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Serena Williams (The Legacy of the G.O.A.T.)
Serena Williams is the greatest woman tennis player of all time, and she is one of the greatest athletes in human history period. She made massive contributions, and she gave inspiration to current women athletes to accomplish their goals. From being involved in fashion and fighting for pay equity, regardless of sex. Serena Williams has always been on the side of the people. Serena Williams has stood up for people spanning years and decades now. From Compton to Florida, her life stories have been filled with overcoming obstacles and existing in triumph. Her dreams have been fulfilled involving tennis, philanthropy, and other areas of her own life. Right now, she is forty years old. Legend is an understatement to describe her outstanding tennis career. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most of any player in the Open Era. She has ranked Number One on 8 times by The Women's Tennis Association between 2002 and 2017. Not to mention that she has many records involving the sport. She was born in Saginaw, Michigan. Serena has the most Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles combined among active players. Her sister Venus Williams is an excellent tennis player in her own right too. Her father and her mother inspired her to achieve her goals. Serena Williams is known for being a baseline player with a strong serve and great agility. She once had a serve of 128.6 mph which is the 3rd fastest women's serve in human history. Her professional career started in 1995. In 1999, she defeated No. 1 Hingis to be the 2nd African American woman (after Althea Gibson in 1958) to win a Grand Slam singles tournament. Serena Williams grew more of her accomplishments in winning the 2003 Australian Open. She made a comeback to be the Number one player in the world in 2013. She won the Australian Open in 2017. Serena Williams loves her children, her charity work, and her family. As an expert in fashion, supporting Black Lives Matter, etc., she loves life and justice. She has invested in women's soccer and won 4 gold medals in the Olympics. Both Serena and Venus give honor to the black tennis legends who came before them like: Althea Gibson, Arthur Ashe, Zina Garrison, Chanda Rubin, Lori McNeil, Katrina Adams, Ora Washington, and other unsung legends. Serena Williams represents Black Excellence and the power of human perseverance completely.
Her Early Life and Compton
Serena Williams was born on September 26, 1981, in Saginaw, Michigan to Oracene Price and Richard Williams. She is the youngest of Price's five daughters: half-sisters Yetunde, Lyndrea, and Isha Price, and full older sister Venus. She also has at least seven paternal half-siblings. When the children were young, the family moved to Compton, California, where she started playing tennis at age four. Her father home-schooled her and her sister, Venus. While her father Richard Williams and subsequently her mother have been their official coaches, her other mentors have included Richard Williams, a Compton man who shared her father's name and subsequently founded The Venus and Serena Williams Tennis Tutorial Academy.
Moving to Florida
When Williams was nine, she and her family moved from Compton to West Palm Beach, Florida so she could attend the tennis academy of Rick Macci, who provided her with additional coaching. Macci did not always agree with Serena Williams's father but respected that "he treated his daughters like kids, allowed them to be little girls". Richard stopped sending his daughters to national junior tennis tournaments when Williams was 10, as he wanted them to "go slowly" and focus on schoolwork. Experiences of racism also influenced this decision, as he had heard white parents talk about the Williams sisters in a derogatory manner during tournaments. At that time, Williams had a 46–3 record on the United States Tennis Association junior tour and was ranked number one among under-10 players in Florida. In 1995, when Serena Williams was in the ninth grade, her father pulled his daughters out of Macci's academy and took over all coaching at their home. When asked in 2000 whether it would have been more beneficial for them to have followed the normal path of playing regularly on the junior circuit, Williams responded, "Everyone does different things. I think for Venus and I, we just attempted a different road, and it worked for us." Serena Williams’ parents wanted their daughter to wait until she was 16 to participate in professional tournaments. In 1995, just after turning 14, Williams planned to make her professional debut as a wild-card entry in the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland, California but was denied by the WTA owing to their age-eligibility restrictions. She subsequently filed an antitrust lawsuit against the women's tour but withdrew it at her parents' request. Serena Willliams's first professional event was in October 1995 at the Bell Challenge in Quebec, where she used a wild-card entry to circumvent age-eligibility rules. She lost in the first qualifying round to then-18-year-old American Annie Miller, winning just two games.
Going Professional
Serena Williams did not play in a tournament in 1996. The next year, she lost in the qualifying rounds of three tournaments, before winning her first main-draw match in November at the Ameritech Cup Chicago. Ranked No. 304, she upset No. 7 Mary Pierce, and No. 4 Monica Seles, recording her first career wins over top 10 players and becoming the lowest-ranked player in the Open Era to defeat two top-10 opponents in one tournament. She ultimately lost in the semifinals to No. 5 Lindsay Davenport. She finished 1997 ranked No. 99. Williams began 1998 at the Medibank International Sydney. As a qualifier ranked No. 96, she defeated No. 3 Davenport in the quarterfinals, before losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals. Williams made her debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open, where she defeated sixth-seeded Irina Spîrlea in the first round, before losing to her sister, Venus, in the second round in the sisters' first professional match. She reached six other quarterfinals during the year, but lost all of them, including her first match against No. 1-ranked Martina Hingis at the Lipton International Players Championships in Key Biscayne, and her second match against Venus at the Italian Open in Rome. She failed to reach the quarterfinals of any Grand Slam tournament the remainder of the year, losing in the fourth round of the French Open to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, and the third round of the US Open to Spîrlea. She withdrew from Wimbledon two games into a match with Virginia Ruano Pascual, after straining a calf muscle during the first set. She did win 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 Slam tournaments. She won her first professional title in doubles at the U.S. National Indoor Championships in Oklahoma City with Venus, becoming the third pair of sisters to win a WTA title. They won two more doubles titles that year. Williams finished the year ranked No. 20 in singles.
A 16-year-old Serena and her sister Venus competed in a tennis "Battle of the Sexes" against Karsten Braasch at the 1998 Australian Open. At the time Braasch was 203rd in the ATP rankings. The sisters had claimed they could beat any man outside the top 200, and accepted his challenge. Braasch beat both of them, playing one set against each. The score versus Serena was 6–1 and 6–2 against Venus. Braasch said afterward, "500 and above, no chance." The sisters later tweaked the number to beating men outside the top 350. Williams lost in the third round of the 1999 Australian Open to Sandrine Testud. A month later, Williams won her first professional singles title when she defeated Amélie Mauresmo in the final of the Open Gaz de France in Paris. With Venus also winning the IGA Superthrift Classic in Memphis, Tennessee, that day, the pair became the first sisters to win professional tournaments in the same week. In March of that year, at the Evert Cup in California, Williams won her first Tier I title, defeating Steffi Graf in the final. Soon afterward at the Miami Masters, Williams had her 16-match winning streak ended by her sister in the first all-sister singles final in WTA history, and she then made her top-10 debut, at No. 9. She then lost in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open and the German Open, and the third round of the French Open, where she and Venus won the women's doubles title. Williams then missed Wimbledon because of an injury. When she returned to the tour, Serena Williams won a Fed Cup singles match and then won the JPMorgan Chase Open in Los Angeles, beating Julie Halard-Decugis in the final. She then defeated in succession Grand Slam champions Kim Clijsters, Conchita Martínez, Monica Seles, and defending champion Lindsay Davenport to reach the US Open final, where she defeated No. 1, Hingis, to become the second African-American woman, after Althea Gibson in 1958, to win a Grand Slam singles tournament. The Williams sisters also won the doubles title at this tournament. To complete her 1999 season, Williams won a doubles match in the Fed Cup final against Russia. Williams ended the year ranked No. 4 in just her second full year on the main tour.
Making History Time After Time Again
By the year of 2000, Serena Williams lost in the fourth round during the Australian Open to Elan Likhovtseva. She failed to defend her titles in Paris and Indian Wells. Yet, she did win the Faber Grand Pix in Germany. Later, Williams missed the French Open because of an injury. She returned from injury at the Wimbledon Championships. She lost to Venus Williams in the semifinals, but the pair won the doubles title at the event. Serena Williams successfully defended her title in Los Angeles, defeating Davenport in the final. She reached the final of the Du Maurier Open where an injury forced her to retire from her match with Hingis. Her defense of the U.S. Open title ended when she lost in the quarterfinals to Davenport. Venus Williams and Serena Williams teamed up to win the gold medal in the doubles at the Sydney Olympics in September of 2000. She ended the year winning the Toyota Princess Cup in Japan. Her rank by the end of 2000 was Number 6. By 2001, Serena lost to Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals of the Medibank International in Sydney and the Australian Open in Melbourne. Serena Williams and Venus Williams won the doubles title at the latter tournament, becoming only the fifth doubles team in history to win all four Grand Slam women's doubles titles during their careers.
This was a Career Grand Slam. Serena Williams participated in the Pacific Life Open in California, where she defeated Kim Clijsters in the finals. The final was marred by the behavior of the crowd toward Serena Williams and her family. Many crowd members lied and accused the games of being match fixed involving the family. This was after Venus withdrew before their semifinal. Neither Williams nor her sister entered the tournament for 14 years until Serena Williams entered in 2015 as a wildcard (and the top seed). The following week at the Ericsson Open in Miami, Serena Williams lost to Jennifer Capriati in the quarterfinals. She lost in the quarterfinals to Capriati at both the French Open and Wimbledon Championships. That was the fourth consecutive Grand Slam tournament at which Serena Williams had exited in the quarterfinals. During the North American hard-court season, she lost in the quarterfinals of Los Angeles against Monica Seles, then captured her second title of the year at the Rogers Cup, defeating Capriati in the final. Serena Williams reached the final of the 2001 U.S. Open losing to her sister Venus Williams. That was the first Grand Slam tournament final contested by 2 sisters during the Open Era. At the 2001 Season-ending Tour Championship, Williams won the championship by walkover when Davenport withdrew before the start of the final because of a knee injury. Williams finished 2001 at No. 6 for the 2nd straight year.
By early 2002, injury saw Serena Williams retire from the semifinals at the Medibank International Sydney and later withdraw from the Australian Open. Serena Williams came back from injury to win her first title of the year in 2002 in Scottsdale, Arizona defeating No. 2 Jennifer Capriati, in the final. She then won the Miami Masters for the first time, becoming one of three players in the Open Era to defeat the world's top 3 ranked players at one tournament, after beating No. 3, Martina Hingis, in the quarterfinals, No. 2 Venus in the semifinals, and the top-ranked player, Capriati, in the final. Serena's straight-set win over Venus was her second career win over her sister.
Serena Williams played three clay-court tournaments before the 2002 French Open. Her first tournament was at Charleston, where she was the third seed. Williams reached the quarterfinals before losing to Patty Schnyder. She reached her first clay-court final in May, at the Eurocard German Open losing to Justine Henin in a third-set tiebreak. Williams went on to win her first clay court title at the Italian Open, defeating Capriati in the semifinals and Henin in the final. This raised her ranking to a new high of No. 3. Serena Williams was the third seed at the French Open at Roland Garros, where she claimed her first title thereby defeating defending champion Capriati in the semifinals and sister Venus in the final to win her second Grand Slam tournament title (and her first in two-and-a-half years). As a result of raising the trophy at Court Philippe Chatrier, Serena Williams rose to a career-high of No. 2, second only to Venus.
At the 2002 Wimbledon Championships, Serena Williams won tennis's oldest championship for the first time in her life, defeating Venus to win a Grand Slam singles title without dropping a set for the first time in her career. This victory earned Serena Williams the world No. 1 ranking for the first time, dethroning her sister and becoming only the third African American woman to hold that ranking. The Williams sisters also won the doubles title at the tournament, the fifth Grand Slam doubles title for the pair. Williams played just one tournament between Wimbledon and the US Open, losing in the quarterfinals of the JPMorgan Chase Open in Los Angeles to American Chanda Rubin and ending a 21-match winning streak. The top-seeded player at the US Open, Williams reached the final where, for the third Grand Slam in a row, she defeated her sister to win the title, the second US Open crown of her career. Williams won two consecutive singles titles in the fall, defeating Kim Clijsters to win the Toyota Princess Cup in Tokyo, and Anastasia Myskina to win the Sparkassen Cup in Leipzig, Germany. She reached the final at the year-end Home Depot Championships at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where she lost to fifth-seeded Clijsters in straight sets, ending an 18-match winning streak.
Serena Williams finished 2002 with a 56–5 W/L record, eight singles titles, and the No. 1 ranking. She was the first African-American to end a year with that ranking since Althea Gibson in 1958. She was the first woman to win three Grand Slam tournament titles in one year since Hingis in 1997. Her three consecutive Grand Slam titles to close 2002 also made Williams only the third player in tennis history to win the "Surface Slam", three Slam titles on three surfaces in the same calendar year, after Navratilova (1984) and Graf (1993, 1995, 1996). At the 2003 Australian Open, Williams reached the tournament's semifinals for the first time, where she recovered from 5–1 down in the third set and saved two match points before defeating Clijsters. In the final, Serena faced Venus for the fourth consecutive Grand Slam tournament final, defeating her older sister to become the sixth woman in the Open Era to complete a career Grand Slam, alongside Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and Steffi Graf. She also became the fifth woman to hold all Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously, joining Maureen Connolly Brinker, Court, Graf, and Navratilova. This feat was dubbed the "Serena Slam" by the press. The Williams sisters won their sixth Grand Slam doubles title together at this event.
During the spring of 2003, Williams captured the singles titles at the Open Gaz de France and the Sony Ericsson Open. Williams's winning streak came to an end when she lost the final of the Family Circle Cup to Henin, her first loss of the year after 21 wins. She also lost to Mauresmo in the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. Despite these losses, Serena Williams was the top seed at the French Open, where she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Henin, marking Williams's first loss in a Grand Slam tournament since 2001. The match was controversial, as Williams questioned Henin's sportsmanship, and spectators applauded Williams's errors. Williams rebounded from the French Open loss a couple weeks later at the 2003 Wimbledon Championships, defeating Henin in the semifinals and Venus in the final. This was Williams's second consecutive Wimbledon title and her sixth Grand Slam singles title overall. Wimbledon was Williams's last tournament of 2003; she pulled out of three events in the US and then underwent surgery on the quadriceps tendon in her knee in early August. Williams was initially expected to be out for six to eight weeks.
After eight months away from the tour, during which time her desire was questioned, Williams began her comeback at the 2004 NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami in March, where she made a triumphant return as she won the title for the third consecutive year. Although ranked No. 7, Williams was seeded second at the French Open, where, after winning four matches, she lost to Capriati in the quarterfinals. That was the first time that Williams had lost before the semifinals at a Grand Slam singles tournament since Wimbledon in 2001. A few weeks later, even though her ranking had dropped to No. 10, Williams was seeded first at Wimbledon. She won six matches en route to the final, where 13th-seeded Maria Sharapova defeated her in straight sets. This loss caused her ranking to drop out of the top 10 for the first time since 1999. Later that summer, Williams reached her third final of the year at the JPMorgan Chase Open in Los Angeles where she lost to Lindsay Davenport which was her first loss to the American since the 2000 US Open. After missing her national championship in 2003, Williams returned for the 2004 US Open, where she was seeded third despite her No. 11 ranking. She lost in the U.S. Open quarterfinals to Capriati in three sets in controversial fashion. That fall, Williams won her second title of the year, at the China Open, defeating US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. Williams's successful season allowed her to qualify for the Tour Championships, held again in Los Angeles. In the round-robin phase of the tournament, Williams defeated Dementieva and Anastasia Myskina and lost to Davenport, but still advanced to the elimination stage. After winning her semifinal, she lost to Sharapova in the final, where she suffered an abdominal injury. Williams finished 2004 ranked No. 7, but did not win a Grand Slam singles tournament for the first season since 2001.
At the 2005 Australian Open, Williams rejected suggestions that she and sister Venus were a declining force in tennis, following Venus's early exit. Williams saved three match points to defeat Sharapova 8–6 in the third of their semifinal. In the final, Serena Williams defeated top seed Davenport to win her second Australian Open and seventh Grand Slam singles title, winning 12 of the last 15 games. The win moved Williams back to No. 2 but stated she was targeting the top spot.
Williams completed just two tournaments between the Australian Open and Wimbledon, losing to Venus in Miami and at Internazionali BNL d'Italia to Francesca Schiavone as Williams suffered a series of retirements and withdraws. A reoccurring ankle injury caused her to miss the French Open. She returned for Wimbledon as the 4th-seeded player, but was defeated in the third round by No. 85, Jill Craybas. At the US Open, Williams lost to her sister Venus in the fourth round. This was the earliest the sisters had met in a Grand Slam tournament since their first meeting, at the 1998 Australian Open. Williams played just one more match that fall, a loss to No. 127 Sun Tiantian at the tournament in Beijing. She failed to qualify for the year-end championship for the first time since 1998 and she finished the year 2005 ranked No. 11, her first time finishing the season outside the top 10 since 1998.
Williams made her 2006 debut at the Australian Open. Defending the title, Williams lost to Daniela Hantuchová in the third round. After the tournament, she told the press that she was injured, blaming a lack of fitness and a knee injury for keeping her off the court. In her biography, Williams claims that she was actually suffering from depression. She stayed away from pro tennis for six months during the 2006 season. After she had shut herself off from the world for a period, Williams saw a therapist daily. After a chance meeting with a young girl who idolized Williams and believed that she could still win, Serena Williams signed up to play in Cincinnati, her first tournament since Melbourne. Williams had slipped to No. 139, the lowest ranking she had held since 1997. On her return, Williams defeated Myskina and Bethanie Mattek, before losing in the semifinals to Vera Zvonareva. She also reached the semifinals in Los Angeles, losing to Janković in straight sets. At the US Open, Williams needed a wildcard to enter the tournament, as her ranking at the cut-off time was No. 139, outside the automatic 102. Her ranking had improved to 79th by the time the tournament came around. She lost to top-seeded Mauresmo in the fourth round. Following the US Open, she did not play again in 2006, ending the year ranked No. 95, her lowest year-end ranking since 1997.
Serena Williams began 2007 with renewed confidence, stating her intention to return to the top of the rankings, a comment 1987 Wimbledon men's singles champion and commentator Pat Cash branded "deluded." Pat Cash would be proven wrong as we shall see. Serena Williams lost in the quarterfinals of the Hobart International, a warm-up for the Australian Open where Williams was unseeded because of her No. 81 ranking and was widely regarded as not ready by some. She experienced a huge amount of pressure on herself before the tournament, coming from her fans and the press as well as Williams herself about her weight, focus, and needing a good showing.
Shortly before her first match, a representative from Nike paid her a visit in the players' lounge, informing her that if she did not perform to her accustomed level, the company might drop her. Serena Williams claimed that Nike's ultimatum meant that she would have to reach the quarterfinals at least. The distraction from Nike did not distract Williams, as she lost just three games to Mara Santangelo and defeated Anne Kremer in straight sets. By this point, a blister had developed on Williams's foot and she had contracted a cold. In the third round, Williams found herself two points away from going home against Nadia Petrova, but fought back to win in three sets, which was her first win over a top-10 player since defeating Lindsay Davenport in the 2005 Australian Open final. Williams then made it to the final, defeating Janković, Pe'er and Vaidišová. Williams described them as "good players. Strong players. Players who certainly didn't expect an overweight, out-of-shape, has been champion like me to give them a game." Williams also found herself two points from going out against Peer before turning it around. By the time Williams had reached the final, the cold and blister had both left. Previewing the finals, Tracy Austin stated that, although Williams had a great tournament, she believed that the ride was over and that Sharapova would have no trouble with Williams. Williams thought it was mean and unnecessary and used it as motivation along with other criticism. In the final, Serena Williams lost just three games against Maria Sharapova, winning her first title (in 2007) at any tournament since winning the 2005 Australian Open 24 months prior. Williams became the first player since Chris O'Neil to win the title while not being seeded and claimed her third Australian Open and eighth Grand Slam singles title overall. The win elevated Williams to 14th in the rankings. Williams dedicated the title to her deceased half-sister Yetunde. Her performance in the final was described in the press as "one of the best performances of her career" and "arguably the most powerful display ever seen in women's tennis." In her post-match interview, Williams took a swipe at her critics, stating that she had proved them wrong. Serena Williams won the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami for the fourth time by defeating Justine Henin. Williams had to record a come-from-behind win after being whitewashed in the first set and saving two match points in the second. She played for her country in the Fed Cup for the first time since 2003 in a tie against Belgium and won her opening match but withdrew from her second, because of a knee injury.
At the French Open, Williams lost in the quarterfinals to Henin. During her fourth round match against Hantuchová at Wimbledon, Williams collapsed from an acute muscle spasm at 5–5 in the second set. After a medical timeout and holding serve to force a tiebreak, rain forced play to be suspended for nearly two hours. When the players returned, Williams won the match in three sets. Williams then lost her quarterfinal match with Henin, whilst suffering from the injuries sustained in the previous round. At the US Open, Williams lost her third consecutive Grand Slam singles quarterfinal to Henin. Williams reached the final of Kremlin Cup, losing to Elena Dementieva. Williams qualified for the WTA Championships, but retired from her first match with Anna Chakvetadze with a knee injury and subsequently withdrew from the event. Williams finished 2007 as No. 7 and the top-ranked American for the first time since 2003.
Serena Williams started in 2008 participating on the U.S. team that won the Hopman Cup with Mardy Fish. At the Australian Open, she lost in the quarterfinals to Jelena Jankovic. That was her fourth straight loss in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament. During the women's doubles event, she and Venus were defeated in the quarterfinal. Serena Williams withdrew from the next three scheduled tournaments because of an urgent need for dental surgery. Serena Williams then won three consecutive singles titles at Bangalore and her fifth Miami title. This tied Steffi Graf for the most singles titles at this tournament. Serena Williams won at the Family Circle Cup, her first clay-court title since the 2002 French Open. Her 17-match winning streak was ended by Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals of Berlin. Williams withdrew in Rome in the quarterfinals against Alizé Cornet owing to a back injury. Williams was the only former winner of the French Open in the draw but lost in the third round to Katarina Srebotnik.
At Wimbledon, Williams reached the finals for the first time in four years but lost to her older sister Venus in straight sets, in their first Slam final since 2003. Serena and Venus teamed to win the women's doubles title in their first Grand Slam women's doubles title since 2003. Williams played at Stanford, but retired 6–2, 3–1 down with a left knee injury from her semifinal match against qualifier Aleksandra Wozniak. The injury forced her to withdraw from Los Angeles. At the Olympics in Beijing, Williams lost to Dementieva in the quarterfinals. Serena and Venus won the gold medal in doubles, beating Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual in the final. At the US Open, Williams defeated sister Venus, Safina and Jelena Janković in the final. That was her third US Open in 2008 and ninth Grand Slam singles title. The victory returned her to the No. 1 ranking for the first time since 2003. At the year-end championships, she defeated Safina and lost to Venus in her round-robin matches, but withdrew from her match against Dementieva, citing a stomach muscle injury. She ended 2008 ranked No. 2 and with four singles titles, her strongest performance in both respects since 2003. By 2009, Serena Williams started at the Medibank International, losing in the semifinals to Elena Dementieva. At the Australian Open, she claimed her tenth Grand Slam singles title by defeating Dinara Safina in the final in 59 minutes. This win returned her to the No. 1 ranking and resulted in her becoming the all-time career prize money leader in women's sports, overtaking golfer Annika Sörenstam. In women's doubles, with Venus, they captured the title for the third time.
At the Open Geff Suez, Williams withdrew before her semifinal match against Dementieva because of a knee injury. Serena then played in Dubai, losing to Venus in the semifinals. At the Sony Ericsson Open Williams, hampered with ankle and quad injuries, was upset in the final by Victoria Azarenka. This was the first of four consecutive losses for her, the longest losing streak of her career. She was defeated in her opening matches at Barcelona, Rome, and Madrid. Despite not having won a match on clay in 2009 before the French Open, she lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. This ended her 18-match Grand Slam tournament winning streak. She rebounded at Wimbledon, saving a match point in defeating fourth-seeded Dementieva in the semifinals. In the final, Serena defeated her sister Venus to win her third Wimbledon title in 2009 and her 11th Grand Slam singles title. Serena and Venus teamed to win the women's doubles title at Wimbledon for the second consecutive year, their ninth Grand Slam title in women's doubles.
As a US Open preparation, Williams played at Cincinnati losing in the third round, followed by a semifinal defeat at the Rogers Cup. At the US Open, she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Kim Clijsters amid controversy involving shouting at a line judge when defending match point, an offense which cost Williams the point and consequently the match. She continued in the double's competition, teaming up with Venus to win their third Grand Slam doubles title of the year and tenth of their career. Williams won all three of her round-robin matches at the year-end WTA Tour Championships, defeating Venus, Dementieva, and Kuznetsova, saving a match point against Venus. She then advanced to the final, when Wozniacki retired from their semifinal match. In the final, Williams defeated Venus for her second singles title at this event.
Williams on her way to the singles and doubles title at the 2010 Australian Open. Williams finished the year ranked No. 1 for the second time in her career, having played in 16 tournaments, more than any other year. She also broke the record previously set by Justine Henin for the most prize money earned by a female tennis player in one year, with Williams earning $6,545,586. For doubles that year, the Williams sisters finished the year ranked No. 2, despite playing only six tournaments together as a pair. Williams had won five Grand Slam tournament titles, putting her total of Grand Slam titles won thus far at 23, and she was consequently named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press for 2009. Williams was also the ITF World Champion in both the singles and doubles events
The Winning Comeback
2010 started with Serena Williams losing to Elena Dementieva in Sydney. At the Australian Open, Serena Williams was the defending champion in both singles and doubles. She reached the final and defeated Justine Henin, who had just recently come out of retirement. Serena Williams earned her twelfth Grand Slam singles title in 2010. In the doubles, Serena and Venus Williams successfully defended their title by defeating Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the finals. For the new few events, Serena Williams withdrew to deal with a leg injury. She returned to the Rome Master and lost to Jelena Jankovic in the semifinals. At Madrid, she fell to Nadia Petrova in the third round, but she partnered with Venus to win the doubles title. Williams's next tournament was Wimbledon, where she defeated Russian Vera Zvonareva in the final without facing a break point and breaking the serve of Zvonareva three times. Serena did not lose a set in the tournament.
After the match, Martina Navratilova said that Serena Williams is in the top five of all the women's tennis players in all of history, which she said that "it's not just about how many Slams you win or how many tournaments you win—it's just your game overall. And she's got all the goods." Serena was the defending champion in doubles with her sister Venus, winning the last two years. They lost in the quarterfinals to Elena Vesnina and Zvonareva. In Munich on July 7, Williams stepped on broken glass while in a restaurant, and the injury caused her to miss the rest of the year. Williams ended the year ranked No. 4 in singles after six tournaments, and No. 11 in doubles after four tournaments. On March 2, 2011, she confirmed that she had suffered a hematoma and a pulmonary embolism. Everything changed from 2011 to 2013 when Serena Williams reached a new level of dominance. By 2012, she won her fourth U.S. Open singles title and her 15th career Grand Slam title overall beating Azarenka in the final. Serena Williams was named International Tennis Federation World Champion in 2012. She worked with Venus Williams to win their fifth Wimbledon doubles title and their 13th grand slam doubles title. They defended their 2012 Olympic doubles titles. They are the only tennis players to win four gold medals. In 2013, she won her fifth U.S. Open title. Serena Williams became the oldest U.S. Open champion in the Open Era and pushed her career prize past $50 million. By 2013, she was ranked No. 1 in the world for the third time being the oldest No. 1 player in WTA history. She earned Both Best Female Athlete and Best Female Tennis Player awards at the 2013 ESPY Awards. By December of 2013, Serena Williams received the Associated Press 2013 Female Athlete of the Year award, her third AP award after 2002 and 2009. Only Chris Evert and Babe Didrikson (one of the greatest athletes in human history) were the women chosen more than Serena Williams.
From 2014 to 2015, Serena Williams made more successful. She defended her title at Brisbane International by defeating No. 2 Victoria Azarenka in the final. She won the Miami Open in 2014. She won her U.S. Open singles titles in 2014 too. By 2015, Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova for the 16th conservative time to claim her 6th Australian Open singles title and her 19th career Grand Slam singles title. This victory made Williams surpass both Evert and Navratilova for the 2nd most Grand Slam titles won in the Open Era. Serena Williams is the only player in history to win all four Grand Slams at least once after having turned 30 years old. She had her second Serena Slam in 2015. She was number one in 2016. In 2016, Serena Williams defeated Angelique Kerber in a rematch at Wimbledon. She equaled Steffi Graf's record of 22 Grand Slams in the Pen Era. This was her 71st career WTA title overall. She won her 6th Wimbledon doubles title and 14th doubles Grand Slam title overall. In 2017, she won her 8th Australian Open final defeating her sister, Venus That was her 23rd Grand Slam singles title, surpassing Steffi Graf's Open record of 22. This was the first time in the Open Era those 2 players aged 35 or older had competed in the final of a Grand Slam tournament. She was No. 1 in ranking in 2017. Also, on April 19, 2017, Serena Williams said that she was 20 weeks pregnant and would miss the remainder of the season. She might have been 8 to 9 weeks pregnant when she won the Australian Open. Her daughter was born on September 1, 2017 whose name is Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.
Activism and Recent Events
From 2018 to 2022, Serena Williams competed hard. She lost to a new start Naomi Osaka of Japan in 2018. By 2020, Serena Williams won her first singles title as a mother at the 2020 ASB Classic, defeating Jessica Pegulas in the final. She worked with Caroline Wozniacki in the doubles tournament but lost to Asia Muhammad and Taylor Townsend. Serena Williams is the first woman in the professional era with at least one title in the four decades of the 1990's, the 2000's, the 2010's, and the 2020's. THAT MEANS THAT SERENA WILLIAMS IS THE GOAT. Serena Williams was the first player in history to reach the semifinals of the Grand slam and U.S. Open in the four decades of the 1990's, the 2000's, the 2010's, and the 2020's. By May of 2021 in the Italian Open, Serena Williams played her 1000th match of her career. By early 2022, she promoted the film King Richard about her father and her sisters. She was at the 94th Academy Awards. By August 2022, Serena Williams wrote for Cogue that she wants to evolve away from tennis. Serena Williams wants to grow her family, work on her venture capital firm, and spend more time with her family. Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff said that they are inspired by Serena Williams. Today, Serena William is that icon of sports and culture that tons of people admire worldwide.
The Legacy of Serena Williams
The legacy of Sister Serena Williams is extremely monumental. With her accomplishments alone, Serena Williams is easily the best woman tennis player of all time. She is also one of the greatest athletes of all time too. In 2017, BBC Sport users picked her as the greatest women's tennis player of the Open Era. BBC presenter and former French Open Champion Sue Barker said, "Serena is the greatest because this era is so much more competitive than previous eras. The pace she generates her serve is without question the greatest ever combined with her movement and her power, and she pushes her opponents constantly on the back foot." By 2018, a Tennis.com panel selected Serena Williams as the greatest woman tennis player of all time. In 2018, Federer said that Serena Williams has the best case for the Greatest of All Time in tennis, whether man or woman. In 2022, John McEnroe said that Serena Williams is an icon and the GOAT of GOATs. Serena Williams and Venus Williams also worked to promote pay equity in tennis and helped to increase diversity in the sport. There were black icons in tennis for decades, but the Williams Sisters promoted that diverse representation to the next level. Now, we see a more diverse group of tennis-playing athletes at the professional level. That is why Sloane Stephens (former U.S. Open Champion), Coco Gauff (a French Open finalist), and Naomi Osaka (a four-time Grand Slam champion) have thanked Serena Williams and Venus Williams for playing tennis in general. Serena Williams' involvement in social activism, philanthropy, fashion, and helping to expand the power of human expression are blessings. She refutes the old lie that femininity is not related to strength. Femininity is diverse and is definitely related to strength indeed.
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