For a long time there was a barrier, a barrier many Italian players touched but never crossed - that is, until a very bright young talent from Brindisi busted through it a few summers ago.
Serena Williams' previous best winning streaks, 21 matches in a row, both came during her Serena Slam days. Chanda Rubin put an end to the first one - but who snapped the second one?
Maria Sharapova just wrapped up a 21-match winning streak on clay, the biggest clay court winning streak among active players. What's the all-time record? Multiply that by about six.
Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario and Conchita Martínez went as high as No.1 and No.2, even bringing three of the four Grand Slams to Spain one year. Which other four Spaniards have made the Top 20?
Mission Impossible 3 was the No.1 movie in the US, Bad Day by Daniel Powter topped the Billboard Hot 100, and across the pond in Oeiras, history was being made by Li Na and Zheng Jie.
The Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem has graced four of Morocco's beautiful cities and with some big names kicking around on and off the court, it seems to be as strong as ever.
As the WTA celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, wtatennis.com will be looking back at some of the players who left a lasting mark in the game - first up, Mexico's greatest player ever.
Year after year, the Family Circle Cup attracts the very top women's tennis players in the world. But this isn't just a recent thing, it's been like this since the beginning - the very beginning.
On the eve of Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic's second career meeting on clay in Charleston, take a look back at the first, at Rome in 2010 - an epic win for Jankovic in more ways than one.
Venus and Serena played each other for the first time at the 1998 Australian Open. Some prophetic words and fifteen years and two months later, they're two of the WTA's biggest legends.
