The race for the most Grand Slam women’s singles titles went right down to the wire. After Serena Williams won her 23rd major title during the Australian Open in 2017, she was poised to overtake Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam titles. However, she endured defeat in the next four major finals that she played in. Thus, the Australian legend’s incredible record remained intact.

A few years back, Serena Williams and  Margaret Court got together for a special event during the Hopman Cup. During the event, the two legends of the sport praised each other for their illustrious careers.

Serena Williams and Margaret Court once heaped praise on each other

During the 2016 Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia, the two legends shared a stage where they were all praise for each other. Talking about Serena, Margaret Court said, “Well I’ve followed her for years now and I still watched the Grand Slams and went to Wimbledon a few years ago, go to the Australian Open most years but I followed her career for many many years since she started winning.”

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Subsequently, Serena felt fortunate about sharing the stage with Court and praised her, saying, “I never dreamt I would be on a stage being next to my record so it’s just really kind of a little bit surreal but it’s just really an honor to even be mentioned among such amazing champion like her and yeah, just have an opportunity to be healthy and play tennis and do something I love is also real blessing.” 

How did the 2016 Hopman Cup pan out?

Poland was the defending Hopman Cup champion that year. However, they did not participate in the tournament to defend their title. Australia won the Hopman Cup title in 2016, defeating Ukraine 2-0 in the summit clash.

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The Australian team had the likes of Nick Kyrgios and Daria Gavrilova. Meanwhile, Elina Svitolina and Alexandr Dolgopolov played for the Ukrainian team. With that victory, Australia clinched their second Hopman Cup title.