History beckons Serena, Nadal and Djokovic

This is Nadal's first chance to grab sole possession of the men's mark for most Grand Slam singles titles.

Melbourne: Forget about aces or double-faults, winners or unforced errors: The statistic that has come to mean the most in tennis these days is “Grand Slam titles won.” Which is why so much attention will be paid to Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams at the Australian Open. Play begins at Melbourne Park on Monday, with Williams and Djokovic among those on the schedule and Nadal’s first-round match set for Day 2. Each match for each member of that trio is a possible step on the way to some history.

This is Nadal’s first chance to grab sole possession of the men’s mark for most Grand Slam singles titles. He pulled even with Roger Federer at 20 by winning the French Open in October, beating Djokovic in a lopsided final. Nadal has had stiffness in his back over the last two weeks, which kept him out of the ATP Cup and hampered his practice.

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A second Australian Open trophy also would allow Nadal to become the first man in the Open era to win each Grand Slam tournament at least twice. He has 13 championships at Roland Garros, four at the US Open, two at Wimbledon. He still would have work to do to catch Williams: She already has 23 Slam singles titles (plus 14 in doubles and two in mixed doubles), the most by anyone in the Open era. Only one player owns more: Margaret Court, with 24 — 11 after professionals were admitted to major tournaments.

And even if Williams’ tour of a room where some of her hardware is displayed lit up social media, she made a point of explaining she finds other ways to define her value.

She lost in the third round in Australia a year ago, then was hampered by an Achilles issue during a semifinal loss at the US Open. That same problem forced her to withdraw from the French Open before the second round.

For Djokovic, in addition to trying to break his own record for most men’s titles at the Australian Open by getting No. 9, and trying to ensure he will eclipse Federer for most weeks at No. 1 in the ATP rankings, there is the matter of closing the Grand Slam gap. Adding another major championship would give him 18 — two behind Federer and Nadal. AP