Serena Williams won the 2017 Australian Open without dropping a set, beating Venus Williams in the final. It was her twenty-third Grand Slam singles title, one clear of Steffi Graf’s Open-era record.
The detail that changed the reading of it
She announced her pregnancy in April. She had been roughly eight weeks pregnant during the tournament. She did not play another competitive match for over a year, and returned in 2018 having required emergency treatment for a pulmonary embolism after giving birth.
The final itself
It was the ninth Grand Slam final the sisters had contested and the first since 2009. Serena served fewer aces than usual and won it on return, breaking twice in each set. Venus was 36 and had reached the final having spent much of the previous decade managing an autoimmune condition.
The two of them had, by that afternoon, met thirty times as professionals. The scoreline is the least interesting thing about the match, and always was.
