Serena Williams: Women’s Tennis Legend

Serena Williams is an American tennis player who has collected an incredible twenty-three Grand Slam titles on the WTA circuit. She rightly ranks among the greatest tennis players of all time.

Her youth under the tutelage of her father

Serena Jameka Williams was born in Saginaw into a family of African-American descent. She has a total of five siblings on her mother’s side, including another famous tennis player Venus Williams, and seven more on her father’s side.

The young Williams has always had support from her family in tennis. She started playing her favourite sport at the age of four, with her parents coaching her and her sister Venus in the early days.

Serena Williams was exceptionally talented from a young age. In the junior categories, she set a record for the ratio of duels won, winning 46 duels and losing only three times in the American Tennis Association.

Beginning in professional tennis

Williams entered her first professional tournament in September 1995, when she smoothly lost to Miller at that time.

She had to wait two years until the Chicago tournament for her first win. Here she had a great success, as the 304th player in the world, she managed to beat the world number seven Pierce and the number four Selesova. This success also helped her to 99th place in the rankings at the end of the season.

Williams continued to put in steady performances and climbed up the rankings quite quickly for her age. She finished 1998 as a 17-year-old player at No. 20 and showed that she was definitely a force to be reckoned with in the years to come.

Breaking into the top ten in the rankings

The year 1999 started with a great success for Williams as she enjoyed the joy of winning her maiden title on the WTA circuit in Paris. She carried her form into the following weeks, defeating Steffi Graf in the Indian Wells final and then beating then world number one Martina Hingis. In April, Williams was ranked 9th in the WTA rankings.

The following months were not so lucky for Williams as she laboured with several injuries. She got back to form in 2000 when she shone by participating in the semifinals of Wimbledon. She and her sister then even enjoyed a doubles title.

She and Venus then dominated the doubles tournament at the Sydney Olympics in the same year. During the year 2000, Serena Williams moved up to 6th place.

The beginning of dominance and a protracted injury

The years 2002 and 2003 were turning points for Williams as they earned her the position of world number one. The American tennis player was mainly responsible for this by winning an impressive four Grand Slam titles in a row.

Williams was subsequently slowed down by a knee injury, which she had been nursing for eight long months. Upon her return, though she immediately dominated the tournament in Florida, to her misfortune the injury recurred.

After an enforced month-long break, Williams put in an erratic performance. In addition, she did not participate in as many tournaments as in previous years, so she lost quite a few points. Still, she finished 2004 in a respectable 7th place. Unfortunately, the knee problems kept reverberating, so Williams didn’t play much in the following years.

Coming back from injury

Her comeback finally came in 2007, with many tennis fans writing her off beforehand. But Williams blew away all the critics right away at the Australian Open, which she sensationally dominated as an unseeded player.

In the following weeks, Williams had a looser schedule so as not to put too much strain on her knee. The American tennis player was not so successful at the next Grand Slams, but she still brought herself the 7th place in the WTA rankings with her great performance.

Williams returned to the world throne after winning the US Open in 2008, overall it was her ninth Grand Slam title.

Since then, Serena Williams has literally dominated the WTA circuit. She has suffered a few minor injuries, but she has always managed to come back in great form and immediately started winning.

The birth of her daughter

For Serena Williams, 2017 was a joyful year in which her daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian was born. Williams didn’t get much rest from tennis, as she already joined an exhibition duel in December and returned to the courts the next season.

In 2018, Williams even reached the Wimbledon final, but it wasn’t until 2020 that she won her first title as a mother, at a tournament in New Zealand.

The birth of her daughter and the making of the biopic King Richard:: Birth of a Champion seems to have hastened the end of Williams. She didn’t play as much in tournaments, then confirmed all the speculation after the Toronto event, where she announced the end of her career. The last tournament for Serena Williams will be her home US Open in 2022.

Sources: WTA, Serena Williams, Tennisportal