Madison Keys secured her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open with a hard-fought 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 win over Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday night. While facing the world No. 1 and two-time defending champion, Keys held her composure in a tense decider to claim victory at age 29. This breakthrough which came after years of struggles, including a lopsided loss in the 2017 U.S. Open final, put the American in the marquee record list dominated by Serena Williams and Venus Williams.

Wonder what that feat is? Madison Keys after his first Grand Slam victory became the 12th player in the Open Era and the first since Svetlana Kuznetsova (2009 Roland Garros) to defeat both the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds en route to Grand Slam glory after she defeated Iga Swiatek in semis and Aryna Sabalenka in finals.

But Madison Keys isn’t the only American to grace this elite list of champions. The Williams sisters—Serena and Venus—have long dominated the narrative. Their journey to Grand Slam glory often came through the toughest challenges, as they defeated the very best at least 6 times combined in their whole Grand Slam journey which started in 1999, when a 19-year-old Serena Williams defeated world No. 1 Martina Hingis in the US Open final, winning her first Grand Slam title 6-3, 7-6(7-4).

But this was only the beginning for the Williams sisters. Less than a year later, Venus, ranked 7th, worked her own magic at Wimbledon. In the quarterfinals, she took down top seed Hingis 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, and confronted second seed Lindsay Davenport in the final, defeating the latter 6-3, 7-6(7-3) for her first title at Wimbledon!

Venus was on a surveyor that led to the US Open the same year, again beating Hingis in the semis before beating Davenport 6-4, 7-5, to win her second major. Then came the moment for Serena in 2002 when she overcame a deficit against 1st seed Jennifer Capriati and then defeated her sister Venus 7-5, 6-3 in the final, marking her first title at Roland Garros. Serena’s victories multiplied, and in 2005, she once again shocked the world by overcoming the odds to defeat her top seed, Lindsay Davenport, after dropping the first set, by a score of 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the Australian Open final.

Serena Williams and Venus Williams’ records speak for themselves and such that Madison Keys’ triumph has led the fans to talk about them.

Fans raving about William sisters’ impact after Madison Keys Triumph

The Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, have undeniably notched their names into tennis history, alongside the greatest like Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal. One fan perfectly summed up their impact: “The Williams sisters are the greatest tennis players next to Federer, Djoko & Nadal.” As another fan aptly put it, “The Williams sisters have forever marked the history of women’s tennis!”

Venus’s Grand Slam wins—five Wimbledon titles (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008) and two US Open wins make her an enduring force to which one fan noted, “Back-to-back slams for Venus! My girls were just built different!”

Serena’s reign with seven Australian Open titles, on the other hand, and her unparalleled wins at Wimbledon and the US Open make her one of the best players in the history of the sport. “They were a menace. Love that,” noted a fan, a fitting tribute to their intense rivalry, where only the best could claim victory. Another echoed this sentiment, recalling their meteoric rise, “So much Williams on that list. Always beating the best to become the best.”

What qualities do you admire in the Williams sisters? What do you reckon made them fierce competitors on the court?