Serena Williams

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Serena Williams

Williams playing World Team Tennis in 2008
Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, U.S. [1]
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1]
Turned pro	1995
Plays	Right; Two-handed backhand
Prize money	US$21,774,846 (2nd in all-time rankings)[2]
Singles
Career record	398–83
Career titles	32
Highest ranking	No. 1 (July 8, 2002)
Current ranking	No. 1 (as of September 8, 2008)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	W (2003, 2005, 2007)
French Open	W (2002)
Wimbledon	W (2002, 2003)
US Open	W (1999, 2002, 2008)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	W (2001)
Olympic Games	QF (2008)
Doubles
Career record	110–17
Career titles	13
Highest ranking	No. 5 (October 11, 1999)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	W (2001, 2003)
French Open	W (1999)
Wimbledon	W (2000, 2002, 2008)
US Open	W (1999)
Last updated on: August 25, 2008.

Olympic medal record
Women's Tennis
	2000 Sydney	Doubles
	2008 Beijing	Doubles

Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is a professional tennis player who is currently ranked World No. 1. She has won 18 Grand Slam titles: nine in singles, seven in women's doubles, and two in mixed doubles. She also has won two Olympic gold medals in women's doubles.^[3] She is the most recent player, male or female, to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously. In 2005, Tennis magazine ranked her as the 17th-best player of the preceding forty years. She is the younger sister of a former World No. 1 professional female tennis player, Venus Williams. Serena currently resides at Ballen Isles in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.^{[citation needed]}

Serena was born in Saginaw, Michigan. When she and her four sisters were young, their parents, Richard and Oracene (also called Brandy), moved to the Los Angeles suburb of Compton. Her father dreamed of making at least one of his daughters a tennis superstar, hoping that involvement in sports would give them an opportunity for a better life. The children were homeschooled.^[4]

When Serena was four and a half, she won her first tournament, and she entered 49 tournaments by the age of 10, winning 46 of them. At one point, she replaced her sister Venus as the number one ranked tennis player aged 12 or under in California.

In 1991, Richard Williams, saying that he hoped to prevent his daughters from facing racism, stopped sending them to national junior tennis tournaments, and Serena attended a tennis school run by professional player Rick Macci in Haines City, Florida at Greneleaf Resort and Conference Center instead. Macci had already helped the careers of Jennifer Capriati and Mary Pierce, among others. Soon Richard, who had struck a deal on behalf of his daughters with a major clothing company, was able to move the rest of the Williams family to West Palm Beach, to be near Serena and Venus.

Williams became a professional in September 1995 at the age of 14. Because of her age, she had to participate in non-WTA events at first. Her first professional event was the tournament in Quebec City, where she was ousted in less than an hour of play.

Williams's biggest achievement of 1997 was her run in Chicago; ranked World No. 304, she upset both Monica Seles and Mary Pierce, recording her first career wins over top 10 players. She finished 1997 at World No. 99.

1998 was the first year that Williams finished ranked in the WTA top 20. She began the year in Sydney as a qualifier, ranked World No. 96, and defeated World No. 3 Lindsay Davenport in a quarterfinal. Williams was then expected to do well in her first Grand Slam tournament, but lost in the second round of the Australian Open to sister Venus.

Williams reached six other quarterfinals during the year. She won the mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon and the US Open with Max Mirnyi, completing the Williams family's sweep of the 1998 mixed doubles Grand Slams. Williams won her first pro title in doubles at Oklahoma City with sister Venus, becoming the third pair of sisters to win a WTA tour women's doubles title. She earned U.S. $2.6 million in prize money during the year. She then went on to win another 4 grand slams simultaneously, this time it was the 2008 us open, and the 2009 Australian, French open and Wimbledon. She is currently the only player to be able to hold all 4 grand slams twice. She currently holds the number one ranking.

In 1999, Serena defeated Amelie Mauresmo in the final of the Open Gaz de France tournament in Paris, the same day that Venus won the tournament in Oklahoma City. This was the first time in professional tennis history that two sisters had won titles in the same week.^{[citation needed]}

In March, Williams won the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, becoming the second of only five unseeded Tier I champions in WTA history. Williams (ranked 21st) defeated the World No. 2 Lindsay Davenport in the second round, the World No. 8 Mary Pierce in a quarterfinal, and the World No. 7 Steffi Graf in the three-set final.

At the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, sister Venus halted Serena's 16-match winning streak in the final. This was the first all-sister singles final during the open era.^{[citation needed]} Serena defeated World No. 3 Monica Seles and World No. 1 Martina Hingis en route to the final.

On April 5, 1999, Serena made her top 10 debut at World No. 9. Venus was ranked sixth the same week, marking the first time that two sisters appeared in the top ten simultaneously since April 22, 1991, when Manuela and Katerina Maleeva were in the top ten.

Williams teamed with sister Venus to win the women's doubles title at the French Open but lost in the third round in singles at that tournament. Williams missed Wimbledon because of an injury.

In the summer, Williams won the hard court tournament in Los Angeles, defeating World No. 8 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, World No. 1 Hingis, and Julie Halard-Decugis.

At the US Open, the seventh-seeded Williams defeated World No. 4 Seles, World No. 2 Davenport, and World No. 1 Hingis to become the lowest seed to win the title^{[citation needed]} and the second African-American woman (after Althea Gibson in 1958) to win a Grand Slam singles tournament.

Williams went on to take the Grand Slam Cup in Munich, defeating Venus in the final.

Williams won her singles match and doubles match during the tie between the United States and Russia in the final of the Fed Cup. The U.S. won four of the five matches and its 16th title overall. In their doubles match, Serena and Venus defeated Elena Dementieva and Elena Makarova 6–2, 6–1.

Williams finished the year at World No. 4 in just her second full year on the main tour.

Williams became the focus of many ad campaigns, including one with shoe and clothes maker Puma, which signed her to a U.S.$12 million agreement.

Following her breakthrough season, Williams's results declined slightly in 2000. Her best Grand Slam showing was a run to the semifinals at Wimbledon, before losing to sister and eventual champion Venus. Her defence of the US Open title came to a disappointing end when she fell to Lindsay Davenport in straight sets in the quarterfinals.

Perhaps the highlight of Williams's year was picking up the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics for women's doubles, along with Venus. The Williams sisters also teamed up to take the women's doubles title at Wimbledon, while Serena picked up singles titles in Hanover, Los Angeles and Tokyo. She finished the year at number six, a slight decline on her finish the year before.

Williams reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the first time before falling to World No. 1 Martina Hingis. Serena and her sister Venus won the women's doubles title there, becoming only the fifth women's doubles team in history to win all four Grand Slam doubles titles during their career, a "Career Grand Slam."

Williams then won the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California.

Williams reached the quarterfinals at both the French Open and Wimbledon.

During the North American summer hard court season, Williams captured her second title of the year at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto, defeating World No. 3 and top-seeded Jennifer Capriati in the final. At the US Open, Williams defeated Hingis in the semifinals to reach her second Grand Slam final before losing to sister Venus.

Serena finished 2001 with a title at the Year-End Championships.

Williams finished the year at World No. 6 for the second straight year.

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Williams was forced to withdraw from the Australian Open due to injury but won her first event of the year in Scottsdale, defeating World No. 1 Jennifer Capriati in the final. She then won the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, again defeating Capriati in the final. She then captured her first career title on clay at the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, defeating Justine Henin in the final.

Williams was the third-seeded player at the French Open and dropped just two sets en route to the final. She then defeated sister Venus 7–5, 6–3. At Wimbledon, Williams won the title without dropping a set, defeating Venus once again in the final. This win earned Williams the World No. 1 ranking (dethroning her sister and becoming the second black woman to hold that ranking on the Women's Tennis Association computer). The Williams sisters also won the doubles title at this event.

Williams captured her third straight Grand Slam singles title at the US Open, once again not dropping a set en route, and defeated Venus yet again in the final in straight sets. Williams then won back-to-back titles in Leipzig and Tokyo. She reached the final at the year-ending Home Depot Championships but lost to 19-year-old Kim Clijsters 7–5, 6–3.

Williams finished 2002 with a 56–5 record, eight singles titles, and the World No. 1 ranking.

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At the Australian Open, Williams dropped only one set while reaching the semifinals. She then defeated Kim Clijsters 4–6, 6–3, 7–5, recovering from a 5–1 deficit in the third set and saving two match points. She then faced her sister Venus for the fourth consecutive Grand Slam final and won in three sets, to become the fifth woman in the open era to complete a Career Grand Slam, joining Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and Steffi Graf. The Williams sisters won their sixth doubles title together at this event.

Williams then captured titles at the Open Gaz de France in Paris and the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Florida and went into the French Open trying to capture her fifth consecutive Grand Slam singles title. However, she lost to eventual champion Justine Henin in the semifinals 6–2, 4–6, 7–5 (having led by a break in the third set) in a match marred by controversy, in which Williams was booed. Two weeks later, however, Williams won her sixth Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon, defeating Henin in the semifinals 6–3, 6–2 before defeating Venus in the final.

Wimbledon was Williams's last event of the year, as a knee injury forced her to withdraw from all other events (including the US Open). As a result, she lost her World No. 1 ranking to Clijsters in August, having held it for 57 weeks. Williams finished the year ranked World No. 3, despite having played only seven tournaments plus Fed Cup.

Williams's older sister, Yetunde Price, was murdered on the morning of September 14, 2003, by gunshots as she passed by in a car driven by a man in the Compton area.

Williams withdrew from the Australian Open to continue rehabilitating her left knee. After eight months away from the tour, Williams began her comeback in Miami, where she defeated Elena Dementieva in the final. She then lost in the French Open quarterfinals to Jennifer Capriati 6–3, 2–6, 6–3, which was the first time she had lost before the semifinals at a Grand Slam singles tournament since Wimbledon in 2001. She reached the final of Wimbledon, but in one of the most surprising upsets in the tournament's history, the 17-year old Russian player, Maria Sharapova, defeated Williams 6–1, 6–4.

On July 30, Williams withdrew from her quarterfinal match in San Diego against Russia's Vera Zvonareva with another left knee injury. On August 1, she announced her withdrawal from the Rogers Cup due to the same injury. The injury also forced her to pull out of the Summer Olympics.^{[citation needed]}

Williams's next tournament was the US Open, where she lost a quarterfinal match to Capriati. The match was plagued by disputes over calls with the umpire. Williams protested later on the Ellen show by wearing a bright orange shirt with white capital letters, stating "THE BALL WAS IN!"^{[citation needed]}

At the China Open in Beijing, Williams defeated the newly crowned US Open champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova, in the final. Williams earned enough points there to reach the WTA Tour Championships, where she again lost to Sharapova in the final. Williams suffered a stomach muscle strain during the match after leading 6–4, 2–1^{[citation needed]}, consequently Williams began delivering serves barely reaching the 100 mph mark and Sharapova eventually won the match, 4–6, 6–2, 6–4. Despite the loss, Williams finished the year at World No. 7.

Williams won the Australian Open, her seventh Grand Slam singles title. She defeated three of the tournament's top four seeds (#2 Amelie Mauresmo, #4 Maria Sharapova, and #1 Lindsay Davenport) en route to the title. Like her 2003 Australian Open title where she saved two match points after being down 1–5 in the third set to Kim Clijsters, Williams saved three match points against Sharapova in the semifinals, two of them coming off her own winners. The win moved her up to World No. 2, and Williams stated she was now targeting the number one spot in the foreseeable future.^[5]

In March at the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Williams lost to sister Venus for the first time since 2001.

An injury forced Williams to miss the French Open. At Wimbledon, Williams was defeated in the third round by fellow American Jill Craybas (ranked World No. 85) 6–3, 7–6(4). Williams broke down in tears in the subsequent press conference. She had come into the tournament with a stress fracture in her ankle (which forced her to place extra strain onto her right knee) and a severe lack of conditioning. She also had not played a competitive match for six weeks, missing the French Open.

At the US Open, Williams lost to her sister Venus in the fourth round 7–6, 6–2. This was the earliest the two sisters had met in a Grand Slam tournament since their first meeting at the 1998 Australian Open.

Williams then was forced to take a break for the rest of the year because of ankle and knee injuries. She finished the year at World No. 11 and with just one singles title.

TENNIS Magazine placed Williams in 17th place in its list of "40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era."

As the defending champion at the Australian Open,^[6] Williams lost in the third round to Daniela Hantuchova 6–1, 7–6(5),^[6] provoking media reports that Williams had lost enthusiasm for the sport, which she denied. She then withdrew from numerous events due to a knee injury, including the French Open and Wimbledon, leading to a fall out of the top 100 on the world rankings for the first time in almost nine years.^[7]

Williams returned in the summer, reaching the semifinals in Cincinnati and Los Angeles, a run that included wins over World No. 11 Anastasia Myskina (6–2, 6–2) and Hantuchova.^[6] She was granted a wildcard into the US Open, as her ranking prevented her from gaining direct entry into the tournament. However, Williams defeated US Open Series champion Ana Ivanovic in the third round before losing to top seed Amelie Mauresmo in the fourth round 6–4, 0–6, 6–2.^[6] Williams did not play again for the rest of the year.

Williams ended the year ranked World No. 95, her worst end-of-year ranking since 1997 when she finished World No. 99.

Williams began the year by stating that she had no doubt she would be World No. 1 again,^[8] a comment that attracted criticism in the press from Pat Cash.^[9] She was unseeded at the Australian Open because of her World No. 81 ranking and was widely regarded as "out of shape".^[10] In the third round, however, Williams defeated fifth-seeded Nadia Petrova^[11] after Petrova had served for the match in the second set.^[12] This was her first win over a top 10 player since defeating Lindsay Davenport in the 2005 Australian Open final. In the quarterfinals, Williams was two points from losing to Shahar Peer before prevailing^[13] and then defeated tenth-seeded Nicole Vaidisova in the semifinals in straight sets.^[11] In the final, Williams defeated top-seeded Maria Sharapova in straight sets in 63 minutes^[14] to win her third Australian Open singles title, her eighth Grand Slam singles title, and her sixteenth Grand Slam title overall. Williams dedicated the title to her deceased sister Yetunde.^[14] Her performance in the final was described by TENNIS.com as "one of the best performances of her career"^[10] and by BBC Sport as "arguably the most powerful display ever seen in women's tennis".^[15] She rose to World No. 14 as a result of the win.^[16]

Williams next played at the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida. In the fourth round, Williams again defeated World No. 2 Sharapova 6–1, 6–1.^[11] She went on to reach the final, where she defeated World No. 1 Justine Henin 0–6, 7–5, 6–3, after Williams saved two match points in the second set.^[17]

As the eighth seed at the French Open, Williams lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Henin 6–4, 6–3.^[11] Despite this loss, Williams was one of the favorites for the Wimbledon title.^[18] During her fourth round match against Daniela Hantuchova, Williams collapsed from an acute muscle spasm while level at 5–5 in the second set, initially leaving her barely able to walk. Shortly afterwards, rain suspended play for nearly two hours, and on the resumption, Williams won the match 6–2, 6–7(2), 6–2.^{[19] [11]} Williams then lost her quarterfinal match with the top-seeded Henin 6–4, 3–6, 6–3.^[20]

Because of a thumb injury, Williams did not play a tournament between Wimbledon and the US Open.^[11] At the US Open itself, she beat 2007 Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli in the fourth round,^[11] setting up her third consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal with Henin. Williams lost again, 7–6(3), 6–1,^[11] her third straight loss to Henin in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event. In October, Williams reached her third final of the year at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, defeating World No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals.^[11] In the final, however, she lost to Elena Dementieva.^[11] Nevertheless, Williams's performances at these tournaments retuned her to the top five and qualified her for the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid. However, because of injury, she retired from her first match with Anna Chakvetadze after losing the first set and then withdrew from the tournament.^[21]

Williams finished 2007 ranked World No. 7 and won two singles titles, her best performance in both aspects since 2004. She was also the top-ranked American for the first time since 2003.

Williams started the year by participating on the U.S. team that won the Hopman Cup for the fifth time in Perth, Australia.^[22] She entered the 2008 Australian Open as the defending champion and seventh seed, but lost in the quarterfinals to World No. 4 and third-seeded Jelena Jankovic 6–3, 6–4.^[23] This was her fourth straight loss in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament.

Williams then withdrew from several events due to dental surgery. Upon her return to the tour, Williams won three consecutive singles titles. At the Tier II Bangalore Open in India, Williams defeated sister Venus in the semifinals 6–3, 3–6, 7–6(4)^[23], saving a match point in the process, in the sisters' first meeting since the 2005 US Open. Williams then defeated Patty Schnyder in the final.^[23] At the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Williams defeated World No. 1 Justine Henin in the quarterfinals 6–2, 6–0, World No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals and World No. 4 Jankovic in the final to win her fifth title there, tying Steffi Graf's record.^[23] At the clay court Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, Williams defeated, for the fourth consecutive time, second-seeded Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals 7–5, 4–6, 6–1,^[23] and later defeated Vera Zvonareva in the final^[23] to capture her tenth career Tier I title and first clay court title since the 2002 French Open.

Williams's 17-match winning streak was ended by Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals of the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin.^[23] She was the only former champion in the draw at the French Open, but she lost in the third round to 27th-seeded Katarina Srebotnik.^[23] At Wimbledon, the sixth-seeded Williams defeated 2006 champion Amelie Mauresmo in the third round en route to the semifinals, where she defeated Jie Zheng, a Chinese wild card.^[23] Williams, however, lost the final to Venus 7–5, 6–4.^[23] The Williams sisters then teamed to win the women's doubles title without dropping a set the entire tournament, defeating Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur in the final.

At the Beijing Olympics, Williams lost to eventual gold-medalist Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals 3–6, 6–4, 6–3.^[23] However, she and Venus won the gold medal for women's doubles, defeating the Spanish team of Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2, 6-0 in the final. Williams was seeded fourth at the US Open and defeated her seventh-seeded sister Venus in the quarterfinals 7–6(6), 7–6(7), before defeating Safina in the semifinals 6–3, 6–2. She went on to win the title, defeating Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 7-5 in the final, and became the new World No. 1.^[24]

Williams's next scheduled events are the Tier II Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart and the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

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Williams is primarily a baseline player. Her game is built around taking immediate control of rallies with her powerful serve, return of serve, and forceful groundstrokes that can come from both the forehand and backhand wing.

Her serve is widely regarded as the best in the women's game. She is known for having a very smooth motion and her serve is one of the most highly respected on the WTA tour. For example, Lindsay Davenport has said that Williams's serve is the best serve that she has faced on the WTA tour. Williams frequently hits serves over 120 mph and often varies the placement of her serve. She can hit flat, slice, and topspin serves to both corners of the service box. At the 2008 Family Circle Cup in her quarterfinal match against Maria Sharapova, Serena tied her sister Venus's record for the second fastest serve by a woman on the WTA tour with a 129 mph serve.

Williams is capable of overpowering her opponents when returning serve, off both second and first serve.

Williams is also effective at the net, employing solid volleys (being especially effective on the drive volley) and powerful overheads. She also can produce good drop volleys, a shot that not many players use.

Although Williams's forehand is among the most powerful shots in the women's game, her backhand is considered to be one of the best, if not the best, on the Women's Tennis Association tour. Williams can often hit a winning backhand shot in any position or place on the court down the line or cross court. Williams strikes her backhand groundstroke using an open stance. She also uses the same open stance for her forehand.

Because of her aggressive style of play, Williams hits a relatively high number of unforced errors. This is tempered, however, by the fact that she typically hits more outright winners than her opponents. Other times her number of unforced errors are tempered by her powerful strokes forcing her opponents to commit errors.

Although many think of Williams as only an offensive player, she also has a good defensive game. Williams is quick around the court, and her core strength enables her to hit the ball efficiently from difficult positions. Williams has more variety in her game than the typical offensive baseline player. Although she normally dictates play from the baseline with heavy strokes, Williams occasionally slices her backhand or hits heavy topspin groundstrokes or drop shots to change the pace of the ball.

Williams is known for her unusual and colorful outfits on court. In 2002, Williams created an on-court stir when she wore a leather-looking catsuit at the US Open.^[25] Again at the US Open, in 2004, Williams wore denim skirts and boots. Williams formerly had a special line with Puma and currently has a line with Nike.^[26][27][28] The deal with Nike is worth US$40 million dollars and was signed in April 2004.^[29]

Outside the tennis courts, Williams was also the center of attention when in November 2004, she reached a new level of exposure at the London premiere of Pierce Brosnan's new film, After the Sunset. In an outfit that had a near-topless effect, Williams wore a red gown with strips of sheer fabric.

Williams has her own line of designer clothing called Aneres — her first name spelled backward (a la Oprah Winfrey and Harpo productions) — that she plans to sell in boutiques in Miami and Los Angeles. Venus also appeared as one of her models, showing her latest designs.

In 2001, Serena along with her sister, Venus appeared in The Simpsons episode "Tennis the Menace"; after Bart and Lisa are dropped by parents Marge and Homer respectively to play against each other. She has also posed for a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue and has had a lucrative career in advertisements.^{[30] [31] [32]}

In April 2005, MTV announced plans to broadcast a reality show around the lives of Serena and Venus Williams; however, ABC Family ended up airing the show.

Williams was the fifth victim and the ninth star ever to be on Punk'd more than once. Her first appearance was when Williams had to save a Punk'd problem kid played by Rob Pinkston until Kutcher exposed the set-up. Her second is when Serena passed the prank on her sister Venus after both Serena and Venus were fighting with a fraud during a photoshoot with some handicapped people.

In 2002, Williams played Miss Wiggins in the season 3 episode "Crouching Mother, Hidden Father" of My Wife and Kids. In 2005, Williams guest starred in an episode of the twelfth season of ER. She also guest starred on an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Welsh indie band, Super Furry Animals, sang a track on their 2003 album Phantom Power called "Venus and Serena" - dedicated to the sisters.

In 2007, Williams appeared in the ABC reality television series Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, featuring a dozen celebrities in a stock car racing competition. In the first round of competition, Williams matched up against surfer Laird Hamilton and former NFL quarterback John Elway. That same year, Williams appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, where he challenged Williams to a tennis match on the Wii video game console.^[33] Conan overcame a break point to win the match.^[34]

On the fourteenth page of a January 2007 issue of TV Guide, it is stated that "Tennis star Serena Williams will provide a guest voice on the Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender next season." Williams herself has gone as far to state that Avatar is her favorite show.^[35]

She was previously a guest voice on the Playhouse Disney animated kids show, Higglytown Heroes as the snow plough driver hero.

Williams appears nude in the July issue of Jane Magazine along with Eva Mendes, Joss Stone, and five other famous faces.^[36]

Williams appears in an American music video for the conscious rapper Common, along with Alicia Keys, and rapper Kanye West called "I Want You", released on November 2007.^[37]

From 2004 to 2005, Williams dated Brett Ratner. She is currently dating rapper Common.^[38]

Williams explains how her deceased older sister Yetunde inspired her to win her third Australian Open singles title in 2007: "I just said, 'Serena, this has to be motivating. This has to be more than enough to motivate me,' and I think it was."^[39]

At the 1999 US Open, Williams said about Martina Hingis, "She just speaks her mind. I guess it has a little bit to do with not having a formal education. But you just have to think more ... use your brain a little more in the tennis world."^[40]

As of September 3, 2008, Williams' win-loss record against certain players who have been ranked World No. 10 or higher is as follows:^[41]

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1999	US Open	Martina Hingis	6–3, 7–6(4)
2002	French Open	Venus Williams	7–5, 6–3
2002	Wimbledon	Venus Williams	7–6(4), 6–3
2002	US Open (2)	Venus Williams	6–4, 6–3
2003	Australian Open	Venus Williams	7–6(4), 3–6, 6–4
2003	Wimbledon (2)	Venus Williams	4–6, 6–4, 6–2
2005	Australian Open (2)	Lindsay Davenport	2–6, 6–3, 6–0
2007	Australian Open (3)	Maria Sharapova	6–1, 6–2
2008	US Open (3)	Jelena Janković	6–4, 7–5

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2001	US Open	Venus Williams	6–2, 6–4
2004	Wimbledon	Maria Sharapova	6–1, 6–4
2008	Wimbledon (2)	Venus Williams	7–5, 6–4

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2001	Munich	Lindsay Davenport	walkover

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2002	Los Angeles	Kim Clijsters	7–5, 6–3
2004	Los Angeles	Maria Sharapova	4–6, 6–2, 6–4

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1999	French Open	Venus Williams	Martina Hingis Anna Kournikova	6–3, 6–7, 8–6
1999	US Open	Venus Williams	Chanda Rubin Sandrine Testud	4–6, 6–1, 6–4
2000	Wimbledon	Venus Williams	Julie Halard-Decugis Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 6–2
2001	Australian Open	Venus Williams	Lindsay Davenport Corina Morariu	6–2, 4–6, 6–4
2002	Wimbledon (2)	Venus Williams	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suarez	6–2, 7–5
2003	Australian Open (2)	Venus Williams	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suarez	4–6, 6–4, 6–3
2008	Wimbledon (3)	Venus Williams	Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur	6–2, 6–2

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1998	Wimbledon	Max Mirnyi	Mahesh Bhupathi Mirjana Lucic	6–4, 6–4
1998	US Open	Max Mirnyi	Patrick Galbraith Lisa Raymond	6–2, 6–2

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1998	French Open	Luis Lobo	Justin Gimelstob Venus Williams	6–4, 6–4
1999	Australian Open	Max Mirnyi	Mariaan de Swardt David Adams	6–4, 4–6, 7–6

Legend Grand Slam tournaments (9) Grand Slam Cup (1) WTA Championships (1) Tier I (10) Tier II (11) Tier III (0) Tier IV & V (0)

Titles by Surface Hard (23) Clay (3) Grass (2) Carpet (4)

No.	Date	Tournament Name	Tournament Location	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1.	February 28, 1999	Open Gaz de France (1)	Paris	Carpet	Amelie Mauresmo	2–6, 6–3, 7–6(4)
2.	March 14, 1999	Evert Cup (1)	Indian Wells, California, U.S.	Hard	Steffi Graf	6–3, 3–6, 7–5
3.	August 15, 1999	Acura Classic (1)	Los Angeles	Hard	Julie Halard-Decugis	6–1 6–4
4.	September 12, 1999	US Open (1)	New York City	Hard	Martina Hingis	6–3, 7–6(4)
5.	October 3, 1999	Grand Slam Cup	Munich, Germany	Hard	Venus Williams	6–1, 3–6, 6–3
6.	February 21, 2000	Faber Grand Prix	Hanover, Germany	Carpet	Denisa Chladkova	6–1, 6–1
7.	August 13, 2000	estyle.com Classic (2)	Los Angeles	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	4–6, 6–4, 7–6(1)
8.	October 8, 2000	Toyota Princess Cup (1)	Tokyo	Hard	Julie Halard-Decugis	7–5, 6–1
9.	March 17, 2001	Tennis Masters Series (2)	Indian Wells, California, U.S.	Hard	Kim Clijsters	4–6, 6–4, 6–2
10.	August 19, 2001	Rogers and AT&T Cup	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Jennifer Capriati	6–1, 6–7(7), 6–3
11.	November 4, 2001	Sanex Championships	Munich, Germany	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	walkover
12.	March 3, 2002	State Farm Classic	Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.	Hard	Jennifer Capriati	6–2, 4–6, 6–4
13.	April 1, 2002	NASDAQ-100 Open (1)	Key Biscayne, Florida, U.S.	Hard	Jennifer Capriati	7–5, 7–6(4)
14.	May 19, 2002	Italian Open	Rome	Clay	Justine Henin	7–6(6), 6–4
15.	June 9, 2002	French Open	Paris	Clay	Venus Williams	7–5, 6–3
16.	July 7, 2002	Wimbledon (1)	London	Grass	Venus Williams	7–6(4), 6–3
17.	September 8, 2002	US Open (2)	New York City	Hard	Venus Williams	6–4, 6–3
18.	September 22, 2002	Toyota Princess Cup (2)	Tokyo	Hard	Kim Clijsters	2–6, 6–3, 6–3
19.	September 29, 2002	Sparkassen Cup	Leipzig, Germany	Carpet	Anastasia Myskina	6–3, 6–2
20.	January 26, 2003	Australian Open (1)	Melbourne	Hard	Venus Williams	7–6(4), 3–6, 6–4
21.	February 9, 2003	Open Gaz de France (2)	Paris	Carpet	Amelie Mauresmo	6–3, 6–2
22.	March 29, 2003	NASDAQ-100 Open (2)	Key Biscayne, Florida, U.S.	Hard	Jennifer Capriati	4–6, 6–4, 6–1
23.	July 6, 2003	Wimbledon (2)	London	Grass	Venus Williams	4–6, 6–4, 6–2
24.	April 4, 2004	NASDAQ-100 Open (3)	Key Biscayne, Florida, U.S.	Hard	Elena Dementieva	6–1, 6–1
25.	September 26, 2004	China Open	Beijing	Hard	Svetlana Kuznetsova	4–6, 7–5, 6–4
26.	January 29, 2005	Australian Open (2)	Melbourne	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	2–6, 6–3, 6–0
27.	January 27, 2007	Australian Open (3)	Melbourne	Hard	Maria Sharapova	6–1, 6–2
28.	March 31, 2007	Sony Ericsson Open (4)	Key Biscayne, Florida, U.S.	Hard	Justine Henin	0–6, 7–5, 6–3
29.	March 9, 2008	Bangalore Open	Bangalore, India	Hard	Patty Schnyder	7–5, 6–3
30.	April 5, 2008	Sony Ericsson Open (5)	Key Biscayne, Florida, U.S.	Hard	Jelena Jankovic	6–1, 5–7, 6–3
31.	April 20, 2008	Family Circle Cup	Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.	Clay	Vera Zvonareva	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
32.	September 7, 2008	US Open (3)	New York City	Hard	Jelena Jankovic	6–4, 7–5

Legend Grand Slam tournaments (7) Olympic Gold (2) WTA Championships (0) Tier I (1) Tier II (2) Tier III (1) Tier IV & V (0)

No.	Date	Tournament Name	Tournament Location	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1.	February 23, 1998	IGA Tennis Classic	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.	Venus Williams	Catalina Cristea Kristine Kunce	7–5, 6–2
2.	October 12, 1998	European Championships/ Swisscom Challenge	Zurich, Switzerland	Venus Williams	Mariaan de Swardt Elena Tatarkova	5–7, 6–1, 6–3
3.	February 15, 1999	Faber Grand Prix	Hannover, Germany	Venus Williams	Alexandra Fusai Nathalie Tauziat	5–7, 6–2, 6–2
4.	May 24, 1999	French Open	Paris	Venus Williams	Martina Hingis Anna Kournikova	6–3, 6–7(2), 8–6
5.	August 30, 1999	US Open	New York City	Venus Williams	Chanda Rubin Sandrine Testud	4–6, 6–1, 6–4
6.	June 26, 2000	Wimbledon (1)	London	Venus Williams	Julie Halard Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 6–2
7.	September 18, 2000	Summer Olympic Games	Sydney, Australia	Venus Williams	Kristie Boogert Miriam Oremans	6–1, 6–1
8.	January 15, 2001	Australian Open (1)	Melbourne	Venus Williams	Lindsay Davenport Corina Morariu	6–2, 4–6, 6–4
9.	June 24, 2002	Wimbledon (2)	London	Venus Williams	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suarez	6–2, 7–5
10.	September 24, 2002	Sparkassen Cup	Leipzig, Germany	Alexandra Stevenson	Janette Husarova Paola Suarez	6–3, 7–5
11.	January 13, 2003	Australian Open (2)	Melbourne	Venus Williams	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suarez	4–6, 6–4, 6–3
12.	July 5, 2008	Wimbledon (3)	London	Venus Williams	Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur	6–2, 6–2
13.	August 17, 2008	Summer Olympic Games	Beijing, China	Venus Williams	Anabel Medina Garrigues Virginia Ruano Pascual	6–2, 6–0

Template:Performance timeline legend To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the US Open in New York City, which ended on September 7, 2008.

Tournament	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	Career SR	Career Win-Loss
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	2R	3R	4R	QF	A	W	A	W	3R	W	QF	3 / 9	37–6
French Open	A	A	A	4R	3R	A	QF	W	SF	QF	A	A	QF	3R	1 / 8	31–7
Wimbledon	A	A	A	3R	A	SF	QF	W	W	F	3R	A	QF	F	2 / 9	43–7
US Open	A	A	A	3R	W	QF	F	W	A	QF	4R	4R	QF	W	3 / 10	47–7
SR	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 4	1 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 4	3 / 3	2 / 3	0 / 3	1 / 3	0 / 2	1 / 4	1 / 4	9 / 36	N/A
Win-Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	8–4	11–2	12–3	18–4	21–0	19–1	14–3	12–2	5–2	19–3	19–3	N/A	158–27
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics	Not Held	A	Not Held			A	Not Held			A	Not Held			QF	0 / 1	3–1
Year-End Championship
WTA Tour Championships	A	A	A	A	A	A	W	F	A	F	A	A	RR		1 / 4	9–4
Current WTA Tier I Tournaments
Doha	Not Held						Not Tier I							A	0 / 0	0–0
Indian Wells	Not Tier I	A	LQ	A	W	QF	W	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	2 / 4	14–2
Miami	A	A	A	QF	F	4R	QF	W	W	W	QF	A	W	W	5 / 10	47–5
Charleston	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	QF	F	3R	A	A	2R	W	1 / 5	12–3
Berlin	A	A	A	A	QF	A	A	F	A	A	A	A	A	QF	0 / 3	7–3
Rome	A	A	A	QF	QF	A	A	W	SF	SF	2R	A	QF	QF	1 / 8	20–6
Montreal / Toronto	A	A	A	A	A	F	W	A	A	A	3R	A	A	A	1 / 3	10–1
Tokyo	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0	0–0
Moscow	Not Held	Not Tier I	1R1	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	F		0 / 2	6–2
Former WTA Tier I Tournaments
Zurich	A	A	LQ	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	Not Tier I	0 / 2	1–2
San Diego	Not Tier I									QF	A	A	A	Not Held	0 / 1	2–0
Philadelphia	A	Not Tier I										Not Held			0 / 0	0–0
Career Statistics
Tournaments Played	1	0	5	11	12	11	10	13	7	12	10	4	12	11	N/A	119
Finals Reached	0	0	0	0	6	5	4	10	5	5	1	0	3	5	N/A	44
Tournaments Won	0	0	0	0	5	3	3	8	4	2	1	0	2	4	N/A	32
Hardcourt Win-Loss	0–1	0–0	2–2	19–7	29–4	25–5	30–5	25–2	15–0	23–5	16–4	12–4	22–3	26–3	N/A	244–45
Clay Win-Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	6–2	7–3	0–1	4–1	17–2	12–3	10–3	2–2	0–0	6–3	11–2	N/A	75–22
Grass Win-Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	4–2	0–0	5–1	4–1	7–0	7–0	6–1	2–1	0–0	4–1	6–1	N/A	45–8
Carpet Win-Loss	0–0	0–0	7–3	0–0	5–0	7–1	0–0	7–1	4–0	0–0	1–0	0–0	3–3	0–0	N/A	34–8
Overall Win-Loss	0–1	0–0	9–5	29–11	41–7	37–8	38–7	56–5	38–3	39–9	21–7	12–4	35–10	43–6	N/A	398–83
Year End Ranking	-	-	99	20	4	6	6	1	3	7	11	95	7		N/A	N/A

• ¹Won three matches in the qualifying tournament to reach the main draw.

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded.

Tournament	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	Career W/L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open	A	3R	SF	A	W	A	W	A	A	A	A	QF	21–3
French Open	A	A	W	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	6–0
Wimbledon	A	1R	A	W	3R	W	3R	A	A	A	2R	W	23–1
US Open	1R	A	W	SF	3R	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	12–2
Win-Loss	0–1	2–1	16–1	10–0	10–2	6–0	8–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	9–1	62–6
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics	Not Held			W	Not Held			A	Not Held			W	10-0

Year	Majors	WTA wins	Total wins	Earnings (US$)	Money list rank
1995	0	0	0	$240	?
1997	0	0	0	$27,950
1998	0	0	0	324,974	21
1999	1	4	5	$2,605,102	3
2000	0	3	3	$1,026,818	7
2001	0	3	3	$2,136,263	3
2002	3	5	8	$3,935,668	1
2003	2	2	4	$2,504,871	3
2004	0	2	2	$2,251,798	2
2005	1	0	1	$1,076,226	12
2006	0	0	0	$131,705	?
2007	1	1	2	$2,102,642	3
2008	1	3	4	$3,641,548	1
Career*	9	23	32	$21,750,782	3

* As of September 8, 2008.

• Serena Slam
• List of Grand Slam Women's Singles champions
• List of Grand Slam Women's Doubles champions
• List of Grand Slam Mixed Doubles champions
• Laureus World Sports Awards
• List of celebrities who have been Punk'd on Seasons 1 to 5
• Venus Williams
• Williams sisters

• Official web site of Serena Williams
• Interview with Serena Williams on Hossli.com
• Serena Williams at the Women's Tennis Association
• Serena Williams at IMDb
• Serena Williams article on Time.com (a division of Time Magazine)
• Serena Williams 2006 Interview on Sidewalks Entertainment
• Serena Williams Interview on Fox News Radio
• Serena William in the HP Commercial
• Washington Kastles

Sporting positions
Preceded by Venus Williams Ana Ivanovic	World No. 1 July 8, 2002–August 10, 2003 September 8 ,2008-	Succeeded by Kim Clijsters incumbent
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Venus Williams	WTA Newcomer of the Year 1998	Succeeded by Kim Clijsters
Preceded by Patty Schnyder	WTA Most Improved Player 1999	Succeeded by Elena Dementieva
Preceded by Martina Hingis & Anna Kournikova	WTA Doubles Team of the Year (with Venus Williams) 2000	Succeeded by Lisa Raymond & Rennae Stubbs
Preceded by Jennifer Capriati	WTA Player of The Year 2002	Succeeded by Justine Henin
Preceded by Jennifer Capriati	ITF World Champion 2002	Succeeded by Justine Henin
Preceded by Jennifer Capriati	Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year 2002	Succeeded by Annika Sörenstam
Preceded by Jennifer Capriati	World Sportswoman of the Year 2002	Succeeded by Annika Sorenstam
Preceded by Amelie Mauresmo	WTA Comeback Player of the Year 2004	Succeeded by Kim Clijsters

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