If you were a professional tennis player, what would you choose between a world number one and a Grand Slam singles champion?
I believe that most fans will not hesitate to choose the latter, after all, the former is only a title, only the Grand Slam champion can bring real bonuses and points.
However, in terms of the difficulty of achieving both, becoming the world number one is much more difficult than winning a Grand Slam title. In the past, we've seen a lot of players win cups in Grand Slam tournaments, and the world number one is always so few.
Today's protagonist is one of only three grand slam queens since the Open era, Safina, who just celebrated her 36th birthday yesterday.
Safina was born on April 27, 1986 in Moscow, the capital of Russia, where her older brother was the famous Russian male professional tennis player Safine.
Safina officially turned professional in 2002 and lost to Gorges in the second round in Madrid in 2011, the last singles match of her career as a Russian star.
In a shorter career, injuries became the number one problem plaguing Safina. But she also achieved a good record in these nine seasons, with the Russian star winning a total of 12 WTA singles titles.
In her most stunning 2008 and 2009 seasons, Safina won several top-level tournaments, and she also set her best record at a Grand Slam in those two years.
In 2008, Safina played as the No. 13 seed at the French Open, defeating Bondarenko, Lebarikova, Zheng Jie, Sharapova, Dementieva, Kuznetsova to reach the women's singles final, but was finally defeated by the No. 2 seed Ivanovic in two straight sets.
At the 2009 Australian Open, Safina has become the No. 3 seed in Grand Slam competitions, and she has brought a good performance, defeating Makarova, Kanepi, Konette, Dokki, Zvonareva on the way to the women's singles final, and her final opponent is the United States' Serena Williams.
Safina, who reached the women's singles final of her grand slam for the second time in her career, still failed to win, and she lost to Serena Williams by a score of 0-6, 3-6.
The 2009 French Open was the last time Safina reached the women's singles final in her career. The ancients "didn't do more than three", but Safina lost this time to her compatriot Kuznetsova.
Passing by a Grand Slam champion at her best, Safina's career is still a bit regrettable.
On April 20, 2009, Safina reached number one in her personal world rankings. She spent 26 weeks on the back of the ball before injuries kept her world rankings down and eventually had to retire. (Source: House of Tennis Author: Barbie)