Serena Williams

 

Serena Williams is an American tennis player who was born in Saginaw, Michigan, on September 26, 1981. She revolutionized women's tennis with her aggressive style of play and amassed more Grand Slam singles titles (23) than any other player, male or female, throughout the open period.

California's Compton was Williams' home town. Her parents, Richard Williams, who owned a security agency, and nurse Oracene Price, along with Venus Williams, her older sister, made up the family. In addition, Price had three children from a previous union. Although Serena and Venus Williams' parents both encouraged them to play tennis, Richard Williams was mostly responsible for teaching the two women the game by taking them to the local public courts. The sisters practiced for a very long time since he was a very tough coach. Serena and Venus Williams' family relocated to Florida in 1991 so they could attend a tennis academy. One year after her older sister, Serena Williams began her career. They quickly drew a lot of attention due to their tremendous serves and ground strokes as well as their exceptional athleticism. Serena won the 1999 U.S. Open, defying expectations that Venus would be the first Williams sister to claim a Grand Slam singles victory. The sisters won the doubles competition at that competition, and throughout their careers, they combined for 14 Grand Slam doubles victories.

Venus and Serena Williams won the doubles gold medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games in Australia. Serena Williams took control of her game in 2002 after a few years of erratic performance, winning the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open while defeating Venus Williams in each tournament's championship match. Serena Williams attracted notice by donning a catsuit at the latter competition. Williams, who has always been interested in fashion, rose to fame for her daring ensembles that emphasized her strength and defied conventional (and normally conservative) dress rules. Williams won the Australian Open in 2003 with her characteristic persistence, completing a career Grand Slam by winning all four of the slam's component tournaments.Later that year, she won Wimbledon as well; in 2003, she won both Grand Slam events after defeating her sister in the finals. Williams won the Australian Open once more in 2005. She struggled with injuries the following year, but she bounced back to win her third Australian Open in 2007. At the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, Serena and Venus Williams won their second gold medal in doubles tennis. Serena Williams won the U.S. Open for the third time later the same year. In 2009, she won the Australian Open to earn her 10th Grand Slam singles championship. Later that year, she defeated her sister to win her third Wimbledon singles title. In 2010, Williams successfully defended her championships at Wimbledon and the Australian Open. After that, she struggled with a number of health problems that kept her off the court for almost a year.

Williams won her fifth Wimbledon singles championship in 2012. She won a gold medal in the singles competition at the London Olympics a month later, becoming the second woman (after Steffi Graf) to complete a career Golden Slam. Additionally, she and her sister won the doubles competition. Later that year, Williams won the U.S. Open to earn her 15th Grand Slam singles championship. She won her sixth U.S. Open singles title and second French Open singles title in 2013. Williams successfully defended her U.S. Open title in 2014, giving her 18 Grand Slam victories overall and equal Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert for the second-highest number of women's singles victories in the open era. She won her sixth Australian Open the following year. The next year, Williams won the French Open, her 20th Grand Slam singles title overall. She extended her winning streak at Wimbledon, taking home her sixth Wimbledon singles crown in a straight-set victory. Williams won Wimbledon once more in 2016, giving her 22 Grand Slam singles victories overall, tying Graf for the most in the open era of competition for both men and women. At the 2017 Australian Open, where she defeated her sister in the title match, Williams broke Graf's previous mark.

Williams stated in April 2017 that she was expecting a child (she had became engaged to Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian in December 2016) and will miss the rest of the 2017 campaign. She gave birth to a daughter in September, and two months later, she wed Ohanian. In March 2018, Williams picked up tennis again. Despite making it to the finals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open that year, she was unable to capture an event. Williams was fined a game after fighting with the chair umpire about a code violation, which made the latter defeat contentious. She lost in the Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals in 2019 once more. For the first time in about three years, Williams won a singles match at the 2020 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.

Williams lost to Naomi Osaka in the Australian Open semifinals of 2021. She had to withdraw from Wimbledon and the U.S. Open later that year due to injuries. Williams participated in Wimbledon after missing the first half of the 2022 season, however she was defeated in the opening round. Later, she disclosed that she would be retiring after the upcoming U.S. Open in an interview with Vogue. As she "evolves away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me," Williams said.

Williams has operations in the fashion, beauty, and accessories industries in addition to her tennis activities. In 2009, she co-wrote the memoirs On the Line with Daniel Paisner.

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