Serena Williams is quite simply one of the dominant athletes in the history of not just women’s tennis but sport as well.

The American, who turns 34 today, is the world No1 player at the moment and has been ranked at the top on six different occasions.

Williams has the most major singles, doubles, and mixed doubles titles combined among active players, male or female. Her record of 36 major titles puts her fifth on the all-time list and second in the Open era and her total of 21 grand slam singles titles is third on the all-time list behind Margaret Court (24) and Steffi Graf (22).

She is the reigning champion of the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, WTA Tour Championships and Olympic women’s singles and doubles.

Little surprise that Williams is regarded by many commentators, writers and players as the greatest female tennis player of all time.

1943: Ian Chappell, former Australia Test captain turned commentator (72).

1947: Richard Roth, American former swimmer and Olympic champion in 400m IM (68).

1976: Michael Ballack, former Chelsea and Germany midfielder who scored 42 goals for his country (39).

1983: Ricardo Quaresma, Portugal winger who plays for Turkish club Besiktas (32).