When it comes to naming the greatest female tennis player of all time, there really is only one answer, with Serena Williams the standout candidate for such an honour.

In fairness to Serena, she is probably the greatest female sports star of all time with her determination, drive and hunger from an early age, making her a truly formidable force on the world’s grandest stages.

The younger of the Williams sisters faced the unenviable challenge of toppling her elder sibling when she burst onto the scene, with Venus quite the player back in her prime too.

Venus won seven singles Grand Slam titles during her career and reached the number one spot on the WTA rankings in 2002, yet her achievements pale into insignificance in relation to Serena.

In 2015, Venus was trying to win all four Grand Slams in the same year and only had the US Open to tick off. In order to reach the semi-finals, she had to face her sister and the match proved to be a classic.

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How Venus Williams said she felt when someone called Serena Williams the best in the world in 2015

Serena was well on course to claim glory at the US Open and claim all four Grand Slam titles in the same year but defeating Venus was always going to prove tricky with both players knowing each other inside and out.

Serena did eventually prevail 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 with a warm embrace between her and her sister at the net, before the older of the two sisters was quizzed on the concept of Serena being the best in the world.

During her prime, Venus was considered by many as the best in the world, so naturally, the press wondered how it made her feel when people suggested that it was in fact Serena who was the best in the world.

She said in her press conference: “Well, I think she is the best ever because of the level of competition that she’s faced. There have been some unbelievable players in the past, but I have played in this, you know, it seems like multiple eras at this point.

I have played the best from different eras, as well. I have seen the level of competitiveness go up, and I have seen players who are ranked 100 who didn’t believe they could win a match against you to this point fight you tooth and nail and try to take you down.

So that didn’t happen when I started. So just to be able to win at this level, I think that’s what makes her the best.”

Did Serena Williams ever win all four majors in one year

Okay, strap yourself in, we will explain how this one works because technically, Serena has never won all four Grand Slam titles in a calendar year.

However, she has done the Serena Slam on two occasions in 2003 and 2015, where she held all four of the Grand Slam titles simultaneously.

At the US Open in 2015, she lost out to Roberta Vinci in the semi-final after beating Venus and that is probably the closest that she comes to actually winning all four events in one year.

It’s unlikely to bother Serena too much that she couldn’t get over the line by winning all four titles in the same calendar year, and with 23 Grand Slam titles her haul is unlikely to matched any time soon.