The 2016 Serena Williams tennis season officially began on 5 January with the start of the 2016 Hopman Cup. Williams entered the season as the number one ranked player and the defending champion at five tournaments, including the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon.
On the week of September 5, 2016, Williams tied Steffi Graf for the longest consecutive weeks as World No. 1 at 186 weeks.
On July 9, 2016, Williams defeated Angelique Kerber in the finals at Wimbledon to claim her 22nd major singles title and tie the Open Era record for Grand Slam singles titles with Steffi Graf.
Year in detail
Australian Open Series
Hopman Cup
For the second consecutive year and for the fourth time in her career Williams started her season at the Hopman Cup. Williams partnered Jack Sock for the event and was originally set to start her campaign against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina but withdrew before the match citing knee inflammation. The world No.1 took to the court for the first time against Australia Gold's Jarmila Wolfe and, after dropping the first set, retired from the match due to the recurring inflammation in her knee. Despite retiring from her first match Williams remained optimistic that the swelling would go down before the first major of the year. The following day she announced she was pulling out of the tie against the Czech Republic. Williams was replaced by Vicky Duval.
Australian Open
Williams returned to competitive action for the first time in four months at the season's first major. As the defending champion the world No. 1 sought to add a seventh Australian Open title to her haul. In the opening round Williams faced off against the highest ranked unseeded player Camila Giorgi. Williams needed just a single break in each set to secure a straight sets victory and advance to the second round. Her opponent in the second round was former doubles world No.1 Hsieh Su-wei. Williams lost just three games and wrapped up her victory in an hour to set up a third round against Russia's Daria Kasatkina. The world No. 1 overwhelmed her young Russian opponent, for the loss of two games, in 44 minutes to reach the second week of the tournament. Serena would continue her dominant form by dispatching Margarita Gasparyan in a rematch of their 2015 first round Wimbledon encounter. Just as in their previous match, Serena served first and was broken but she responded by reeling in the next four games before breaking for a third time in the eighth game to take the first set. She then won the second set with the drop of one game. In the quarterfinals, Serena faced her long-time rival Maria Sharapova in a rematch of the 2015 Australian Open Final. It was their twenty-first encounter, properly beginning with a very tight first set that began with Serena's slow start. Serena quickly regrouped and managed to break Sharapova in the ninth game, needing 5 break points to do so. She served out the first set and then won the first five games of the second set. She then closed out the match after Maria avoided the bagel with her last service game. Serena faced Agnieszka Radwańska in the semifinals. Serena bagelled her in the first set in 21 minutes with only four unforced errors. The second set was tighter with Serena being broken when serving at 3–2. Serena managed to break back in the ninth game and serve out the match. Serena faced Angelique Kerber in her 26th Grand Slam final as the overwhelming favorite in her efforts to match the Open Era record in Grand Slams, but Serena was defeated in three close sets, her first defeat in the finals of the Australian Open, her first defeat in a three-set Grand Slam Final, and her first defeat in a Grand Slam final since the 2011 U.S. Open. Bearing the weight of history on her shoulders, Serena failed to display the dominant form that helped her reach the final without dropping a set. The match featured Serena committing 46 unforced errors when she has averaged as 20 unforced errors before the final. Throughout the tournament, Serena displayed confident net skills that she lacked in 2015, but they proved to be part of her downfall as she won less than 50% of her points at the net.
Early Hard Court Season
Indian Wells Rebounding from her loss in the Australian Open, Serena opened her Indian Wells campaign by handily defeating Laura Siegemund of Germany with the loss of only three games to advance to the third round, having received a bye in the first. Serena proceeded to fave Yulia Putintseva for the second time in her career. Serena was broken twice at the end of the first set and broke back both times to force a tie-break, which she won. Serena committed nearly 30 errors in the first set and cut down her mistakes to but five errors in the second to win 7–6(2), 6–0. Serena faced Kateryna Bondarenko in the fourth round and defeated her 6–2, 6–2. She then faced defending champion Simona Halep in the match they would have had the previous year. Despite failing to serve out the first set at 5–3. Serena broke back and ultimately won in straight sets. Serena then faced Agnieszka Radwańska in a rematch of their Australian Open semifinal. Radwanka began the match aggressively, breaking Serena early and setting up a double break point, but Serena saved it and won seven straight games from 2–4 down in the first set to win the set and lead 3–0 in the second. Errors returned to Serena's racket and Radwanka battled to break Serena twice in an effort to serve out the set 6–5, but Serena broke back to force a tie-break during which she won the seven straight points after losing the first. Serena Williams faced a resurgent Victoria Azarenka in their twenty-first career meeting. Nervous, Serena committed two double faults and two errors to be broken at love. Though she constructed several break back points, Azarenka saved them all and won the first set 6–4. Serena then went down 5–1 quickly in the second set to before finding her game to real in the next three games and establish a 15–40 on Azarenka's serve. As in the Australian Open final, Serena failed to take her chances to level the set at five all and she lost the next four points, thus losing to Azarenka 6–4, 6–4 for the first time since 2013 as well ending her 15-match winning streak at the tournament. Azarenka also became the first woman to defeat Serena four times in a final.
Miami Williams entered Miami as a three-time defending champion. After a first round bye, she defeated Christina McHale in the second round and Zarina Diyas in the third round before succumbing in the fourth round to long-time rival Svetlana Kuznetsova in a three set match that included a very tight first set. This match ended a 20-match unbeaten run at the Miami Open.
Clay Season
Italian Open In Rome, Williams played her first clay court match of the season against Anna-Lena Friedsam in the second round and won easily. In the following rounds, Williams failed to drop a set en route to the final, defeating Christina McHale, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Irina-Camelia Begu all in straight sets. By doing so, Williams reached her third final of the year, hoping to finally capture her 70th overall title. In the final, Williams faced fellow American Madison Keys in a rare all-American clay court final. After a tense first set, Williams was able to defeat Keys 7-6(5), 6-3 for her 70th overall singles title in her career.
French Open Following her victory in Rome, Williams returned to Paris as the defending champion and the favorite to defend her French Open crown. However, she had to face the task of defending her No. 1 ranking. Williams opened her title defense against Magdaléna Rybáriková, defeating her easily with the loss of two games to advance to the second round. Williams continued her campaign against Teliana Pereira, again achieving an easy victory of 6–2,6-1. In the third round, Williams faced Kristina Mladenovic of France. Williams took the first set 6–4 in the only break of the match, occurring in the last game of the set. In the second set, Williams did not face a break point with great serving, but she her return game was much sloppier during break opportunities, establishing a 40–0 lead on Mladenovic serve twice only to lose the game. Williams was forced into a tie break that followed a rain delay. When play resumed, Williams fell behind in the tie break 2-5 before asserting herself to match point. She held four match points in the tie break and had to save one set point before closing out the match with an 11–9 edge. A rain delay prevented Williams from playing her fourth round encounter for several days, ultimately forcing her to play four days in a row if she were to advance to the finals. Due to the rain, court conditions were much heavier. Williams eventually faced Elina Svitolina, who was under the charge of one of Williams' greatest rivals, Justine Henin. Williams erased her poor play from the third round to overwhelm Svitolina 6–1,6-1. Following the defeats of Angelique Kerber and Agnieszka Radwańska by the fourth round, Williams kept her top ranking.
In the quarterfinals, Williams faced first time Grand Slam quarterfinalist Yulia Putintseva in a rematch of their Indian Wells encounter. While Putintseva's play was exceptional and fearless, errors flowed from Williams' racket in the first set. At 5-all in the first, Williams established a 40–0 lead in her own service game and was broken with a stream of poor decisions, errors, and Putintseva's consistency, allowing Putintseva eventually take the set. Williams was broken at the start of the second but went on to reel in the next for games confidently before again squandering a definitive lead. At 4-all on her own serve, Williams was nearly broken again, but saved the break point to win the game and eventually the set on a double fault from Putintseva. Williams finally corrected her game in the third to claim the match 5–7,6-4,6-1. Following the match, Williams was outed as suffering an adductor injury, but she refused to acknowledge the injury any further than having "some problems." Williams then faced Kiki Bertens, who was in her first Grand Slam semifinal and on a 12-match winning streak but also suffering her own calf injury. Regardless, Bertens played confident and fearless tennis, breaking the hampered Williams early and having her own set point on Williams' serve. Williams saved the set point to win three straight games, but Bertens managed to force a tie-break. In the breaker, both players had set points, but Williams took the first set with a 9–7 edge. In the second, Williams took advantage of Bertens' increasingly hampered movement with well-executed drop shots. She won the match 7-6(7), 6–4. In the finals, Williams faced Garbiñe Muguruza in a rematch of their 2015 Wimbledon encounter. Williams began the match brightly with strong serving, but her first-serve percentage decreased while Muguruza's aggressiveness and confidence increased. Though Williams constructed break points well, Muguruza's clutch performance on big points allowed her to take the opening set. Williams' level did not rise in the second set, and she went down an early break. While she managed to save three championship points on her own serve, Muguruza took the final game at love to clinch her first Grand Slam singles title 7–5, 6–4.
Williams' defeat was represented her first defeat in back-to-back Grand Slam Finals though she ultimately completed the Career Slam Runner-Up. Her defeat was also written by tennis experts and commentators as a changing of the guard in women's tennis, led by Muguruza, with doubt that Williams could make a solid comeback following her U.S. Open defeat the previous year or make a claim at Steffi Graf's Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam singles title. However, Williams' consistency to regularly advance to tournament finals placed herself at the top of the leader-board in the Race to Singapore.
Wimbledon