MELBOURNE, Australia — Tennis got more than its share of undesirable events in 2016: Roger Federer’s first surgery, Maria Sharapova’s suspension for a doping violation, the knife attack on Petra Kvitova that left the future of her career in doubt.
But the sport also checked some long-empty boxes. Novak Djokovic won his first French Open to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major trophies at the same time. Serena Williams tied Steffi Graf’s record for Grand Slam singles titles in the Open era by winning her 22nd.