Serena Williams

Background

Serena Williams has become a household name worldwide, and few people don’t know about the legendary player’s prowess. Her talent is obvious, and she has a record-breaking amount of wins to back it up. Williams was born on September 26, 1981, in Saginaw, Michigan. Her zodiac sign is Libra, her ethnicity is African American, and her talent is unmatched. She is the daughter of Richard Williams and Oracene Price and, besides her sister Venus, she grew up with three older half-sisters on her mother’s side. After moving to Compton, California when she was four years old, the Williams sisters began to be trained by their parents, especially their father Richard. She was later coached by professionals, including Rick Macci at his tennis academy, which the family moved to West Palm Beach, Florida for. Williams turned professional in 1995, one year after her sister Venus. Their powerful serves and ground strokes, and superb athleticism earned the sisters a great deal of attention. The youngest Williams became the first of the two to win a Grand Slam singles title, winning the 1999 U.S. Open.

In 2000, they won gold medals in the doubles event at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Williams asserted herself in 2002 and won the French Open, the U.S. Open, and Wimbledon, defeating her older sister in the finals of each tournament. She then won the Australian Open in 2003, becoming the sixth woman in the Open Era to do so, as well as the fifth woman to hold all Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously, a feat that got her the “Serena Slam” nickname. Also that year, she came out the winner at Wimbledon, besting her older sister in the finals. In 2005, Williams won the Australian Open again. Having taken time off to recover after facing injuries and struggling with her mental health, she made her triumphant comeback in 2007 to win the Australian Open. The sisters won their second doubles tennis gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. That same year, Williams won the U.S. Open once again. In 2009, she earned her 10th Grand Slam singles title by winning the Australian Open. Williams defended her titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2010. After this, she stepped back from playing for almost a year as she battled various health issues.

In 2012, Williams won her fifth Wimbledon singles title, as well as winning a gold medal in the singles event at the London Olympic Games, also teaming up with her sister to win the doubles event. That same year, Williams earned her 15th Grand Slam singles title after winning at the U.S. Open. In 2013, Williams became the fourth Open Era woman to win each Grand Slam title on at least two occasions. In 2015, she captured her sixth Australian Open and won the French Open as well. Her streak remained unbroken at Wimbledon, where she won a straight-set final to capture her sixth career Wimbledon singles title. Williams won Wimbledon again in 2016, giving her 22 career Grand Slam singles titles, which tied her with Steffi Graf for the most Slams in the Open Era for any player. However, Williams broke Graf’s record at the 2017 Australian Open, where she defeated her sister in the final. That same year, Williams announced that she was pregnant and would miss the rest of the 2017 season. After giving birth and getting married to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Williams returned to tennis in 2018. At the 2020 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, she won her first singles event in about three years. In 2021, a film was made about the sisters’ father and their training years before turning professionals, titled “King Richard.” Williams spent most of her time promoting the film, which went on to win an Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’ for Will Smith’s portrayal of the titular character.