The name Serena Williams will forever be synonymous with greatness in the sport of tennis. Williams, who began intensive tennis training at the age of 3, is now the winner of most Grand Slam titles in the Open Era. She also comes in second in the all-time list.
Her success on the court also means that she is not just one of the richest players in tennis, but sport in general. In 2016, she was the highest-paid female athlete, earning nearly $29 million. The following year, she was the only woman on Forbes’ 100 highest paid athletes list.
biography
Williams was born Serena Jameka WilliamsParents; Oracene Price and Richard Williams on September 26, 1981 in Saginaw, Michigan. She is the youngest of two children born to her parents, but has a total of nine step-siblings from her parents’ previous marriages.
Serena Williams grew up in Compton, California. She learned to play tennis at the age of 3 with her sister Venus, who is 15 months older. Around the age of 9, the girls who lived and breathed tennis moved to West Palm Beach, Florida to attend legendary tennis coach Rick Macci’s training academy.
By 1991, when Williams was just 10, she was ranked first in the 10-and-under division on the United States Tennis Association’s Junior Tour with a record of 46-3. Fearing his daughter would burn out before she reached her climax, Richard Williams withdrew both Venus and Serena from tournaments and Macci’s Academy so they could face their education while he regained control of their coaching.
Serena, shortly after turning 14, decided to become a professional tennis player against the wishes of her parents, who, however, supported her decision. She debuted as a wildcard at the Bell Challenge in Quebec in October 1995, but lost in the qualifying round. After a year-long hiatus, Williams, who was ranked No. 304, returned in 1997 and upset two top-10 players at the Ameritech Cup Chicago. He became the first lowest-ranked player to do so in an Open Era tournament. Despite all the hype that was beginning to surround her, Williams crashed in the semifinals but ended the year number 99.In 1998, High’s Serena Williams signed a $12 million footwear deal with Puma before competing at the Medibank International Sydney tournament, where she defeated Lindsey Davenport in third place in the quarterfinals, but lost in the semifinals.
She lost six more quarterfinals, but found success in the mixed doubles Grand Slam tournaments at Wimbledon and the US Open alongside Belarusian tennis player Max Mirnyi, and in three doubles tournaments with her sister. She ended the year at No. 20.
Williams then tried her first pro, winning the singles title at the Open Gaz de France in Paris in 1999 before heading to the US Open to win her first Grand Slam. In doing so, she became the first African American woman to win a Grand Slam singles tournament since 1958, when Althea Gibson did so. To reach the final, Serena Williams defeated players like Kim Clijsters, Conchita Martínez, Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport, all of whom were Grand Slam champions, before defeating her rivals Martina Hingis. The rest, as they say, became history.
Is Serena Williams Married? who is her husband
Serena Williams is married to internet entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian, who is of American-Armenian and German descent. He is best known as a co-founder of the social news website Reddit. Ohanian, who is two years Williams’ junior, was born on April 24, 1983 in Brooklyn, New York to a German-born mother and an Armenian-American father.
The couple became engaged on December 10, 2016, and by January, after winning the 2017 Australian Open, Williams announced that she was two months pregnant at the time of her participation in the games. She gave birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian, via cesarean section on September 1, 2017 after complications during labor. Two months later, on November 16, 2017, the duo exchanged vows at a star-studded event at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Height, weight and other facts
Birth name: Serena Jameka Williams
Date of Birth: September 26, 1981
Place of Birth: Saginaw, Michigan, USA
Nationality: American
Height: 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm)
Weight: 71kg
Measurements: 102-76-112 cm (40-30-44 inches)
Dress size: 14 US (46 EU)
Shoe size: 10 US.
