Serena Jameka Williams was born on September 26,1981 and is an American retired professional tennis player.
370 Facts About Serena Williams
2.
Serena Williams won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time.
3.
Serena Williams is the only player to accomplish a Career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles.
4.
Serena Williams then took a break from professional tennis after becoming pregnant and reached four major finals upon returning to play.
5.
Serena Williams won 14 major women's doubles titles, all with her sister Venus, and the pair was unbeaten in major doubles finals.
6.
Serena Williams won two major mixed doubles titles, both in 1998.
7.
The arrival of the Serena Williams sisters has been credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on the women's professional tennis tour.
8.
Serena Williams holds a combined 39 major titles: 23 in singles, 14 in women's doubles, and two in mixed doubles.
9.
Serena Williams is joint-third on the all-time list and second in the Open Era for total major titles.
10.
Serena Williams is the most recent woman to simultaneously hold all four major singles titles, and the most recent woman to win the Surface Slam, doing so in 2015.
11.
Serena Williams is, with Venus, the most recent player to have simultaneously held all four major women's doubles titles.
12.
Serena Williams was the world's highest paid woman athlete in 2016, earning almost $29 million.
13.
Serena Williams repeated this feat in 2017 when she was the only woman on Forbes list of the 100 highest-paid athletes, with $27million in prize money and endorsements.
14.
Serena Williams won the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year award a record four times, and in December 2015 was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine.
15.
Serena Williams is the highest-earning woman athlete of all time.
16.
Serena Williams was born on September 26,1981, in Saginaw, Michigan to Oracene Price and Richard Serena Williams.
17.
Serena Williams is the youngest of Price's five daughters: half-sisters Yetunde, Lyndrea, and Isha Price, and full older sister Venus.
18.
When Serena 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.
19.
Richard stopped sending his daughters to national junior tennis tournaments when Serena Williams was 10, as he wanted them to "go slowly" and focus on school work.
20.
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.
21.
Serena Williams' parents wanted their daughter to wait until she was 16 to participate in professional tournaments.
22.
In 1995, just after turning 14, Serena 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.
23.
Serena Williams subsequently filed an antitrust lawsuit against the women's tour, but withdrew it at her parents' request.
24.
Serena Williams lost in the first qualifying round to then 18-year-old American Annie Miller, winning just two games.
25.
Serena Williams ultimately lost in the semifinals to No 5 Lindsay Davenport.
26.
Serena Williams made her debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open, where she defeated sixth-seeded Irina Spirlea in the first round, before losing to her sister, Venus, in the second round in the sisters' first professional match.
27.
Serena Williams 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.
28.
Serena Williams 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 Sanchez Vicario, and the third round of the US Open to Spirlea.
29.
Serena Williams withdrew from Wimbledon two games into a match with Virginia Ruano Pascual, after straining a calf muscle during the first set.
30.
Serena Williams 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.
31.
Serena Williams won her first professional title in doubles at the US National Indoor Championships in Oklahoma City with Venus, becoming the third pair of sisters to win a WTA title.
32.
Serena Williams lost in the third round of the 1999 Australian Open to Sandrine Testud.
33.
Serena Williams 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.
34.
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.
35.
Serena Williams then defeated in succession Grand Slam champions Kim Clijsters, Conchita Martinez, 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.
36.
The Serena Williams sisters won the doubles title at this tournament.
37.
Serena Williams ended the year ranked No 4 in just her second full year on the main tour.
38.
Serena Williams started 2000 by losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open to Elena Likhovtseva.
39.
Serena Williams failed to defend her titles in Paris and Indian Wells, although she did win the Faber Grand Prix in Germany.
40.
Serena Williams returned from injury at the Wimbledon Championships, where she lost to Venus in the semifinals, but the pair won the doubles title at the event.
41.
Serena Williams successfully defended her title in Los Angeles, defeating Davenport in the final.
42.
Serena Williams reached the final of the Du Maurier Open where an injury forced her to retire from her match with Hingis.
43.
Serena Williams ended the year winning the Toyota Princess Cup in Japan and she finished the year ranked No 6.
44.
Serena Williams began 2001 losing to Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals of the Medibank International in Sydney and the Australian Open in Melbourne.
45.
Serena Williams then lost in the quarterfinals to Capriati at both the French Open and Wimbledon Championships.
46.
That was the fourth consecutive Grand Slam tournament at which Serena Williams had exited in the quarterfinals.
47.
Serena Williams reached the final of the 2001 US Open, losing to sister Venus.
48.
At the 2001 season-ending Tour Championships, Serena Williams won the championship by walkover when Davenport withdrew before the start of the final because of a knee injury.
49.
Serena Williams finished 2001 at No 6 for the second straight year.
50.
Early 2002, injury saw Serena Williams retire from the semifinal at the Medibank International Sydney and later withdraw from the Australian Open.
51.
Serena Williams 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.
52.
Serena Williams's straight set win over Venus was her second career win over her sister.
53.
Serena Williams played three clay-court tournaments before the 2002 French Open.
54.
Serena Williams went on to win her first clay court title at the Italian Open, defeating Capriati in the semifinals and Henin in the final.
55.
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.
56.
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.
57.
The Serena Williams sisters won the doubles title at the tournament, the fifth Grand Slam doubles title for the pair.
58.
Serena 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.
59.
The top-seeded player at the US Open, Serena 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.
60.
Serena 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.
61.
Serena Williams 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.
62.
Serena Williams was the first African-American to end a year with that ranking since Althea Gibson in 1958 and was the first woman to win three Grand Slam tournament titles in one year since Hingis in 1997.
63.
Serena Williams became the fifth woman to hold all Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously, joining Maureen Connolly Brinker, Court, Graf, and Navratilova.
64.
The Serena Williams sisters won their sixth Grand Slam doubles title together at this event.
65.
Serena 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.
66.
Serena Williams lost to Mauresmo in the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome.
67.
The match was controversial, as Serena Williams questioned Henin's sportsmanship, and spectators applauded Serena Williams's errors.
68.
Serena 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.
69.
Serena Williams was initially expected to be out for six to eight weeks.
70.
That was the first time that Serena Williams had lost before the semifinals at a Grand Slam singles tournament since Wimbledon in 2001.
71.
Serena Williams won six matches en route to the final, where 13th-seeded Maria Sharapova defeated her in straight sets.
72.
Later that summer, Serena 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.
73.
Serena Williams lost in the US Open quarterfinals to Capriati in three sets in controversial fashion.
74.
That fall, Serena Williams won her second title of the year, at the China Open, defeating US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final.
75.
Serena Williams finished 2004 ranked No 7, but did not win a Grand Slam singles tournament for the first season since 2001.
76.
At the 2005 Australian Open, Serena Williams rejected suggestions that she and sister Venus were a declining force in tennis, following Venus's early exit.
77.
Serena 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 Serena Williams suffered a series of retirements and withdraws.
78.
Serena Williams returned for Wimbledon as the 4th-seeded player, but was defeated in the third round by No 85, Jill Craybas.
79.
At the US Open, Serena Williams lost to her sister Venus in the fourth round.
80.
Serena Williams played just one more match that fall, a loss to No 127 Sun Tiantian at the tournament in Beijing.
81.
Serena Williams 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.
82.
Serena Williams stayed away from pro tennis for six months during the 2006 season.
83.
Serena Williams had slipped to No 139, the lowest ranking she had held since 1997.
84.
On her return, Serena Williams defeated Myskina and Bethanie Mattek, before losing in the semifinals to Vera Zvonareva.
85.
Serena Williams reached the semifinals in Los Angeles, losing to Jankovic in straight sets.
86.
At the US Open, Serena Williams needed a wildcard to enter the tournament, as her ranking at the cut-off time was No 139, outside the automatic 102.
87.
Serena Williams's ranking had improved to 79th by the time the tournament came around.
88.
Serena Williams lost to top-seeded Mauresmo in the fourth round.
89.
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".
90.
Serena Williams lost in the quarterfinals of the Hobart International, a warm-up for the Australian Open where Serena Williams was unseeded because of her No 81 ranking and was widely regarded as "out of shape".
91.
Serena Williams 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.
92.
Serena Williams claimed that Nike's ultimatum meant that she would have to reach the quarterfinals at least.
93.
Serena Williams then made it to the final, defeating Jankovic, Pe'er and Vaidisova.
94.
Serena Williams thought it was mean and unnecessary and used it as motivation along with other criticism.
95.
Serena 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.
96.
Serena Williams won the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami for the fourth time by defeating Justine Henin.
97.
Serena Williams had to record a come-from-behind win after being whitewashed in the first set and saving two match points in the second.
98.
Serena Williams 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.
99.
At the French Open, Serena Williams lost in the quarterfinals to Henin.
100.
Serena Williams then lost her quarterfinal match with Henin, whilst suffering from the injuries sustained in the previous round.
101.
At the US Open, Serena Williams lost her third consecutive Grand Slam singles quarterfinal to Henin.
102.
Serena Williams reached the final of Kremlin Cup, losing to Elena Dementieva.
103.
Serena Williams finished 2007 as No 7 and the top-ranked American for the first time since 2003.
104.
Serena Williams started 2008 by participating on the US team that won the Hopman Cup with Mardy Fish.
105.
Serena Williams withdrew from her next three scheduled tournaments because of an urgent need for dental surgery.
106.
Serena Williams then won three consecutive singles titles at Bangalore and her fifth Miami title, tying Steffi Graf for the most singles titles at this tournament.
107.
Serena Williams won at the Family Circle Cup, her first clay-court title since the 2002 French Open.
108.
Serena Williams's 17-match winning streak was ended by Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals of Berlin.
109.
Serena Williams withdrew in Rome in the quarterfinals against Alize Cornet owing to a back injury.
110.
Serena Williams was the only former winner of the French Open in the draw, but lost in the third round to Katarina Srebotnik.
111.
At Wimbledon, Serena 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.
112.
At the Olympics in Beijing, Serena Williams lost to Dementieva in the quarterfinals.
113.
At the US Open, Serena Williams defeated sister Venus, Safina and Jelena Jankovic in the final.
114.
Serena Williams ended 2008 ranked No 2 and with four singles titles, her strongest performance in both respects since 2003.
115.
Serena Williams began 2009 at the Medibank International, losing in the semifinals to Elena Dementieva.
116.
At the Open GdF Suez, Serena Williams withdrew before her semifinal match against Dementieva because of a knee injury.
117.
Serena Williams then played at Dubai, losing to Venus in the semifinals.
118.
At the Sony Ericsson Open Serena Williams, hampered with ankle and quad injuries, was upset in the final by Victoria Azarenka.
119.
Serena Williams was defeated in her opening matches at Barcelona, Rome, and Madrid.
120.
Serena Williams rebounded at Wimbledon, saving a match point in defeating fourth seeded Dementieva in the semifinals.
121.
Serena Williams continued in the doubles competition, teaming up with Venus to win their third Grand Slam doubles title of the year and tenth of their career.
122.
Serena 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.
123.
Serena Williams finished the year ranked No 1 for the second time in her career, having played in 16 tournaments, more than any other year.
124.
Serena Williams 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.
125.
For doubles that year, the Serena Williams sisters finished the year ranked No 2, despite playing only six tournaments together as a pair.
126.
Serena 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.
127.
Serena Williams was the ITF World Champion in both the singles and doubles events.
128.
In 2010, Serena Williams's first scheduled tournament was in Sydney, losing in the final to Elena Dementieva.
129.
At the Australian Open, Serena Williams was the defending champion in both singles and doubles.
130.
Serena Williams reached the final and defeated Justine Henin, who had just recently come out of retirement, for her twelfth Grand Slam singles title.
131.
Serena Williams withdrew with a leg injury from her next few events, and returned at the Rome Masters, losing to Jelena Jankovic in the semifinals.
132.
At the French Open, Serena Williams was defeated by Samantha Stosur in the quarterfinals.
133.
Serena Williams did not lose a set in the tournament.
134.
Serena Williams ended the year ranked No 4 in singles after six tournaments, and No 11 in doubles after four tournaments.
135.
Serena Williams finally made a return to the practice court in March 2011.
136.
Serena Williams made her first appearance on the WTA tour in almost a year in Eastbourne.
137.
Serena Williams lost in round two to Vera Zvonareva in a match that lasted over three hours.
138.
Serena Williams reached the round of 16, where she lost to Marion Bartoli.
139.
Serena Williams won her first titles since her return to tennis triumphing in Stanford and Toronto.
140.
Serena Williams then played at the US Open going all the way to the final and losing to Samantha Stosur during a match which featured her verbally abusing the chair umpire.
141.
Serena Williams only participated in six tournaments throughout the season.
142.
Serena Williams started the 2012 season at the Brisbane International during her match against Bojana Jovanovski, she injured her left ankle when serving for the match.
143.
Serena Williams then won consecutive titles at Charleston and Madrid beating Lucie Safarova and Victoria Azarenka, but withdrew from her semifinal match against Li Na in Rome citing a lower back injury.
144.
Serena Williams suffered her first ever loss in the opening round of a Grand Slam tournament at the French Open against Virginie Razzano.
145.
Serena Williams won her fifth Wimbledon singles title, her fourteenth Grand Slam title; setting a serving record of 24 aces by a woman in a match as well as having the most aces, male or female, during the tournament.
146.
Serena Williams returned to America to successfully defend her title in Stanford beating CoCo Vandeweghe in the final.
147.
Serena Williams then returned to Wimbledon to represent her country at the Olympic Games where she won gold, defeating Maria Sharapova in a dominating performance.
148.
Serena Williams failed to drop more than three games per set en route to winning the medal.
149.
In New York City, Serena Williams went on to win her fourth US Open singles title and her 15th career Grand Slam title overall beating Azarenka in the final.
150.
Serena Williams ended the season by competing at the WTA Championships and went undefeated throughout the tournament to win the event for her third title.
151.
Serena Williams was voted WTA Player of the Year for the fourth time.
152.
Serena Williams returned to doubles competitions with Venus; in the pair's first tournament since 2010 Wimbledon, they claimed their fifth Wimbledon doubles title and the 13th grand slam doubles title.
153.
Serena Williams was upset in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open by fellow American player Sloane Stephens.
154.
Serena Williams went on to lose to Victoria Azarenka in the final.
155.
Serena Williams successfully defended her Charleston title, winning it for the third time overall.
156.
Serena Williams won her fiftieth career singles title in Madrid, defeating Sharapova in the final.
157.
Serena Williams then played Rome, where she won the title without dropping a set, defeating Victoria Azarenka in the final to take her second title.
158.
Serena Williams only dropped ten games in reaching the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.
159.
Serena Williams defeated Sharapova to claim her second Roland Garros title, her sixteenth grand slam tournament title overall.
160.
Serena Williams became the fourth woman in the Open Era after Navratilova, Evert and Graf to win each Grand Slam tournament title on at least two occasions.
161.
Serena Williams won her 3rd Rogers Cup title in Toronto beating Sorana Cirstea in the final.
162.
At the US Open, Serena Williams began as top seed and defending champion.
163.
Serena Williams became the oldest US Open champion in the Open Era and pushed her career prize money past $50million.
164.
Serena Williams went through the WTA Championships undefeated winning the final against Li Na, to become the first person to defend the title since Justine Henin in 2007.
165.
Serena Williams won her 11th title of 2013 becoming the 8th player to win 11 titles or more in a year and the first since Martina Hingis in 1997.
166.
Serena Williams finished as the year end No 1 for the third time, becoming the oldest No 1 player in WTA history.
167.
Serena Williams was named the 2013 ITF World Champion, the fourth time that she received the World Champion's crown.
168.
Serena Williams won Best Female Athlete and Best Female Tennis Player.
169.
Serena Williams is just the fourth person to win Best Female Athlete on two occasions and she won Best Female Tennis player for a record sixth time.
170.
In late December 2013, Serena Williams capped off her year by receiving the Associated Press 2013 Female Athlete of the Year award, her third AP award after 2002 and 2009.
171.
Serena Williams defended her title at the Brisbane International by defeating No 2, Victoria Azarenka, in the final.
172.
At Dubai, Serena Williams lost her semifinal match to Alize Cornet in straight sets.
173.
Serena Williams next headed to the Miami Open where she won her record seventh title with a straight-sets victory over No 2 Li Na.
174.
Serena Williams lost to Jana Cepelova in the second round of the Family Circle Cup.
175.
Serena Williams made it to the quarterfinals at the Madrid Open before withdrawing with a left thigh injury.
176.
Serena Williams won her third title of the season at the Rome.
177.
Serena Williams was then handed the worst loss of her Grand Slam tournament career by Garbine Muguruza at the second round of the French Open, who defeated Serena losing just four games in two sets.
178.
Serena Williams rebounded by winning 19 out of her next 20 matches.
179.
Serena Williams tied Evert and Navratilova's 18 Grand Slam singles titles won in the Open Era.
180.
At the China Open Serena Williams retired prior to her quarterfinal match versus Samantha Stosur.
181.
Serena Williams won her fifth WTA Finals title by avenging her loss to Halep in the championship match for her seventh title of the year.
182.
Serena Williams finished the year ranked No 1 for the fourth time in her career.
183.
Serena Williams held the No 1 ranking for the entire calendar year, a feat not accomplished since Steffi Graf in 1996.
184.
Serena Williams was voted WTA Player of the Year and ITF World Champion for a third consecutive year.
185.
Serena Williams began the 2015 season by representing the United States alongside John Isner at the Hopman Cup.
186.
At the Australian Open Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova for the 16th consecutive time to claim her 6th Australian Open singles title and 19th career Grand Slam singles title, winning the title on her third match point in the second set.
187.
Serena Williams is the only player in history to win all four Grand Slams at least once after having turned 30.
188.
Serena Williams announced that she would be competing at the Indian Wells Masters ending her 14-year boycott of the event.
189.
Serena Williams reached the semifinals, where she was due to face No 3, Simona Halep, for a place in the final, but was forced to withdraw because of a knee injury.
190.
Serena Williams lost the decisive doubles match alongside Alison Riske to Sara Errani and Flavia Pennetta, and as a result the United States team were relegated to World Group II.
191.
Serena Williams maintained her perfect record in singles by defeating Camila Giorgi and Errani.
192.
Serena Williams suffered her first defeat of the season in the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open to No 4, Petra Kvitova.
193.
Serena Williams played one match at the 2015 Internazionali BNL d'Italia before withdrawing from the tournament with an elbow injury.
194.
Serena Williams then defeated Sloane Stephens to reach her 40th Grand Slam singles quarterfinal.
195.
Serena Williams won her next match easily, but had to come back from a set down in the semifinals versus Timea Bacsinszky for the fourth time in five matches to reach the final.
196.
Serena Williams would go on to defeat Lucie Safarova from the Czech Republic in three sets to win her third French Open and 20th Grand Slam singles title.
197.
Serena Williams is the first player to win three straight Grand Slams since she did it herself during the Serena Slam.
198.
Serena Williams became the first player to win the Australian-French Open double since Jennifer Capriati in 2001.
199.
Serena Williams was down a double break in the third round versus Heather Watson and two points from defeat twice before rallying for the win and becoming the first player to qualify for the WTA Finals.
200.
Serena Williams played one match at the Swedish Open in Bastad before withdrawing with an elbow injury.
201.
Serena Williams was the defending champion at the Bank of the West Classic but withdrew from the tournament in order for her elbow to get better.
202.
Serena Williams had her 19 match winning streak ended by 18-year-old Swiss Belinda Bencic, the No 20, in three tight sets in the semifinals of the Canadian Open.
203.
Nonetheless, Serena Williams secured the year-end No 1 ranking with her results at the tournament.
204.
Serena Williams held the No 1 ranking the entire season for the second consecutive year, finishing there for the fifth time in her career.
205.
Serena Williams was voted WTA Player of the Year for the seventh time in her career.
206.
Serena Williams thus became the third solo woman, and first since 1983, to receive the award.
207.
Serena Williams was named ITF World Champion for the sixth time in her career.
208.
Serena Williams withdrew from the Hopman Cup after retiring from her singles match against Australia Gold with inflammation of her left knee.
209.
Serena Williams reached the final without dropping a set, including wins over No 5, Maria Sharapova, and No 4, Agnieszka Radwanska, and faced first time Grand Slam finalist Angelique Kerber.
210.
Serena Williams was considered the heavy favorite to win the title, as she had never lost an Australian Open final or semifinal.
211.
Serena Williams dominated the head-to-head against Kerber, having lost only once in six meetings and having not lost a set to her in four years.
212.
Serena Williams lost the final in three sets and Kerber won her first Grand Slam title.
213.
Serena Williams competed in Indian Wells as the No 1 seed.
214.
Serena Williams reached her first final here since winning in 2001 and before boycotting the event, by defeating Simona Halep in the quarterfinals and Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals.
215.
Serena Williams did not drop a set en route to the final.
216.
Serena Williams was upset by No 13 seed Victoria Azarenka, whom she had defeated the last five times the pair had met, in straight sets.
217.
Serena Williams next played the Miami Open as the defending champion.
218.
Serena Williams lost in the fourth round to Svetlana Kuznetsova.
219.
Serena Williams beat Anna-Lena Friedsam and Christina McHale to progress to the quarterfinals where she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova to avenge her loss in Miami.
220.
Serena Williams then went on to beat Irina-Camelia Begu and Madison Keys to win her 70th career WTA title and to win her first title of the year.
221.
At the French Open, Serena Williams dropped only one set en route to the final.
222.
Serena Williams defeated Yulia Putintseva in the quarterfinals despite being five points away from losing.
223.
Serena Williams then beat surprise semifinalist Kiki Bertens to reach her fourth French Open final where she faced Garbine Muguruza in a repeat of last year's Wimbledon final where Williams was victorious.
224.
The result was not the same as that Wimbledon final as Serena Williams lost to Muguruza in straight sets.
225.
On top of failing to equal Steffi Graf's Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam singles titles, Serena Williams completed the Career Grand Slam runner-up set with this loss.
226.
At Wimbledon, Serena Williams only lost one set en route to the final where she faced Angelique Kerber in a rematch of their Australian Open final earlier in the year.
227.
In what was a brilliant serving performance, Serena Williams only faced one break point in the whole match against Kerber which she saved with an ace.
228.
Later that day, Serena Williams partnered with sister Venus to win their sixth Wimbledon doubles title and 14th doubles Grand Slam title overall, keeping their perfect record at Grand Slam doubles finals intact.
229.
On July 24,2016, Serena Williams withdrew from Rogers Cup citing a shoulder inflammation injury.
230.
Serena Williams next participated in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where she was the defending gold medalist in both singles and doubles and was the heavy favourite to retain those titles.
231.
In singles, after defeating Daria Gavrilova and Alize Cornet in the first two rounds, Serena Williams faced Ukraine's Elina Svitolina in the third round in what was a rematch of this year's French Open fourth round, but lost to the Ukrainian, bringing an end to her Olympics campaign.
232.
Serena Williams pulled out of the WTA Finals because of a shoulder injury.
233.
Serena Williams started her 2017 season by participating in the WTA Auckland Open for the first time in her career.
234.
Serena Williams defeated Pauline Parmentier to win her first match since the US Open.
235.
Serena Williams subsequently withdrew from the Indian Wells and Miami Opens, citing a knee injury.
236.
On September 1,2017, Serena Williams gave birth to a daughter.
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Serena Williams had a cesarean-section delivery due to a pulmonary embolism during labor.
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Serena Williams suffered another pulmonary embolism after giving birth, leaving her bedridden for six weeks and delaying her return to training.
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On December 30,2017, Serena Williams played her first match since giving birth, an exhibition match at the World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, losing to reigning French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.
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On January 5,2018, Serena Williams withdrew from the upcoming Australian Open, citing a lack of sufficient preparation in the wake of her pregnancy.
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Serena Williams made her return to Grand Slam tennis at the 2018 French Open, playing singles and doubles with her sister Venus.
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Serena Williams withdrew owing to an injury to her pectoral muscle sustained in a third-round match in doubles where she and Venus were defeated by Andreja Klepac and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
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En route to the quarterfinals, Serena Williams had beaten Arantxa Rus of Holland in round one, Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria in round 2, Kristina Mladenovic of France in round 3 and Evgeniya Rodina of Russia in round 4.
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Serena Williams had not lost a set in any of her matches till then.
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Serena Williams then beat Italian Camila Giorgi in the quarterfinals after losing one set, and became the lowest ranked player to ever reach the Wimbledon semifinals.
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Serena Williams met 13th seed Julia Gorges of Germany in the semifinal and beat her comfortably in two sets to reach her tenth Wimbledon final, the first since giving birth.
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Serena Williams lost in the final in straight sets to Angelique Kerber of Germany in a rematch of the 2016 Wimbledon final.
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Serena Williams recorded her most lopsided loss in her career to Johanna Konta in the first round, winning just a single game.
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Serena Williams later revealed in an interview with Time that she checked Instagram ten minutes prior to the match starting, and found out that the man who had fatally shot her half-sister, Yetunde, in 2003 was released on parole earlier in the year.
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Serena Williams beat Daria Gavrilova of Australia in straight sets in the first round, but lost to Petra Kvitova in the second round in a three-set match that lasted over two hours.
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Serena Williams defeated Magda Linette in the first round, Carina Witthoft in the second round, her sister and 16th seed Venus in the third round, Kaia Kanepi in the fourth round, and 8th seed Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinals.
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Serena Williams won her semifinal match against 19th seed Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia, winning a spot in the women's singles final against Naomi Osaka of Japan which she lost in straight sets.
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Serena Williams started her 2019 season at the Australian Open, having not made an appearance at the tournament since winning the 2017 edition.
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Pliskova won the first set and lead in the second, but Serena Williams took control of the match, winning the second and rapidly taking a huge lead in the third.
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Serena Williams went on to defeat Victoria Azarenka in the second round of the Indian Wells Masters in her 2019 campaign for a third Indian Wells crown.
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Serena Williams then sustained a recurrence of a long-term knee injury which caused her to pull out of Miami and Rome after playing one match.
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At Wimbledon, Serena Williams reached a major final for the 13th consecutive year.
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Serena Williams became the oldest grand slam finalist in the open era.
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Serena Williams lost the final to Simona Halep in two straight sets in under an hour.
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At the Canadian Open, Serena Williams defeated Naomi Osaka in straight sets in the quarterfinals and Czech qualifier Marie Bouzkova in three sets in the semifinals.
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Serena Williams told the chair umpire of her decision to retire because of back spasms.
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Serena Williams defeated Caty McNally in three sets in the second round, and Karolina Muchova and Petra Martic in straight games in the third and fourth.
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Top-seeded Serena Williams won her first singles title as a mother at the 2020 ASB Classic, defeating Jessica Pegula in the final.
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Serena Williams reached the finals in the doubles tournament with Caroline Wozniacki; the pair were defeated by Asia Muhammad and Taylor Townsend.
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Serena Williams defeated Anastasia Potapova and Tamara Zidansek in the first and second rounds respectively in straight sets, before falling to Wang Qiang in three tight sets in the third round.
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Serena Williams went on to suffer a shock defeat in the quarter-finals to fellow American Shelby Rogers.
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At the Cincinnati Open, played in New York, Serena Williams received a bye in the first round, beat Arantxa Rus in the second, and lost to Maria Sakkari in three sets in the third round.
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Serena Williams was seeded 3rd at the second major of the year, the 2020 US Open.
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Serena Williams became the first player in history to reach the semifinals of Grand slam and US Open in four decades: the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s.
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Serena Williams was seeded 6th at the delayed 2020 French Open held in cold and heavy conditions in October.
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Serena Williams started the year by playing the Yarra Valley Classic, where she withdrew prior to her semifinal match against the top seed, Ashleigh Barty citing a right shoulder injury.
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When leaving the court after losing to Osaka in the Australian Open, Serena Williams paused to acknowledge the crowd longer than she usually would.
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Serena Williams was defeated by Nadia Podoroska in the second round in straight sets.
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Serena Williams's withdrawal saw Williams plummet nineteen places to 41st in the world, her lowest year-end ranking in 15 years.
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In December 2021, Serena Williams announced she would not play the 2022 Australian Open, citing the same leg injury.
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Serena Williams spent much of early 2022 promoting King Richard about her father with her sisters.
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Serena Williams appeared at several award ceremonies including the 94th Academy Awards.
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Serena Williams returned to professional play in June 2022 when she partnered up with Ons Jabeur in the Eastbourne International.
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Serena Williams entered the 2022 Wimbledon Championships in singles, having accepted a wildcard after dropping to 1204th in the singles rankings.
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Serena Williams lost to Harmony Tan in the first round in an over 3 hour match, the longest thus far at the tournament.
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Serena Williams began her farwell tour by entering the 2022 Canadian Open using a protected ranking.
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Serena Williams beat Nuria Parrizas Diaz in straight sets for her first singles win in 14 months, before losing to Belinda Bencic.
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Serena Williams subsequently entered the 2022 Cincinnati Masters, in which she lost to reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu in the first round.
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In singles, Serena Williams won her opening-round match against Danka Kovinic.
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Serena Williams then played what was expected to be her final match against Ajla Tomljanovic, losing in three hard-fought sets.
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Serena Williams went on to cite growing her family, focusing on her venture capital firm, and spending more time with family as reasons she would be leaving the sport.
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Serena Williams said that she consulted Tiger Woods in her decision.
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Serena Williams is an aggressive baseliner, whose game is centered around her powerful serve and forceful groundstrokes.
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Serena Williams possesses an accurate and consistent ball toss, allowing her to serve to any position on the court with minimal differences in the position of the ball in the air; this makes it difficult for opponents to read her service motion and predict the position of her serve, allowing her to dominate a rally from the first stroke.
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Serena Williams possesses effective and accurate kick and slice serves, which she deploys as second serves, minimizing double faults, and preventing opponents from scoring free points.
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Serena Williams is known for her forceful groundstrokes, which are considered two of the most powerful shots in the history of women's tennis.
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Serena Williams is known for her forehand, which has been described as "devastating".
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Serena Williams's forehand is hit with heavy topspin; this allows her to dominate rallies, and she is capable of hitting her forehand both crosscourt and down the line to produce winners.
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Serena Williams tends to hit her backhand flatter than her forehand, allowing her to hit her backhand with speed, power, and depth both crosscourt and down the line.
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Serena Williams is widely considered one of the greatest return players of all time.
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Serena Williams is an exceptional athlete, known for her movement, speed, court coverage, agility, flexibility, balance, and footwork.
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Serena Williams has been praised for her mental strength and competitive spirit, with her being described as one of the toughest opponents to beat on the court; Martina Navratilova declared her mental strength "unbelievable", whilst tennis journalist Jon Wertheim claimed that Williams is the toughest player of all time.
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American tennis player Christina McHale praised her composure in high pressure moments, stating that, for Serena Williams, "being clutch is like breathing", and that she "seems to come through every single time in the most pressure-packed situations".
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Serena Williams has been noted for her ability to produce extraordinary comebacks, particularly on the Grand Slam level, winning three Slams after saving match points, a feat achieved more often than by any other player in tennis history.
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Serena Williams bounced back from a set down to win 37 Grand Slam matches; her ability to come back from set and break deficits in Grand Slam matches was described by John McEnroe as "a gift", and McEnroe declared that she was "the greatest" competitor in the history of women's tennis.
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Serena Williams has been praised for her ability to serve aces at critical moments.
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Serena Williams has stated that her favourite surface is clay, as the slow pace and high bounce afforded aids point construction, although she excels on faster hard and grass courts.
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Serena Williams played older sister Venus in 31 professional matches since 1998.
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Serena Williams played Venus 15 times in Grand Slam singles and 13 times in other tournaments.
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Justine Henin and Serena Williams met 14 times, five of which were in tournament finals.
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Serena Williams lost the game and would go on to lose the match.
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Since then Serena Williams dominated the rivalry, winning all of their clashes, with only three of their matches going to three sets.
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When both of the Serena Williams sisters entered the top ten and started meeting in tournaments, rumors of match fixing started to circulate.
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At the 2001 Ericsson Open the following week, Richard Serena Williams stated that racist comments were made to him in the stands, and the tournament director refused to offer Serena Williams an apology for how he was treated.
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In 2015, Serena Williams decided to end her 14-year boycott and played.
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Serena Williams argued with the chair over a couple of calls during the match, but was not successful.
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Capriati won the match, with Serena Williams herself acknowledging that this was primarily due to her 57 unforced errors; nevertheless, she accused Alves of temporary insanity and said that she "felt cheated".
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Serena Williams was given a warning, with a potential second violation carrying a one-point penalty.
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Serena Williams gestured with her racket to the lineswoman who had made the call and yelled at her, with profanities and a threat to shove a tennis ball down the lineswoman's throat.
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Serena Williams initially refused to apologize for her outburst, both in her post-match press conference and in an official statement released the following day.
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Williams became angry with the chair umpire and made several gestures and unflattering comments toward her during the next changeover, including telling Asderaki that if the umpire ever saw Serena coming toward her, she should "look the other way".
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Serena Williams was upset by the violation, claiming that her coach was simply giving her a thumbs up, and demanded an apology from chair umpire Carlos Ramos.
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Serena Williams received a second violation for smashing her racket on the court, which resulted in a point penalty.
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Serena Williams said that she believed she was treated unfairly by the umpire because she is a woman.
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Serena Williams was fined a total of $17,000 including $4,000 for a coaching violation, $3,000 for racket abuse and $10,000 for verbal abuse towards the umpire.
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Serena Williams is considered one of the best female tennis players of all time.
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Alongside her sister Venus, Serena Williams has been widely credited with increasing diversity within the sport:.
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Former US Open champion Sloane Stephens, French Open finalist Coco Gauff and four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, have thanked Serena Williams, saying that they never would've picked up a racket, if it was not for her.
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In September 2022, Twitter said that Serena Williams was the most tweeted about female athlete ever.
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Serena Williams proposed to her on December 10,2016, in Rome.
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On December 30,2016, Serena Williams announced their engagement in a Reddit post.
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Serena Williams planned to move to San Francisco with Ohanian after the wedding.
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Serena Williams later said that posting the picture on Snapchat was an accident, and that she had intended to save the photo for her records.
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Serena Williams had an emergency caesarean-section delivery due to the baby's heart rate dropping during labor and was at first devastated about it.
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Serena Williams suffered a pulmonary embolism after giving birth, leaving her bedridden for six weeks and delaying her return to training.
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Serena Williams gave her daughter a doll, Qai Qai, that has become famous on social media.
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Serena Williams has faced many questions whether she would raise her daughter to play tennis to which she answered saying she has already hired a coach for her daughter.
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Serena Williams was raised one of Jehovah's Witness, but states she has "never really practiced it".
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Serena Williams signed a five-year endorsement deal with Nike in 2004 for $40 million, and has been endorsed by the company for clothing, apparel, and footwear ever since.
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The largest building on Nike's Portland campus is the one million square foot Serena Williams Building which features many references to the athlete's career and her long collaboration with Nike.
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Serena Williams used the Wilson Hammer Stretch range of racquets when she won her first Grand Slam title in 1999, before switching to the Hyper Hammer range.
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Serena Williams switched to the Wilson nCode briefly in 2005, and used various iterations of the Wilson Blade racquet since 2008.
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Serena Williams's racquet is typically oversized, with a head size of 104 square inches.
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Since 2020, Serena Williams used a smaller variant of this racquet, the Wilson Blade SW102 Autograph.
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In 2015, Serena Williams became the CSO for British luxury automobile manufacturer Aston Martin.
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Serena Williams has been noted for her unusual and colorful outfits on court.
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In early 2010, Serena Williams became a certified nail technician in preparation for her upcoming nail collection with a company called HairTech.
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In February 2019, Serena Williams was appointed to the board of directors of online fashion marketplace Poshmark.
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In Fall 2019, Williams launched the first collection of her sustainable clothing line, S by Serena.
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Serena Williams became more involved in social change as her career progressed, primarily using social media as a medium of expressing her views.
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Also in 2016, Serena Williams wrote an open letter in Porter Magazine's "Incredible Women of 2016" to speak out about gender equality and her personal struggles as a woman in tennis.
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Serena Williams noted that women's contributions to the sport of tennis are not recognized in the way men's contributions are recognized; she called out issues of equal pay in tennis.
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Serena Williams received several awards for her activism, namely those directed towards Black communities.
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Serena Williams was listed among the 35 "most remarkable and beautiful black women" in the world by Essence magazine.
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Williams has appeared on television and provided voice work on animated shows: in a 2001 episode of The Simpsons Serena joined the animation along with sister Venus, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.
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Serena Williams has provided guest voice work in a 2005 episode of Playhouse Disney's animated kids show Higglytown Heroes and a 2007 episode of the Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender, which she has described as her "favorite show".
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Serena Williams posed for the 2003 and 2004 editions of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
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Serena Williams has appeared twice on MTV's Punk'd and in 2007, appeared in the ABC reality television series Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race.
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In 2007, Serena Williams appeared in the music video of "I Want You" by the American rapper Common, alongside performers Alicia Keys and Kanye West.
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In late 2009, Serena Williams became the first active female professional athlete to appear in a feminine hygiene product advertising campaign.
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Serena Williams is known to be close to Beyonce and made a cameo appearance dancing in Beyonce's music video for the song Sorry in the hit album Lemonade.
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In 2021, Serena Williams signed a first-look deal with Amazon Studios.
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Serena Williams makes a cameo appearance as herself in the 2022 Netflix film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
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The Serena Williams Foundation provides university scholarships for underprivileged students in the United States.
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In 2016, the Serena Williams Fund partnered with Helping Hands Jamaica to build the Salt Marsh Primary School for Jamaican youth in Trelawny Parish.
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Serena Williams received a Celebrity Role Model Award from Avon Foundation in 2003 for work in breast cancer.
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Serena Williams has been involved in a number of clinics at schools and community centers, particularly those which have programs focusing on at-risk youth.
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Serena Williams, along with her sister Venus, is a supporter and contributor of First Serve Miami, a foundation for youth who want to learn tennis but are socially and economically challenged.
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Serena Williams has been an International Goodwill Ambassador with UNICEF since 2011 and has helped launch UNICEF's Schools for Asia campaign.
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Serena Williams was standing when a lot of her contemporaries remain seated, speaking up when others are being quiet.
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In 2017, Serena Williams became Ambassador for the Allstate Foundation's Purple Purse project, an initiative to provide financial empowerment to domestic abuse victims.
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Serena Williams stated that the show would represent subject matter from a mix of popular American television shows such as Desperate Housewives and Family Guy.
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Serena Williams released her first solo autobiography, entitled On the Line, following the 2009 US Open.
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On July 21,2020, Serena Williams was announced as part of a nearly all-women investors' group that was awarded a new franchise in the National Women's Soccer League, the top level of the women's sport in the US The new team began play in 2022 as Angel City FC.
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Note: Serena Williams withdrew from the 2018 French Open before her fourth round match and the 2020 French Open before her second round match, both of which do not officially count as losses.