would have even more significance than their two previous major finals, as Williams was looking to achieve Margaret Court’s Grand Slam record.
However, this was unable to come to fruition as Kerber beat Williams in straight sets to win her first Wimbledon title and third Grand Slam.
This was the first time Williams had been beaten in the final of Wimbledon in 10 years, having won five titles in this period.
| Grand Slam | Final Result |
| Australian Open 2016 | Kerber beat Serena Williams, 6-4 3-6 6-4 |
| Wimbledon 2016 | Serena Williams beat Kerber, 7-5 6-3 |
| US Open 2016 | Kerber beat Karolina Pliskova, 6-3 4-6 6-3 |
| Wimbledon 2018 | Kerber beat Serena Williams, 6-3 6-3 |
Angelique Kerber’s record in WTA 1000 tournaments
As well as winning three Grand Slam titles, Kerber also won 11 other WTA tournaments and was a silver medallist at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
However, Kerber was never able to win a tournament of WTA 1000 level, which is the level directly below Grand Slams.
This was despite Kerber reaching five WTA 1000 finals, starting with the Cincinnati Open final in 2012.
Kerber won the first set of the Cincinnati Open final against Asia’s first Grand Slam champion Li Na, but was unable to take the title.
| WTA 1000 Tournament | Angelique Kerber’s Win-loss Record | Angelique Kerber’s Best Result |
| Qatar Open/Dubai Tennis Championships | 12-12 (50%) | Final (2014 – Qatar) |
| Indian Wells | 26-13 (67%) | Final (2019) |
| Miami Open | 19-13 (59%) | Semifinal (2016) |
| Madrid Open | 9-7 (56%) | Quarterfinal (2013) |
| Italian Open | 13-11 (54%) | Semifinal (2012) |
| Canadian Open | 8-9 (47%) | Semifinal (2016) |
| Cincinnati Open | 16-9 (60%) | Final (2012 & 2016) |
| China Open | 16-9 (64%) | Quarterfinal (2012, 2013 & 2015) |
| Tokyo Open/Wuhan Open | 14-10 (58%) | Final (2013 – Tokyo) |
The last WTA 1000 final Kerber ever played came at Indian Wells in 2019, where she was again beaten in three sets by Bianca Andreescu.
Kerber retired from tennis at the Paris Olympics last year, and was never able to win a WTA 1000 title in her career, but she will be far more remembered for her three Grand Slam successes.
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