Early Life: American legend, Serena Williams, was born to Oracene Price and Richard Williams in Michigan, USA, on September 26, 1981. She was initially coached by her father Richard and helped on her way by elder sister Venus Williams, who guided her. Both sisters were home-schooled by their father.
The Williams sisters built their tennis base in Compton and later joined the Rick Macci Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida. As Richard’s coaching techniques were not in sync with those of Macci’s, he pulled his daughters out of the academy and, from then on, took over all coaching at their home.
Currently, Serena Williams is undoubtedly one of the best tennis players in the world with an unparalleled legacy in the sport. She has claimed 23 Grand Slam titles and is the oldest women’s player to be ranked as World Number one.
Serena Williams of the United States celebrates defeating Catherine McNally of the United States during their Women’s Singles second-round match on day three of the 2019 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 28, 2019, in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City
Professional career: Serena Williams made her debut at the Bell Challenge event at Quebec in 1995. She lost in her opening round match in straight sets. Since the defeat, Serena took time to develop her game and made a solid entry into the WTA tour in 1998.
It didn’t take much time for the world to realize the talent of Serena as she kept on defeating the game’s best and started scripting history. The dominance continued for years to come as she surpassed Steffi Graf’s record of Grand Slam titles (22) and currently stands at 23 slams to her name.
Alexis Olympia, daughter of Serena Williams and husband Alexis Ohanian congratulate Serena Williams after she won her final match against Jessica Pegula of USA
Playing style: Serena is an aggressive baseliner with forehand and serve being her prime weapons to dismantle opponents. These two aspects of her game never faded away, and she has always relied on them whenever she is in trouble on a tennis court.
Just like every other great player, Serena is exceptional in defense as well. She is agile and tries to put as many balls in play as possible, which indicates her fighting spirit.
Serena Williams attends The 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp
Serena Williams’ Records: As mentioned earlier, the American has numerous records to her name. She has claimed a grand total of 73 singles titles and 23 doubles titles. She has even bagged Olympic Gold medals at Sydney, Beijing, and London (2) Olympics.
Williams won her first Grand Slam at US Open 1999. In 2002-03 from French Open 2002 to Australian Open 2003, she attained the ‘Serena Slam’ by pulling off all four Majors in a row.
The American ace did it again in 2014-15.
Williams has won 39 Grand Slam titles in total, which is the second-highest in the Open Era (23 in singles, 14 in women’s doubles, and two in mixed doubles).
Following her triumph at the Australian Open 2017, Serena went on maternal leave. She returned to the tour at Wimbledon 2018, where she reached the finals.
The next year, she faced a third-round upset in French Open 2019. Later, she reached the final at Wimbledon 2019 and US Open 2019. Alas, she failed to win either.
As a mother, Serena has reached four Grand Slam finals but is yet to win a Slam.
At Auckland Open 2020, Williams won her first title as a mother. With that title, she has won at least one title in four separate decades.
Williams’ form leading up to the 2022 season
Serena Williams started off her 2021 WTA campaign with a successful semi-final run at the Australian Open. She was defeated in the final four match by Naomi Osaka in straight sets. The American then decided to focus on the European clay-court summer with an eye to clinch the French Open crown.
At Roland Garros, Serena lost in the fourth round to Elena Rybakina. She then played the Wimbledon Championships, where she was expected to succeed considering her past performances. But, due to an unfortunate fall on-court during her opening round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Serena was forced to retire from the tournament.
The legendary champion had to pull out of the 2021 US Open owing to a torn hamstring and this marked the end of her season.
Serena Williams Australian Open 2022
Ahead of the 2022 Australian Open, Serena announced her decision to pull out of the event, as she was not deemed fit to play by her medical team. While there is no clear timeline on when will Serena Williams return, she might choose to play a couple of tournaments before going for history at the French Open.
Rivalries
In a celebrated career spanning over two decades, Serena Williams had numerous on-court rivalries with several top WTA stars. During the initial stages of her career, Serena consistently faced and won against sister Venus Williams, Justine Henin, and Jennifer Capriati.
Despite being a one-sided rivalry, Serena’s duels against Maria Sharapova garnered huge fan attention ever since they first met at the finals of 2004 Wimbledon. Sharapova won her first-ever major title by defeating Serena. But, the American dominated every other match. The Russian only managed to win one more contest against Serena, taking their head-to-head tally to 20-2 in favor of the American.
Others like Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka have also played intriguing contests with Serena Williams over the years.
Match Controversies
Being a highly competitive athlete on-court and an emotional person in general, Serena Williams got into a fair few controversies for her behavior over the years. During the 2009 US Open semi-final against Kim Clijsters, the American was fined for yelling at the lineswoman over a foot fault. Serena lost the match to Clijsters.
Two years later, at the same venue, Serena played Samantha Stosur in the final. There, the American was given a point penalty by the chair umpire for hindrance during a baseline exchange. Serena went on to lose the match in the end but had long arguments with the chair umpire.
The most recent Serena Williams controversy involved Naomi Osaka in the finals of the 2018 US Open. Serena was initially given a warning for on-court coaching. As it continued, she was given a second warning and a point penalty after she smashed a racquet.
At this point, Serena was constantly in argument with Carlos Ramos, who decided to give a game penalty for the American over umpire abuse. This resulted in Osaka winning her first-ever Grand Slam title at the US Open.
Serena Williams: Net Worth 2022
Williams has drawn a total of US $94,518,971 as prize money from the WTA Tour, much more than any other female tennis player. Approximately, she earns more than $8 million a year through her tennis career.
She also has an estimated net worth of $225 million.
Serena Williams’ Endorsements 2022
Being one of the most marketable players, it isn’t surprising that she is flooded with endorsements.
Her sponsors include Nike, Wilson, Gatorade, Delta Air Lines, Aston Martin, Pepsi, Beats by Dre, JP Morgan Chase, Audemars Piguet, Bumble, Upper Deck, IBM, Intel.
Williams is also the Chief Sporting Officer for Aston Martin. She penned the contract back in June 2015.
Serena Williams Biography
Serena Williams has not played since Wimbledon
Her flourishing career has been portrayed in several books, ‘My Life: Queen of the Court’ being one of them, which is written by Serena herself.
‘On the Line’ is one of the most famous books that was released after her 2009 Australian Open victory.
‘Venus and Serena Williams: A Biography by Jacqueline Edmondson,’ talks about the unprecedented careers of both sisters.
‘Serena Williams: The Inspiring Story of One of Tennis’ Greatest Legends by Clayton Geoffreys is one of the most inspiring books to read.
‘Serena Williams: Tennis Champion, Sports Legend, and Cultural Heroine’ by Merlisa Lawrence Corbett depicts the polarising and controversial side of Williams.
Filmography
Serena and Venus Williams’ early life struggles were depicted in a motion picture towards the end of 2021. The movie, titled ‘King Richard’ focuses on the Williams story told through the lens of father Richard Williams.
As soon as the movie released, it garnered immense praise from critics as well as the general audience and Will Smith also won the Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture drama.
Personal life
Serena married Alexis Ohanian in 2017, and before their marriage, they were blessed with a daughter named Alexis Olympia. Their wedding took place in New Orleans. Her husband is the co-founder of Reddit.
Entrepreneurial works
The tennis legend owns a “strong, sexy, sophisticated” clothing line called S by Serena.
She also owns Serena Ventures that invests capital in startups and businesses all around the world. Serena also has stakes in UFC and Miami Dolphins.
Serena Williams Foundations and Charity Work
Williams has been heavily involved in social change throughout her career. She has used social media as a means to express her views. The former World number 1 has been a huge philanthropist and can often be seen working with various charities.
In 2008, Williams provided aid to fund the construction of a secondary school in Kenya. The foundation also helps underprivileged children attain university scholarships in the United States.
In 2016, she partnered with Helping Hands Jamaica to build the Salt Marsh Primary School for Jamaican youth.
She is involved in many other charitable organizations. In 2017, she also became the ambassador for the Allstate Foundation’s Purple Purse Project, which helps those facing domestic abuse.
