Serena Williams, who is regarded as the greatest female tennis player of all time and possibly the greatest athlete of all time, has transformed women's tennis since the 1990s. Williams, who holds 23 Grand Slam titles, developed on the open courts in Compton, California, breaking records and dominating the sport.
Williams’s Personal Life
Richard Williams and Oracene Price welcomed Serena Williams into the world on September 26, 1981, in Saginaw, Michigan. The youngest of five sisters, she was also the youngest. She had one full sister, Venus Williams, and three half-sisters, Yetunde, Lynda, and Isha Price, on her mother's side.
Williams, a gifted youngster, and her sister Venus Williams began playing tennis at four. They soon enrolled in Rick Macci's tennis academy, where he helped them hone their natural talent and skills.
She had a 46-3 record on the United States Tennis Association Junior Tour by 1991 and was ranked number one in the 10-and-under age group. The household shifted to Florida. Her father dissuaded the girls from playing tennis, fearing that the rigorous schedule would cause them to tire too rapidly.
Her Career
Serena quickly moved up to the top 100 after beginning the Women's Tennis Association rating below 300th place. Serena began creating her legacy in 1998 by taking home the mixed doubles crowns at Wimbledon and the US Open. She had already risen to No. 20 in the WTA Ranking at the year's conclusion.
Serena defied expectations by winning her first Grand Slam in the 1999 US Open, defying expectations that Venus would be the first sister to claim a Grand Slam singles victory. Serena rose to the fourth position in the global rankings as a result of becoming the second African-American woman to win a Grand Slam.
A few months after winning Wimbledon, Venus and Serena Williams joined again to capture the women's doubles gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
By winning the Australian Open at the beginning of 2001, Serena and Venus became the fifth double pair to win every Grand Slam trophy. Later that year, the sisters squared off in the US Open final, with Venus coming out on top.
The French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open were all victories for Serena in 2002, and she defeated Venus in each of those finals to reclaim the top spot in the global rankings.
Serena had a year hampered by injuries in 2006 after winning her second Australian Open in 2005. She then fell out of the top 10 in the WTA rankings.
But in 2007, the tennis pro stunned everyone by defeating Maria Sharapova and capturing her third Australian Open women's singles title. Serena finished the year in seventh place after returning to the top 10.
Serena had another great return in 2012 and wasn't on the tennis court for long before she was back to full power. Williams won a gold medal in the singles competition at the 2012 London Olympics to become the second woman, after Steffi Graf, to complete a career Golden Slam.
She had just won both the singles and doubles match at Wimbledon. Serena later won her 15th Grand Slam singles championship at the US Open, but she needed to be more content.