Serena Williams is one of the most renowned and established names in the world tennis. Immensely talented and skilled player, she throws away a power packed performance every time she is in a tennis court and leaves her opponent’s spell-bounded. In her career spanning Two and a Half decades, she first gained the world number one ranking in 2002 and later regained the same on five more occasions in her career. So far, she has won 39 Grand Slam titles, 23 in singles 14 in women’s doubles and 2 in mixed doubles in 2002 to 2003 and 2014, and 15. She achieved the rare feat of holding all the four grand slam titles simultaneously.
What gives her the edge over other players of her generation is her fastest power packed serve followed by forceful groundstrokes from both her forehand and backhand swings in aggressive High playing style. She is also known for her mental toughness and her ability to strike back when the chips are down. The Williams sisters have changed the face of women’s tennis with their power play and athleticism. Serena Williams is considered among all-time great women tennis players.
Starting below 300th place in the women’s tennis Association ranking, it did not take long for Serena to climb her way up to the top 100. In 1998, Serena started to write her Legacy by winning the mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon in the U.S open. By the end of the year, she already was number 20 in the WTA ranking. Though many predicted Venus would be the first sister to win a grand slam singles title Serena proved them wrong by winning her first Grand Slam at the 1999 U.S open. This made her the second African-American woman to conquer a grand slam but it also propelled Serena to the fourth spot in the world ranking.
A few months after winning Wimbledon, Serena and Venus Williams teamed up again to claim the gold medal in women’s doubles at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Early in 2001, Serena and Venus became the fifth double team to win all Grand Slam titles by emerging Victorious at the Australian Open. the sisters faced each other later that year in the U.S Open final where Venus had the upper hand however Serena came back stronger in 2002 by winning the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S open beating her sister in all three finals to regain the top spot of the world ranking at the expense of Venus.
Childhood
Serena Williams was born on September 26, 1981 in Saginaw, Michigan to Richard Williams and Roisin Price. She was the youngest among the five siblings all sisters. She had three half-sisters Yutan, Londrina and Ishan Price from her mother’s side and one full sister Venus Williams. A prodigious child, young Williams took to playing tennis at the age of four along with her sister Venus Williams. Soon thereafter, they attended the Tennis Academy of Rick Mache who polished their inborn skills and talent.
By 1991, she had scored 46-3 on the United States tennis Association Junior Tour and ranked first in the 10 and under division. The family moved to Florida however her father pulled the sisters out of playing tennis with a view that the demanding schedule might burn them out too quickly.
Career
In 1995, she turned to become a professional tennis player. Starting from the 304 rank, she zoomed up her way to make place for herself in the top 100 at the 99th rank beating world number seven and world number four before losing the semi-finals to world number five.
Year 1998 started what became a legacy in her tennis-playing career as she recorded a victory at the mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon and the U.S open. The sisters went on to win two more doubles titles. She finished the year ranking at the 20th spot. In 1999, she collaborated with her sister to record a victory at the doubles in the French Open and we open. Furthermore, she outplayed Martina Hingis to emerge as the winner in the finals of the U.S open Grand Slam singles tournament. Thus becoming the second African-American woman ever to record the victory.
She ended the year with the world number four ranking. In 2000, the Williams sisters not only won their first Wimbledon title but also teamed up for their first victory at the Sydney Olympics wherein they bagged a gold medal in doubles. In the following year, they created history by winning the doubles title in the Australian Open thus becoming the fifth doubles team to win all four grand slam women’s doubles titles. She lost the U.S open to her sister Venus in the finals.
By the end of the year, her ranking stood at world number six. The year 2002 was a spectacular year for Serena as she went on to win the French Open, The Wimbledon and the U.S open. In the finals of all these three grand slam championships, she defeated her sister Venus Williams.
Because of these victories, she bagged the world number one ranking dethroning her sister from the top spot. She paired up with Venus Williams to win the women’s doubles title at Wimbledon. In 2003, she won the Australian Open and once again, she defeated her sister in the finals. By winning the Australian Open, she became only the fifth woman to achieve the rare feat of holding all the Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously. The others to achieve this feat were Maureen Connolly Brinker, Margaret Court, Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova. The Press hailed this feat as Serena Slam.
She also won the doubles titles at the Australian Open in partnership with her sister. The super successful career graph met with a resounding halt as she succumbed to injuries, which took a toll on her performance for a couple of years. She could defend neither her title nor her world ranking as she slipped past the world top 10.
Year 2007 marked the year of Revival as she came over her physical psychological and emotional pressure to record a victory at the Australian Open against Maria Sharapova, her third Australian Open in eighth Grand Slam singles title overall. By the end of the year, she scaled to the world number seven rank. Working her way through the tournaments she went on to record a victory at the 2008 U.S open singles tournaments out playing Elena Yanukovych.
She emerged as the runner-up in The Wimbledon singles tournament against her sister. In the same year, she collaborated with her sister to record a victory at the Wimbledon doubles tournament. Additionally the duo won a gold medal at the Olympics too. She ended the year at world number two and four singles titles her best ever since her comeback.
Year 2009 saw the sister’s bag all the Limelight as they went on to record a victory at the Wimbledon the U.S open and the Australian Open doubles tournament. The same year she outplayed Dinar Safin at the Australian Open and her sister at The Wimbledon to get hold of the two singles title as well. She won five grand slam titles putting her total Grand Slam titles at 23. She finished the year at world number one rank for the second time in her career.
The sisters repeated their success streak at the 2010 the Australian Open and the French Open thus defending their titles. They however lost the Wimbledon title. As for her singles Victory, she outperformed Justin Henan in Vera’s Von Arriva at the finals of the Australian Open and The Wimbledon. She ended the year ranked number four in singles despite having played only six tournaments.
In 2011, she took a break following a series of health issues as doctors found a blood clot in one of her lungs. Due to the same, she kept away from playing tennis for several months. Not the one to remain idle for long, she returned to the court in 2012 and recorded a victory each at The Wimbledon and U.S open singles tournament. She even went on to win the singles gold medal at the 2012 Olympics Games. The same year she paired with her sister to win the doubles title at The Wimbledon.
In 2013, she outclassed Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka to record a victory at the French Open and the U.S open singles tournament. With this, she became the oldest U.S open champion. Additionally she became the oldest person to win the WTA championships and the fourth player to win the event four times or more. In 2015, she defeated Maria Sharapova to win her sixth Australian Open singles title. She then went on to win the French Open in Wimbledon and thereby completed her second Serena slam holding all four grand slam titles simultaneously.
In 2016, she lost to Angelique Kerberos in the final of the Australian Open. In the French Open, too she lost in the finals. She bounced back to win The Wimbledon and equaled Steffi Graf’s record of 22 grand slams in the open era. In the U.S open, she lost to Carolina Pliskova in the semi-finals and in the process lost her number one ranking.
The year 2017 started on a promising note for Serena Williams. She defeated her sister Venus Williams to win the Australian Open. It was the 23rd Grand Slam singles title of her career. Later it was revealed that she was eight weeks pregnant when she won the Australian Open. Because of her pregnancy, she took a break from tennis.
Serena Williams made her grand slam comeback with the 2018 French Open. She reached the fourth round but withdrew due to an injury. In July 2018, she entered the Wimbledon championships. She reached the final of the tournament but lost in the final to Angelique Kerberos of Germany.
Serena Williams entered the 2019 Australian Open after skipping the previous Edition. She however lost in the quarterfinals to Carolina Pliskova. In August September 2019, she entered the U.S open where she surprised everyone by her performance. She reached the final where she faced 15th seed Bianca Andres cu who defeated Serena in a close-fought match.
In the 2020, Australian Open Serena Williams marched to the third round but lost to Wong Chun in three tight sets.
In the 2020 U.S open, she advanced into the semi-finals where she lost to Victoria Azarenka in three sets. In the 2020, French Open Williams withdrew before her second-round match due to an Achilles injury. In the 2021 Australian Open Serena Advanced to the semi-final after defeating Simona Hale and Irina Sabalenka but lost to the fourth seed Naomi Osaka.
Apart From Tennis
Apart from playing tennis, Serena Williams has expanded her brand power to films television and fashion. She starred and did voice roles for a couple of television shows and appeared on the cover pages of various magazines.
She launched her own line of clothing and years in 2004 and her signature collection of Handbags and Jewelry. the sisters have also come up with a couple of Publications they pinned their first book titled ‘Venus and Serena’, ‘serving from the hip’ ‘10 rules for living loving winning’ along with author Hilary beard in 2005. In 2009, she released her first solo autobiography entitled ‘on the line’
Awards and achievements
Serena Williams is the only tennis player to ever accomplish a golden career Grand Slam in singles and doubles. She has won 39 Grand Slam titles, 23 in singles, and 14 in women’s doubles and 2 in mixed doubles. Her record of grand slam wins puts her third on the all-time list and second in the open era.
Grand Slam single wins
| Australian Open | 2003 2005 2007 2009 2010 2015 2017 |
| French Open | 2002 2013 2015 |
| Wimbledon | 2002 2003 2009 2010 2012 2015 2016 |
| U.S open | 1999 2002 2008 2012 2013 2014. |
Grand Slam doubles wins
| Australian Open | 2001 2003 2009 2010 |
| French Open | 1999 2010 |
| Wimbledon | 2000 2002 2008 2009 2012 2016 |
| U.S open | 1999 2009. |
Along with Sister Venus, she won a record three doubles gold in the Olympics as a team. In 2013, she became the oldest number one player at the age of 31 years and four months. She is the only tennis player in history, man or woman, to have one singles titles at least six times in three of the four grand slam tournaments, Australian Open Wimbledon and the U.S open.
Serena Williams holds the record of winning the most women’s singles matches at the Grand Slams.
In 2016, she earned 28.9 million dollars in prize money and endorsements and thus became the highest paid female athlete in year.
Personal Life and Legacy
Serena Williams was romantically involved with rapper Common until the two broke up in 2010. In 2016, she announced her engagement to Reedit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. she gave birth to a girl on September 1st 2017. She named her Alexis Olympia Ohanian Junior. On November 17 2017, Serena Williams tied the knot with her longtime fiancé and Reedit founder Alexis Ohanian. the wedding festivities were held at New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center and was attended by host of A-list celebrities including singer Beyoncé, legendary Vogue magazine editor-in-chief Anna winter, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, actress Eva Longoria and singer Sierra.
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