Serena Williams, an African American professional tennis player, has been ranked as the world’s top women’s singles player. Born on September 26, 1981, Serena is a widely recognized and admired figure in tennis, needing no introduction. Serena Williams is a respected and well-known figure in the world of tennis. She is an incredibly talented woman and a fiercely competitive and driven player who mesmerized her opponents with her dynamic performance every time she stepped onto the tennis court.
She is the only female in tennis history to have won more Grand Slam Singles titles than any other player, male or female.
Not only she revolutionized tennis, but she left an unremarkable and unparalleled mark on sports. Her strong serve, mental toughness and aggressive playing style give her an edge over other players.
She achieved the world No. 1 ranking for the first time in 2002 in a career spanning two-and-a-half decades and has since regained the same position on five occasions. Along with this, she also won many more awards and honors.
Serena Williams & Her Journey
Table of Contents
Early life
Serena Williams was born in Saginaw, Michigan, and raised by her parents, Oracene Price and Richard Williams. During her childhood, her family moved to Compton, California, where she began playing tennis at the age of four.
Her father was a huge tennis fan and envisioned his daughters as tennis stars before they were even born.
Tennis Coaching
Coached by her father, Serena competed in her first tennis tournament at the age of four and won forty-six out of forty-eight tournaments over the next five years. Serena, along with her sisters began attracting attention far beyond the borders of their home state even before they reached their teens.
Later, Richard invited tennis pro Rick Macci, who had previously coached tennis stars like Mary Pierce and Jennifer Capriotti, to come to Compton and watch his daughters play. Macci was impressed by the sisters’ athleticism and skills and invited them to study at his academy in Florida. Soon, the family moved to Florida.
Education:
By 1993, the girls had left school, continuing their education at home and spending as much time as possible honing their tennis skills.
Later, the two again attended a small private school called Driftwood Academy. They settled into the school setting, and then Williams graduated from high school in 1999.
In the shadow of her sister Venus, Serena Williams started her WTA career in 1997 and quickly established herself as more than just a tennis star’s sibling. She shocked observers by defeating Mary Pierce, the seventh-ranked female player in the world, in the second round of the Ameritech Cup in Chicago.
Career
Slowly and gradually, Serena became unstoppable and won the quarterfinal match against Monica Sales, who was ranked fourth. She reached number ninety-nine in 1997, a remarkable achievement for a sixteen-year-old.
She worked hard to polish her skills and build confidence. In 1998, she triumphed over several higher-ranked opponent. From that moment, she became invincible, and her winning streak took off. Here are some of her significant wins:
- She won her first major singles title at the 1999 U.S. Open by defeating world No. 1 Martina Hingis. She later became the first African-American woman to win a singles major in the Open era.
- Williams defeated the top three players in the world, including her sister, to win the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami, Florida. Furthermore, Serena met Venus in the finals of three Grand Slam events that year: the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open, and she won all three. The victory gave Williams her first ever world No. 1 ranking, overtaking her sister and making her only the third African-American woman to hold the ranking.
- Williams completed her Grand Slam sweep the following year, winning the Australian Open singles title over her sister. She won several other significant singles titles that year, including her second Wimbledon title in a row. She remained number one for over a year until August 2003.
- In the following years, she won two more singles majors but suffered from injury and a decline in form.
- However, from the start of 2007, she slowly returned to form despite continued injuries, regaining the world’s No. 1 singles ranking.
- Williams dominated again from the start of the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, claiming Olympic gold and becoming the first tennis player to win a career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles.
- She won her second French Open singles title and fifth U.S. Open singles title in 2013. Further, Williams won her 17th Grand Slam singles title at the U.S. Open. Williams finished as No. 1 for the third time, becoming the WTA’s oldest No. 1 player.
- Williams successfully defended her U.S. Open title in 2014, giving her 18 Grand Slam titles in her career.
- Williams won the 2015 French Open, her 20th Grand Slam singles title. She continued her unbeaten run at Wimbledon, winning the singles title in straight sets for the sixth time in her career.
- Williams won Wimbledon again in 2016, giving her 22 Grand Slam singles titles.
- She won her 23rd major singles title at the 2017 Australian Open, breaking Steffi Graf’s Open Era record. Williams announced in April that she was pregnant and would miss the rest of the 2017 season.
- Williams won her first three-year singles event at the 2020 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.
Retirement
In September 2022, she saddened her fans by announcing that she would say goodbye to tennis.
She told Vogue magazine that she would retire after the upcoming U.S. Open. “I’m moving on from tennis to other important things,” Williams explained. In addition, she stated that it is challenging for her.
Investment
Besides being a tennis queen, the 40-year-old Williams has been an avid investor to power early-stage start-ups. Williams has invested in more than 60 start-up businesses through her company, Serena Ventures.
Williams established Serena Ventures in 2014 after learning that women received less than 2% of all venture capital funding.
Williams’s investment portfolio includes 53% of businesses founded by women, 47% by black entrepreneurs, and 12% by Latino entrepreneurs. Serena Ventures revealed in March 2022 that it had raised an initial $111 million.
Her Off-tennis Life
Most of her life revolves around tennis, but few people know there are other beautiful sides to the tennis queen.
Entertainment
The tennis lady also made a mark in the entertainment industry. Serena Williams has provided guest voice work for The Simpsons, Higglytown Heroes, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. She played Miss Wiggins in the Season 3 episode “Crouching Mother, Hidden Father” of My Wife and Kids.
In 2007, Williams appeared in the “I Want You” music video by the rapper Common, alongside Alicia Keys and Kanye West. Furthermore, Serena Williams was the first active female professional athlete to appear in a feminine hygiene product advertising campaign. She also starred in a memorable advertising campaign for Tampax Pearl tampons where she took on the role of facing off against “Mother Nature. She has many other works in entertainment.
Activism
The tennis queen has been outspoken about her concerns throughout her career. As her career advanced, Serena Williams became increasingly involved in advocating for social change, using social media as a platform to share her views.
In 2016, Williams wrote an open letter for Porter magazine’s “Incredible Women of 2016,” where she discussed gender equality and her personal struggles as a woman in tennis. She highlighted the lack of recognition for women’s contributions to the sport compared to men’s and also addressed the issue of equal pay in tennis.
For her activism, particularly in support of the Black community, Williams received numerous accolades. Essence magazine named her one of the 35 “most remarkable and beautiful Black women in the world,” and she was honored with the President’s Award at the NAACP Image Awards.
Humanitarian work
Williams’ life is also filled with many philanthropic work. Here are some of them:
- Serena Williams is the founder and president of the Serena Williams Foundation. The Foundation provides scholarships for underprivileged students in Kenya and the United States.
- In 2010, she decided to forgo her final day of preparation for the 2010 Australian Open to donate proceeds to Haiti earthquake victims.
- In 2016, both William sisters founded the Yetunde Price Resource Center, which provides services and support to families affected by community violence.
- In 2003, she received the Avon Foundation’s Celebrity Role Model Award for her work on breast cancer.
- She has been a UNICEF International Goodwill Ambassador since 2011 and was instrumental in launching UNICEF’s Schools for Asia campaign.
- Serena Williams has been named an ambassador for the Allstate Foundation’s Purple Purse project. The initiative provides financial empowerment to domestic abuse victims.
- Williams supports other charitable organizations: the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Great Ormond Street Hospital, and the Eva Longoria Foundation.
Conclusion
In every area of Serena’s life—whether it’s on the tennis court, on television, in humanitarian efforts, or in her social endeavors—she continues to amaze the world with her talent and fierce energy. Not only has she consistently risen to new heights of success, but she has also paved the way for other women to follow. We admire her dedication and contributions to humanity, and the world certainly needs more women like Serena.
Authored by Afsheen Khan for Fujn