The 6-1, 4-6, 6-7 (5) loss to Shelby Rogers in the quarterfinals of the Top Seed Open was the first time in 8 years that Serena William hung up her racket against a player outside the Top 100 in the world. It shows that the American tennis player’s journey towards a record of 24 Grand Slams will not be easy.

The last time Serena lost to a player outside the Top 100 was in May 2012, when she defeated Virginie Razzano 6-4, 6-7 (5), 3-6 in the first round of Roland Garros 2012. After that shock , Serena decided to stick with current coach Patrick Mouratoglou, who helped her win the Australian Open (2015 & 2017), Roland Garros (2013 & 2015), Wimbledon (2015 & 2016) and US Open (2013 & 2016) respectively. 2014).

But over the past three years, Serena has lost in all four Grand Slam finals, and after losing to Rogers, a player ranked 116 in the world, many people thought her successful cycle with Mouratoglou was over. to the end, or maybe, the mark of age is weighing heavily on the shoulders of this tennis player who is about to turn forty.

But this is not the first time in her career that Serena Williams has suffered such bad defeats, and she has also recovered many times after embarrassing defeats. Below are the 10 worst losses in the career of this former world number one tennis player.

10. Lost to Lindsay Davenport 1-6, 3-6 in Los Angeles 2004

A few weeks after her shock 1-6, 4-6 loss to Maria Sharapova in the Wimbledon final, Serena Williams reached the final of the JP Morgan Chase Open taking place in Los Angeles. This is the tournament where she is the number one seed, and is expected to beat senior Lindsay Davenport, who lost to her in all four previous matches. But in the end, Serena hung up her racket in a match in which she won only 4 games, making 29 unforced errors, compared to 12 for Davenport.

“The fact that I only made one unforced error in the first set is amazing. I was always in control of the match, and that’s something I’ve never been able to do when facing her before,” Davenport said after the match, “Normally, when Serena serves, I have trouble. Luckily, not this time. I have returned serve many times to score points.”

9.Victoria Azarenka 3-6, 1-6. Miami 2009

At that year’s Sony Ericsson Open, Serena Williams was the defending champion and the number one tennis player in the world, and Azarenka was just a young 19-year-old talent. But the Belarusian tennis player shocked her by defeating her senior in the final after only 71 minutes to win the championship. However, Serena’s defeat was partly due to her thigh pain when she had to wear a bandage throughout the final.

“I’m not someone who likes to make excuses after every failure. I just want to admit that Victoria played well and deserved to win today. That’s all I want to say,” Serena said during the awards ceremony.

8.Garbine Muguruza 2-6, 2-6. Roland Garros 2014

Serena Williams was then the defending champion at Roland Garros, and she prepared for this tournament quite perfectly by winning the Miami Open and Italian Open. But an earthquake happened in the second round when Serena retired 2-6, 2-6 against junior Garbine Muguruza. The world-ranked Spanish tennis player, ranked 35 in the world, won in just 64 minutes, and it was the first time she defeated a top 8 player in the world. In this tournament, Muguruza reached the quarterfinals and was only stopped by Sharapova, who later won the championship.

For Serena, it was the worst defeat in a Grand Slam, when she made 29 unforced errors and only won points 8 times. “It was one of the worst days. I hate leaving the Grand Slam like this. But it happened,” Serena shared.

7. Alexia Dechaume-Balleret 4-6, 0-6. Indian Wells 1997

After losing to Annie Miller in her professional tennis debut in October 1995, Serena took a break in 1996 and only returned in 1997. And she started the season with another heavy defeat: 4-6. , 0-6 against Alexia Dechaume-Balleret, the French player ranked 87th in the world.

Dechaume-Balleret later reached a career-high ranking of 46, but she never won any WTA titles.

6. Mary Pierce 2-6, 1-6. Indian Wells 2000

Serena arrived at Indian Wells as the defending US Open champion, and had just won the Faber Grand Prix in Germany in February 2000. She reached the quarterfinals after defeating Kim Clijsters. However, that journey was stopped with a loss to senior Mary Pierce. During those 57 minutes, Pierce only missed 1 error in the first set and 8 errors in the second set.

“I have never seen her hit so consistently,” Serena said about her opponent, “Every ball I hit, she returned dangerously. I’ve never played a match where my opponent played so nearly perfectly.”

5. Arantxa Sanchez Vicario 2-6, 1-6. Sydney 1998

Serena, then just 16 years old, started the 1998 season impressively, defeating then-world No. 3 Lindsay Davenport on her way to the semi-finals of the Sydney International. But here, against an even more experienced opponent, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Serena lost quickly in a match in which she only won 3 games. After that, Vicario defeated the Williams sister Venus in the final with a score of 6-1, 6-3 to become champion.

4.Simona Halep 0-6, 2-6. WTA Finals in Singapore 2014

It was a clash between the world number one (Serena) and the world number 4 (4) in the group stage of the Eight Heroes tournament taking place in Singapore, and Halep, who is often considered an underdog, won. extremely convincing. This is only the 8th time in her career that Serena lost a set with a score of 0-6. For her part, Halep described it as “the best match of my life.”

But just a few days later, Serena paid this debt by defeating her Romanian opponent 6-3, 6-0 in the final of the tournament.

3. Joannette Kruger 1-6, 1-6. Oklahoma City 1998

Joannette Kruger is the rare tennis player who has an equal head-to-head ratio with Serena Williams (1-1), and it’s all thanks to her extremely lopsided victory over this player in Oklahoma. Serena was 16 years old at that time, ranked 42nd in the world and had just returned from being eliminated in the second round of the 1998 Australian Open. At home, Serena won her first two matches, but in the third round, she stopped in front of a few opponents. South African names.

2.Annie Miller 1-6, 1-6. Quebec City 1995

This is a very memorable, but also forgettable match for Serena Williams. This 14-year-old girl began her professional career in round 1 of the 1995 Bell City Challenge and only won 2 sets against 18-year-old compatriot Annie Miller.

“I feel bad about this failure. I didn’t play the way I wanted. I play like an amateur tennis player,” Serena lamented after the defeat.

1. Johanna Konta 1-6, 0-6. San Jose 2018

Having just returned from reaching the Wimbledon final, many people thought that Serena Williams would win easily against a Johanna Konta who was in bad form. They were all offside: The Englishman played one of the best matches of his career, destroying an opponent who won 23 Grand Slams in just 53 minutes.

In this match, Serena won the first game and lost 12 consecutive games after that. The American tennis player made 25 unforced errors and her winning rate on first serves was only 41%.