Serena Jameka Williams is a well-known professional tennis player from America. Born on September 26, 1981, she started playing tennis from the age of three. She and her sister Venus Williams were introduced to tennis by their father and he was their coach too during the early stages of their career. Considered as one of the best female tennis players who revolutionized women's tennis with her powerful style of play, she has made many records and broken many. The former world no.1 has won total 72 career singles titles, 23 women's doubles and 2 mixed doubles titles. These includes 39 Grand Slams she has won- 23 singles, 14 women's doubles and 2 Mixed doubles. This is most by any man or woman in Open Era. It is also notable that the Women's Tennis Association ranked her no.1 in singles on eight separate occasions between 2002 and 2017.
Here is a brief timeline of her rollercoaster tennis career-
September 1995- Serena turned professional tennis player at the age of 15 yrs. She lost her debut Bell Challenge in Quebec.
January 1998- Her first Grand Slam i.e. Australian Open, where she loses to her sister Venus in the 2nd round.
September 1999- She wins her first Grand Slam in US Open at 17 yrs of age, defeating Martina Hingis in straight sets. She became 1st black women since Althea Gibson(1958).
July 2002- Ranked no.1 by WTA at the age of 20 yrs.
2002 to 2003- 1st Serena Slam! She has won all 4 Grand Slams in that calendar year.
2007- Serena defeated Maria Sharapova to win her 3rd Australian Open title.
2008- Won US Open final without dropping a set.
2009- Her 10yrs of Grand Slam success.
2009- Probation for 2yrs for her outburst against line judge who calls her for foot fault during US Open semis.
Series of injuries including pulmonary embolism.
2010- She releases her autobiography called 'My Life- Queen of the Court'.
February 2013- At 31yrs, she became the oldest female tennis player to be ranked no.1. It was her 6th time.
September 2014- She won her 3rd US Open title.
September 2016- She won her 7th Wimbledon title.
January 2017- Beating her sister Venus Williams in Australia Open she Won her 23rd Grand Slam surpassing Steffi Graf.
December 2017- Returns to the tennis court after maternity leave and loses the exhibition match to Jelena Ostapenko, in World Tennis Championship, Abu Dhabi.
September 2018- Loses to Naomi Osaka in US Open final. She was Issued Code of Violation warning 3 times in the same match.
September 2019- She loses to 19 yr old Bianca Andreescu in US Open.
Did you know these interesting facts-
She is a 4 times Olympic Gold medallist.
She was once given more than $92 million as career prize money, it was more than any other female athlete.
She had to take therapy after her 2018 US Open loss.
Serena is only a slam away from breaking Margaret Smith's record of 24 singles Grand Slams.
A year later she became a professional tennis player, she graduated from high school and almost immediately inked $12 million shoe deal with Puma.
Her favourite shot is Forehand shot.
In her career, she has won 768 games and lost only 127.
Outside the court, she has worked in various fields. She was part of a song album called 'The ultimate black history collection' which also featured James Brown, Malcolm X, Barak Obama etc. She has a clothing brand called Aneres (Serena spelt backwards). She is the founder of a non-profitable organization- Serena Williams Foundation, which works for American youth dealing with violent crimes. She also works for underprivileged children and has built many schools in Africa. She was also named as UNICEF International Goodwill Ambassador.
Now if this all doesn't make her an inspirational woman and an idol for young girls! There is still a long way to go breaking records and winning Grand Slams. Happy Birthday Serena Williams!
Also Read | Top 5 rivalries of Serena Williams Career
