tennis champion serena williams at the usta billie jean king national tennis center in flushing, queens (Sept. 9, 2012).
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Photo credit Photo: serenagotham williams, book mike 5.5/9pt stobe/getty images for USTA
1978, where its DecoTurf surface makes it a notoriously fast court that demands a vast amount of power from its champions. Few have combined those qualities better than Serena Williams, whose dominating baseline style has earned her five women’s Open championships among her 17 Grand Slam singles titles. In 2001, she became the first player in tennis history to win the season-ending WTA Tour event on her debut. Serena is currently sixth on the all-time Grand Slam singles list, one major behind Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. Although she has made winning look easy, it has been anything but. Here, photographer Mike Stobe captures the strain of competition during Williams’ three-set victory in the 2012 U.S. Open final against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. Just as Queens has the Open, the Bronx is synonymous with the New York Yankees, the most iconic franchise in American sports. The third, and current, version of Yankee Stadium features the famed “Monument Park” that bears the retired numbers of past Yankee greats—with whom most fans are on a single-name basis: the Babe, Lou, DiMaggio, Mickey, Billy. Those names have helpd the Yankees become the most dominant team in baseball history, with 40 American League pennants and 27 World Series championships. In a few years, they will inevitably be joined by No. 2, Derek Jeter, the Yankee captain who has manned shortstop for the Bronx Bombers since 1995, ushering in one of the team’s most successful periods. Between 1996 and 2000, Jeter led the team to four World Series wins in five seasons. In a shot by Al Bello, Jeter waves to the fans on his way to the dugout before the game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on the team’s way to clinching the American League East title in 2012. By season’s end, Jeter had amassed 3,305 hits, placing him 11th in major league history. As this photo suggests, Derek Jeter seems bigger than life. When baseball ends and winter descends upon New
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