Early Life

Serena Jameka Williams was born in Saginaw, Michigan on September 26, 1981, however she spent most of her youth in Compton, California. Tennis was instilled in her and her sister, Venus Williams, from a young age. To optimise the amount of time available for practise, both girls were homeschooled. Her official coaches were her father, Richard Williams, and mother, Oracene Price. Richard Williams, who went on to develop The Venus and Serena Williams Tennis/Tutorial Academy, was another mentor who helped her master the game when she was younger. Serena and her family relocated to West Palm Beach, Florida, when she was nine years old, so she could attend Rick Macci’s tennis academy. In 1995, their father removed the girls out of Macci’s academy and resumed his role as their father official coach.

Career

Serena Williams has won more prize money than any other female tennis player in history and has been ranked number one in the world eight times. Williams has amassed more than $90 million in prize money throughout the course of his career as of this writing. She has 23 Grand Slam singles titles and 14 Grand Slam doubles titles alongside her sister Venus Williams. She also won gold medals at the Olympics in Sydney, Beijing, and London.

At the age of 14, Williams competed in her first professional event in 1995. A No. 304 rated Williams made quite an impression in the 1997 Ameritech Cup, upsetting the No. 7 and No. 4 ranked players before losing in the semifinals. Her career was spurred by the victories, and she finished 1997 with the rank of No 99.

Serena Williams maintained her domination in the early 2000s, eventually rising to the top of the rankings in 2002. She also won three Grand Slam championships that year, including the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open, all of which she won against her sister, Venus, in the finals. She won her fourth Grand Slam championship, the Australian Open, in 2003. This gave her the “Serena Slam,” in which she held the championship for all four major Grand Slam tournaments at the same time. During the 2014-15 Grand Slam season, she would repeat the feat.

She struggled with health and emotional challenges during the following few years, including knee surgery and the death of her half-sister, Yetunde. While she continued to win events, she dropped out of the top ten, leading many in the tennis community to believe that she and her sister, Venus, were no longer the dominant powers they once were. Williams, on the other hand, had battled her way back to the top of the rankings by 2008, winning a streak of Grand Slam titles.

The year 2011 saw a resurgence in health issues. Doctors discovered a blood clot in one of her lungs that year. Many people wondered if she would ever return to the sport after she undergone surgeries to correct this. However, she won significant championships again the following year, including her first-ever women’s single gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games. She won the US Open in 2012, the French, Australian, and US Opens in 2013, as well as Wimbledon that year, Wimbledon in 2014 and 2015, and the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2016. She also won the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2016. Serena Williams had a rough year in 2018, losing two straight US Opens and Wimbledons.

Serena Williams has remained a formidable force in women’s tennis despite suffering injuries and taking time off to have a mother. Her 23 Grand Slam singles championships are among her many achievements.

Endorsements

Williams is one of the world’s most well-known endorsement athletes. Outside of tennis, she makes $15-20 million per year as a brand ambassador for Nike and Kraft Foods. Williams signed a $40 million agreement with Nike in 2004 to create a fashion brand.

Activism

Williams utilises social media to support a variety of issues, including Black Lives Matter and the LGBT community. She’s also a strong advocate for gender equality on and off the court, and she’s open about her hardships as a female tennis player. She has garnered several honours for her work, including the NAACP President’s Award.

Philanthropy

Serena and Venus Williams are well-known for visiting hospitals and participating in tennis tournaments to raise money for Ronald McDonald House charity. In 2004 and 2005, they had an entire ESPN programme dedicated to their charity tour. Serena established the Serena Williams Foundation, which awards scholarships to deserving students at colleges across the world. The Serene Williams Secondary School in Matooni, Kenya, was similarly built with the support of the foundation. In addition, the organisation partnered with Helping Hands Jamaica to construct the Salt Marsh Primary School in Trelawny Parish for Jamaican students.

Serena has been an international Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF since 2011 and has worked closely with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles. Serena and Venus work together on charity projects as part of the Williams Sisters Fund. In remembrance of their late sister, they collaborated to establish the Yetunde Price Resource Center in Compton. The facility assists and serves families that have been touched by neighbourhood violence. Williams joined the Purple Purse project of the Allstate Foundation as an Ambassador in 2017. She also donates to the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the NHS’s Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London, the HollyRod Foundation, the Eva Longoria Foundation, and a number of other organisations.

Other Ventures

Williams has experimented in television and voice work off the court. She contributed voice work for Playhouse Disney’s Higglytown Heroes in 2005 and voiced an episode of The Simpsons in 2001. She has appeared in episodes of The Bernie Mac Show, ER, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Serena appeared with Alicia Keys and Kanye West in the music video for Common’s I Want You in 2007. Venus & Serena: Serving From the Hip: Ten Rules for Living, Loving, and Winning was written by the Williams sisters in 2005.

Serena is the originator of the S by Serena apparel company, which she self-funds. She holds minority holdings in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the Miami Dolphins.

Personal Life

In November 2017, Williams married Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit, in New Orleans. Beyonce and Kim Kardashian West were among the celebrities that attended their wedding. Williams mistakenly announced her pregnancy in a Snapchat snap she intended to preserve for her personal records in April 2017. Due to a pulmonary embolism during labour, she gave birth to a daughter through C-section in 2017. She had to postpone her training since she was bedridden for six weeks after giving birth owing to a second pulmonary embolism. In August 2018, she revealed that she was suffering from postpartum depression.