Champions also lose sometimes. Few times than the others, and that's what makes them special. Serena has 23 Grand Slam titles under her belt but, even with so many victories throughout her career, some defeats stay longer in memory. Not often you see Serena lose a match, and what happened in that evening at the Australian Open was an absolute surprise for everyone. Serena lost a match after leading 5-1 in the 3rd set against Karolina Pliskova and holding four match points. On this day, one year ago...

A 23-minute meltdown for the all-time great

6/4, 4/6, 5/1... Serena was on her way to another Australian Open semifinal, a Slam she won 7 times. Despite a setback in the second set, Serena imposed her powerful game right from the beginning of the third set. However, she rolled her ankle in the rally that cost her first match point, and that was the beginning of the end for Serena in the tournament. In 23 minutes, Serena saw seventh seed Karolina Pliskova coming back to win 6 consecutive games and surprise everyone. And by that, we mean not only the ones at a packed Rod Laver Arena but every single tennis fan. Because that moment was probably the most shocking come back in the history of the WTA.

Serena continues her chase for Grand Slam title nº... 24!

Same tournament, same day, one year later. Serena is back at the Australian Open and again, she's the one to beat. We can argue that Ashleigh Barty, Karolina Pliskova or Simone Halep are major contenders but as long as Serena takes part in a tournament, she will always be the one. Her next opponent is the Chinese rank nº29 Qiang Wang, but it shouldn´t be a problem for Serena. Coming from a win at Auckland, Serena only lost a set in the last 7 matches, and already showed that she's here to revenge the incredible defeat from last year. The 24th is about to come and, at age 38, Serena is a living legend that continues to set the tone in this amazing sport!

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