Serena Williams wins 8th Miami Open title

As recently as 3-4 years ago, I would get irritated when people would proclaim Serena Williams as the greatest of all time because she did not have the same kind of numbers as Steffi Graf, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.

But since the 2012 season, Serena has been on a tear and held on tightly to the number one ranking for the past two years on her way to adding an Australian Open, a French Open, a Wimbledon and three consecutive US Open crowns to her list of grand slam titles that now totals 19.

Earlier today, she won the Miami Open for the eighth time – a record – and became just the fourth woman in the open-era to win the same tournament eight times, joining Navratilova, Evert and Graf.

If Serena wins three more slams, she will be tied with Graf as the all-time leader (22) in the professional era (players were amateurs until 1968). She surpassed Evert and Navratilova (18) when she won her sixth Australian Open in January.