ranked female tennis player who has won eight Grand Slam singles titles and an Olympic gold medal in women's doubles.[2] She is currently the top ranked American female player. 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 another former World No. 1 professional female tennis player, Venus Williams. Serena currently resides at Ballen Isles in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.Williams is primarily an offensive baseline player. Her game is built around taking immediate control of rallies with her powerful serve, aggressive 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 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 dropshots to change the pace of the ball.
[edit] Early life
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.[3]
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.
[edit] Personal life
From 2004 to 2005, Williams dated Brett Ratner. It has been reported that she is currently in a relationship with rapper Common.[4] One of her best friends is singer Kelly Rowland.
[edit] Career
[edit] 1995-1998
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 number 304 in the world, she upset both Monica Seles and Mary Pierce, recording her first career wins over top 10 players. She finished 1997 at number 99 in the world.
1998 was the first year that Williams finished ranked in the WTA top 20. She began the year in Sydney as a qualifier, ranked number 96, and defeated world number three 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 U.S. 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.
[edit] 1999
In 1999, Serena defeated Amelie Mauresmo in the final of the 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 U.S. 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.
[edit] 2000
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.
[edit] 2001
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.
At the year-ending WTA Tour Championships, Williams saved eight match points before defeating Capriati in the semifinals. She then won the final by default when Lindsay Davenport withdrew.
Williams finished the year at World No. 6 for the second straight year.
[edit] 2002-2003
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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 number one Jennifer Capriati in the final. She then won the Tier I event in Miami, again defeating Capriati in the final. She then captured her first career title on clay in Rome, defeating Justine Henin.
Williams went into the French Open as the third seed, and ultimately won her second Grand Slam at the event, dropping just two sets en route to the final (against Vera Zvonareva and Capriati) before defeating Venus 7–5 6–3. Williams then moved onto Wimbledon, where she won the title without dropping a set, defeating sister Venus once again in the final, 7–6 6–3. This win moved Williams up into the world number one spot (dethroning her sister and becoming the second African-American woman to take the spot). The Williams sisters also sealed the doubles title at this event.
Williams captured her third straight major at the US Open, once again not dropping a set en route, and defeating Venus yet again in the final, 6–4 6–3. Williams then won back-to-back titles in Leipzig and Tokyo. She reached the final at the WTA Tour Championships, where she was widely expected to win, but lost to 19-year-old Kim Clijsters 7–5 6–3.
Williams finished 2002 with a 56–5 record, eight singles titles, and an overwhelming lead at number one.
Williams carried her domination into 2003. At the Australian Open, she reached the semifinals dropping just one set. She then defeated Clijsters 4–6 6–3 7–5, recovering from a 5–1 deficit in the third set as well as saving two match points. She then faced her sister for the fourth consecutive Grand Slam final, and won 7–6 3–6 6–4, to become the fifth woman in the Open era to complete a Career Grand Slam, joining the ranks of Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf.[citation needed] The Williams sisters won their sixth doubles title together at this event.
Williams then captured titles in Paris and Miami, and went into the French Open heavily tipped to capture her fifth straight Grand Slam. 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.[citation needed] Williams, however, shrugged off the defeat by capturing her sixth Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, defeating Henin 6–3 6–2 in the semifinals before defeating Venus 4–6 6–4 6–2 in the final.
Wimbledon would be Williams's last event of the year, as a knee injury forced her to withdraw from all other events (including the US Open).[citation needed] As a result, she lost her number one ranking to Clijsters in August, having held it for 57 weeks. Nevertheless, she still finished the year ranked World No. 3, despite having played only seven tournaments plus Fed Cup during the year.
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[citation needed], which was said to cause great sadness in the Williams family, and is often cited as a factor in the Williams sisters' decline.[citation needed]
[edit] 2004
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 U.S. Open, where she lost a quarterfinal match to Capriati. The match was plagued by disputes over calls with the umpire. Williams protested later in a press conference 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 U.S. 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. 8.
[edit] 2005
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 85th in the world) 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 U.S. 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."
[edit] 2006
Williams, the defending champion, did not participate in any of the official warm-up tournaments for the Australian Open. Williams fell to Daniela Hantuchova 6–1, 7–6(5) in the third round, provoking media reports that Williams had lost enthusiasm for the sport, which she denied. Her world ranking then fell out of the top 50 for the first time in many years, and she withdrew from the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open, and the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida.
After withdrawing from the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, Williams's world ranking fell out of the top 100 for the first time in almost a decade. Shortly after, she announced that she would miss both the French Open and Wimbledon because of a chronic knee injury. She said that she would not be able to compete before "the end of the summer," on doctor's orders. Williams, however, made a return to the game earlier than expected, accepting wildcards to summer hard court tournaments in Cincinnati and Los Angeles. She admitted that her six-month break from competitive tennis was as much for a "mental break" as for urgent rehabilitation for her knee injury. Ranked World No. 139 because of her inactivity, Williams upset the Cincinnati tournament's second seed and World No. 11 Anastasia Myskina 6–2, 6–2 in the first round before losing in the semifinals to the eventual champion Vera Zvonareva 6–2, 6–3. Williams's ranking rose to World No. 108 after Cincinnati. In Los Angeles, Williams defeated Hantuchova in the third round but lost in the semifinals to Jelena Jankovic 6–4, 6–3.
Williams was granted a wildcard into the U.S. Open, as her ranking prevented her from gaining direct entry into the tournament. She was unseeded in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 1998. Williams lost to Amelie Mauresmo in the fourth round 6–4, 0–6, 6–2.
[edit] 2007
Williams began the year by stating that she had no doubt she would be World No. 1 again,[6] a comment that attracted controversy.[7] She competed in the Moorilla Hobart International in Tasmania, Australia as a warm-up for the 2007 Australian Open.[8] However, she lost to unseeded Sybille Bammer of Austria in the quarterfinals.
At the Australian Open, Williams was unseeded and widely regarded as "out of shape."[9] Williams defeated fifth-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia in the third round. It was Williams's first win over a top 10 player since her defeat of Lindsay Davenport in the 2005 Australian Open final. Williams won her next two matches before defeating tenth-seeded Nicole Vaidisova in the semifinals. In the final, Williams crushed top-seeded Maria Sharapova 6–1, 6–2 in 63 minutes to take her third Australian Open singles title and her eighth Grand Slam singles title. The victory elevated her ranking from 81st to 14th in the world, and it was the first time either Williams sister had won a Grand Slam singles title in the absence of the other's participation in the same tournament. Williams dedicated the win to her deceased sister, Yetunde Price, who was tragically killed in a random shooting incident. It was Williams's 16th career Grand Slam title in either singles, women's doubles, or mixed doubles (including 6 Grand Slam women's doubles titles with her sister Venus and 8 Grand Slam singles titles).
Her next tournament was the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, which she had previously won three times. In her third round match, a heckler allegedly hurled what Williams called "derogatory" remarks at her.[10] Williams put the controversy behind her to again defeat Sharapova 6–1, 6–1 in the fourth round. In the final against World No. 1 Justine Henin, Williams won 0–6, 7–5, 6–3 after saving two match points in the second set. With wins over top ranked Henin and second ranked Sharapova, Williams became the lowest-ranked player in history to beat the world’s top two players at the same event.[citation needed]
Williams won her first singles match in the first round Fed Cup tie against Belgium but withdrew from the second singles match to rest her knee.
At the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia tournament in Rome, Williams lost to fourteenth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6–3, 2–6, 7–6(5). After the tournament, however, she re-entered the Top 10, moving up to World No. 9.
Williams next played the French Open, where she was seeded eighth. Losing only one set in her first four matches, Williams faced Henin in the quarterfinals. Henin secured a relatively easy 6–4, 6–3 victory. Following the match, Williams was so disappointed with her lacklustre performance that she proclaimed, "It's the worst match I've ever played."[citation needed] She also said that she felt "violated."[11]
During her fourth round match on Centre Court at Wimbledon against Daniela Hantuchova, Williams collapsed in agony from an acute muscle spasm while down 4–2 in the second set. After a medical timeout and holding serve to force a tiebreak, the rain came and play was suspended for nearly 2 hours. When the players returned to the court, Williams won the match 6–2, 6–7(2), 6–2. Next up for Williams was a quarterfinal matchup against the top-seeded and top-ranked Henin. Williams started the match with a heavily taped calf and was forced to use a one-handed backhand slice because of an injury to her left thumb. Williams lost the match 6–4, 3–6, 6–3 and drew criticism when she claimed that she would have beaten Henin had Williams been healthy.[12] After Wimbledon, Williams moved up to World No. 7, the highest she had been since 2005.
Because of the thumb injury, Williams did not play a tournament between Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. She beat 2007 Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli in the fourth round, setting up her third consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal match with Henin. Williams lost again, 7–6(3), 6–1. It was her third straight loss to Henin and her third straight loss in a 2007 Grand Slam tournament to Henin. At the post match press conference, Williams claimed that Henin had benefited from "lucky" shots and Williams's own errors. She was heavily criticised in the press for not showing sportsmanship.[citation needed] Despite the quarterfinal loss, Williams moved up to World No. 7 in the rankings.
Williams next played in Stuttgart, where she lost in the quarterfinals to Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–3, 6–3. The following week, Williams played the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Williams defeated Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals but lost the final to Elena Dementieva 5–7, 6–1, 6–1. Williams's performance brought her ranking up to fifth in the world and guaranteed her a spot in the 2007 WTA Tour Championships in Madrid.
William's participation in the WTA Tour Championships was short lived. After retiring from her first match with Anna Chakvetadze due to injury, Williams withdrew from the tournament.[13]
Williams finished the year ranked seventh in the world, the first time she finished the year ranked in the world's top 10 since 2004.
[edit] 2008
Williams started 2008 by participating on the U.S. team that won the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia. In her first match of the competition, Williams defeated Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic. She then partnered with Mardy Fish to defeat the team of Safarova and Tomas Berdych. She won her second singles match over Australia's Alicia Molik, 6–2, 7–6(7) and her mixed doubles match against Molik and Peter Luczak. In the final versus Serbia, Williams won her singles match over Jelena Jankovic by walkover and her mixed doubles match over Jankovic and Novak Djokovic, 7–6(4), 6–2. It is the fifth time that the U.S. has won the competition.
Williams entered the 2008 Australian Open as the defending champion and seventh seed. She won her first four matches but lost in the quarterfinals to World No. 4 and third-seeded Jankovic 6–3, 6–4. It was Williams's fourth straight loss in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament. It has been reported that Williams was suffering a toothache during the Jankovic match, which adversely affected her performance.[citation needed] In the women's doubles event, Serena and her sister Venus defeated the second-seeded team, Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama, in the second round 6–2, 7–6. They lost, however, in the quarterfinals to the seventh-seeded team, Zheng Jie and Yan Zi.
Williams then withdrew from her next three scheduled tournaments, the Open Gaz de France in Paris, the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, and the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open due to an urgent need for dental surgery.
At the Tier II Bangalore (India) Open, Serena defeated sister Venus in the semifinals 6–3, 3–6, 7–6(4) after Serena saved a match point while trailing 6–5 in the third set. This was the first time they had played each other since the fourth round of the 2005 U.S. Open. Serena has now won eight of their fifteen career matches. Serena then defeated Patty Schnyder of Switzerland in the final.
At the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Williams won her fifth career singles title there, tying Steffi Graf for the most singles titles at this tournament. Williams defeated World No. 1 Justine Henin in the quarterfinals 6–2, 6–0, World No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals 3–6, 7–5, 6–3, and World No. 4 Jankovic in the final. Williams won the final on her eighth match point. This was Williams's 30th career singles title.
Williams was seeded fifth at the clay court Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina. She defeated second-seeded Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals 7–5, 4–6, 6–1. This was Williams's fourth victory over a top five player in five attempts this year. In the final, Williams defeated Vera Zvonareva to capture her tenth career Tier I title and first clay court title since the 2002 French Open.
At the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, Williams was seeded fifth but lost in the quarterfinals to thirteenth-seeded Dinara Safina 2–6, 6–1, 7–6(5). This loss ended Williams's 17-match winning streak.
Williams was the fifth-seeded player at the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome and made it to the quarterfinals, where Alize Cornet received a walkover over Williams because of a back injury.
Williams also was the fifth-seeded player at the French Open. Although she was the only former winner of this tournament in this year's draw, she lost in the third round to 27th-seeded Srebotnik 6–4, 6–4.
At the ongoing Wimbledon Championships, the sixth-seeded Williams defeated 29th-seeded and former World No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo in the third round 7-6(5), 6-1 and unseeded Bethanie Mattek in the fourth round. Williams then defeated Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarterfinals and Jie Zheng, a Chinese wild card, in the semifinals 6-2, 7-6(5). Serena lost the finals to her older sister Venus Williams 5-7 4-6.
In women's doubles at Wimbledon, the eleventh-seeded team of Serena and Venus Williams defeated the unseeded team of Nathalie Dechy and Casey Dellacqua in the semifinals 6-3, 6-3. They are scheduled to play the sixteenth-seeded team of Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur in the final.
Williams has agreed to play four matches with the Washington Kastles, a World Team Tennis franchise in Washington, D.C., during July.[14]
