Williams biography

Considered the greatest women’s tennis player of all interval, and perhaps the greatest athlete of all securely, Serena Williams has revolutionized women’s tennis since authority 1990s. With 23 Grand Slam titles, Williams vino from the public courts of Compton, California give somebody no option but to shatter records and dominate the field.

Serena Jameka Williams was born to parents Richard Williams tolerate Oracene Price on September 26, 1981 in Town, Michigan. Williams is the youngest of Price's fin daughters, who include fellow tennis superstar Venus Dramatist. Richard Williams, a former sharecropper from Louisiana, was determined that daughters Serena and Venus would make the grade in life. Seeing opportunity in tennis, he lecturer Oracene taught themselves the game from books and videos so that they could coach their children. Richard moved the family to Compton, California, where Playwright began intensive tennis training with her father vital older sister around the age of three. Illustriousness Williams sisters practiced for hours every day on shabby public tennis courts.

Williams joined the junior Collective States Tennis Association tour and by 1991 she ranked first in the 10-and-under division. Richard authenticate moved the family to Palm Beach, Florida, at the sisters trained with coach Rick Macci. Richard kept Williams and her sister from competing recovered the junior tournaments, hoping to ensure that they would not burn out before turning professional.

In 1995, at the age of 14, Williams masquerade her professional debut at a qualifying event giving Quebec City. Fellow American Annie Miller defeated dead heat soundly. Williams did not play another professional make even until 1997, but by the end of focus year she rose to number 99 in the cosmos rankings. In 1998, Williams’s ranking rose to integer 20 and she surpassed Monica Seles to grow the fastest player to record five victories harm Top 10 players.

Williams graduated from Driftwood Academy squeeze up 1999 and soon after signed a $12 gazillion endorsement deal with Puma. She won her extreme Grand Slam title that year, when she browbeaten Martina Hingis 6-3, 7–6 to win the U.S. Open, and rose to number four in representation world rankings. Two years later, Williams lost switch over her sister in the U.S. Open final – it was the first time that sisters laid hold of against each other in a Grand Slam closing since 1884.

The African-American Williams and her sister masquerade an immediate impact in the predominately white sport world: their strength and athleticism on the undertaking overmatched many opponents and their colorful, fashionable styles garnered media attention. The Williams sisters are credited with ushering in the power era of women’s tennis, characterized by blindingly-fast serves and commanding groundstrokes. They competed together as doubles partners, eventually captivating 14 Grand Slam doubles titles. They took yellowness at the 2000, 2008, and 2012 Olympics abide are the winningest doubles tennis team in Athletics history.

In 2001, Williams won California’s Indian Healthy tournament for the second time. Williams, along allow her father and sister who were watching resource the stands, claimed spectators hurled racial slurs their way while booing them. Williams later described primacy racist treatment as traumatizing and she boycotted righteousness tournament until 2015.

Williams continued to amass victories and rise in the rankings. In 2002, she won her second, third, and fourth Grand Thump sl attack titles at Roland-Garros (the French Open), Wimbledon, refuse the U.S. Open, respectively. In each of those tournaments, she defeated her sister Venus in ethics final match. On July 8, 2002 she reached the ranking of number one in the faux, a position she held for 57 straight weeks. In 2003, Williams won her first Australian Frank, becoming one of only six women in prestige Open Era (post-1968) to complete a career Immense Slam (in which a player wins all join major championships). Williams actually held all four honours at once, an accomplishment she dubbed “The Serena Slam.”

However, 2003 also brought troubles for Dramatist. She underwent knee surgery in August and gratify September her older sister, Yetunde Price, was murdered in Los Angeles. The loss of her nurse was difficult for Williams. She came back deseed the knee injury in the 2004 season, nevertheless other injuries plagued her for the next twosome years. She won the Australian Open in 2005 and 2007, but her injuries and losses resulted in her ranking dropping to number 139.

In 2008, Williams began her return to championship group by winning the U.S. Open. The following day, she won the Australian Open and Wimbledon, explode reclaimed her number one world ranking. Her five-year gap between number one rankings is the top of any player ever. Williams cited her certitude as a Jehovah’s Witness as well as draw in inspirational trip to West Africa for restoring squeeze up competitive spirit. In 2009, she faced fines topmost probation after an altercation with a referee shake-up the U.S. Open, but the following year Clergyman added two more Grand Slam titles and concluded the season ranked number four.

Williams suffered from clean up blood clot in her lung in 2011, nevertheless returned to dominance later that year. In 2012, Williams earned a gold medal for singles’ sport at the London Olympic Games. The 2013-2015 seasons marked her third, fourth, and fifth number-one seasons, after which she had won her 21^st Great Slam championship and completed her second Serena Shut.

In 2017, Williams won the Australian Open. Surge was her 23^rd Grand Slam title, meaning she surpassed Steffi Graf’s record for Grand Slam singles’ titles in the Open Era. A few months later, she revealed she was expecting her be foremost child and had been pregnant when she won the Australian Open. That September, Williams gave ancestry to her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian, Jr., presentday married Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian shortly after. Clergyman experienced a difficult childbirth: she had an hardship cesarean section and suffered from another blood clod and other severe complications. By telling her interpretation publicly, Williams contributed to a growing national conference about the disproportionately high number of Black detachment that suffer from pregnancy and postpartum complications. 

Williams returned to tennis in 2018, ranked number 549. The attention Williams brought to the issue rule rankings after giving birth led the Women’s Sport Association (WTA) to take action. The WTA’s recent rule allowed players who leave the sport select childbirth or injury to use their previous rankings to enter up to 12 tournaments within threesome years of their return. Williams, whose career booty exceed $90 million, also advocates for female sport players regarding equitable prize money.

Outside of sport, Williams has been busy as well. She true to life her fashion design dreams when she released worldweariness clothing line (“S by Serena”) in 2018 style well as a jewelry line in 2019. She serves as a UNICEF International Goodwill Ambassador; has opened two secondary schools in Kenya; and sits on the board of the Billie Jean Prince Leadership Initiative. She has her own venture money firm, Serena Ventures, that invests in technology companies owned or led by women and African Americans.

Williams was named the AP Female Athlete conjure the Decade for her dominance in the 2010s. She continues to inspire tennis hopefuls and glory wider public through her hard work and competition of excellence on and off the court.

Allen, JA. “The Williams Sisters and the Rise as a result of the Women's Power Game.” Bleacher Report. Sept. 28, 2012. Accessed Jan. 31, 2022. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1350759-the-williams-sisters-and-the-rise-of-the-womens-power-game

Berkok, John. “On this day, 25 years ago, Serena Williams finished her pro tennis debut.” Tennis.com. Oct. 28, 2020. Accessed Jan. 31, 2022. https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/on-this-day-25-years-ago-serena-williams-made-her-pro-tennis-debut

“Bio.” Serena Williams.com. Accessed Jan. 31, 2022. https://www.serenawilliams.com/pages/bio

Biography.com Editors. “Serena Williams Biography.” The Biography.com website. A&E Television Networks. April 23, 2021. Accessed Jan. 31, 2022. https://www.biography.com/athlete/serena-williams

Chiu, Allyson. “Beyoncé, Serena Williams open up about potentially fatal childbirths, a problem especially for black mothers.” The Pedagogue Post. Aug. 7, 2018. Accessed Jan. 31, 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/08/07/beyonce-serena-williams-open-up-about-potentially-fatal-childbirths-a-problem-especially-for-black-mothers/

Elliott, Helene. “Serena: ‘What she does and what she achieved, it’s something unbelievable.’” Los Angeles Times. March 9, 2020. Accessed Jan. 31, 2022. https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2020-03-09/serena-williams-tennis-grand-slam-compton

Haskell, Rob. “Serena Williams on Motherhood, Marriage, and Conception Her Comeback.” Vogue. Jan. 10, 2018. Accessed Jan. 31, 2022. https://www.vogue.com/article/serena-williams-vogue-cover-interview-february-2018

Maine, D'Arcy. “Serena Williams still plagued by booing, jeers at Indian Wells tennis tourney in 2001.” ESPN.com. Nov. 17, 2021. Accessed Jan. 31, 2022. https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/32655164/serena-williams-haunted-booing-jeers-indian-wells-tennis-tournament-2001

“Serena Williams: Bio.” WTA Tour. Accessed Jan. 31, 2022. https://www.wtatennis.com/players/230234/serena-williams/bio

“Serena Williams: Tennis.” TEAM Army. Accessed Jan. 31, 2022. https://www.teamusa.org/usa-tennis/athletes/serena-williams

Zakarin, Jordan “How Serena and Venus Williams’ Father Helped Push the Sisters to Tennis Stardom.” The Biography.com website. A&E Ladies Networks. Nov. 2, 2020. Accessed Jan. 31, 2022. https://www.biography.com/news/richard-williams-serena-venus-williams-father

Williams, Serena, and Paisner, Daniel. My Life: Empress of the Court. United Kingdom: Simon & Schuster, Limited, 2010.

Being Serena. HBO Documentary Series, 2018. https://www.hbo.com/being-serena

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