Serena Williams

Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. Williams won 73 WTA Tour–level singles titles, including 23 major women's singles titles—the most in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time. She is the only player to accomplish a Career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles, and the only player to have simultaneously held Olympic gold and all four major titles in both singles and doubles.

Along with her elder sister Venus, Serena Williams was coached by her parents Oracene Price and Richard Williams. Turning professional in 1995, she won her first major singles title at the 1999 US Open. From the 2002 French Open to the 2003 Australian Open she was dominant, winning all four major singles titles consecutively (each time over Venus in the final) to achieve a non-calendar year Grand Slam (nicknamed the "Serena Slam"). The next few years saw Williams capture two more major singles titles, but suffer from injury and decline in form. Starting in 2007, however, she gradually returned to form despite continued injuries, reclaiming the world No. 1 singles ranking. Beginning with the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, Williams returned to dominance, claiming Olympic gold (completing the career Golden Slam in singles) and winning eight out of thirteen singles majors, including all four in a row in 2014–2015 to achieve a second "Serena Slam". At the 2017 Australian Open, she won her 23rd major singles title, surpassing Steffi Graf's Open Era record. After becoming pregnant, Williams took a break from professional tennis, but reached four major finals upon returning to play. In August 2022, Williams announced her impending "evolution" away from professional tennis, and played her final match at the 2022 US Open. She has made a return to competition in 2026.

Williams also won 23 WTA Tour-level doubles titles, including 14 major women's doubles championships, all with her sister Venus. The pair was undefeated in major doubles finals, earning the best unbeaten record in major finals in any discipline of the sport. The sisters achieved a non-calendar year Grand Slam between the 2009 Wimbledon Championships and the 2010 French Open, which granted them the doubles world No. 1 ranking. Williams won four Olympic gold medals, three in women's doubles—an all-time joint record in tennis, shared with her sister. The duo are the only women in the Open Era to win Olympic gold in both singles and doubles. Williams also won two mixed doubles majors, both in 1998. She is the only player, male or female, to complete three career Golden Slams—one in women's singles and two in women's doubles. Serena is the most recent woman to simultaneously hold all four major singles titles (2002–2003 and 2014–2015), and to win the Surface Slam (major titles on hard, clay and grass courts in the same calendar year), which she accomplished in 2015. She is also, with Venus, the most recent player to have simultaneously held all four major women's doubles titles (2009–2010).

Williams was the world's highest paid woman athlete in 2016, earning almost $29 million. She repeated this feat in 2017 when she was the only woman on Forbess list of the 100 highest-paid athletes, with $27million in prize money and endorsements. She is the highest-earning woman athlete of all time.

Williams won the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year a record four times (2003, 2010, 2016, 2018), Comeback of the Year once (2007), In 2020, the Tennis Channel ranked Williams as the greatest women's tennis player of all time. She received the Princess of Asturias Award for Sport in 2025.

Early life 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, after half-sisters Yetunde, Lyndrea, and Isha Price, and full sister Venus. When Serena and Venus were young, Richard moved the family to Compton, California, over the objections of his wife. Richard had studied sports success stories, and believed that the rough environment of Compton would toughen up Serena and Venus in preparation for their future tennis careers. Richard home-schooled Serena and Venus, and Serena started playing tennis at the age of four. While Serena's parents have been her 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.

When Williams was nine, the family moved from Compton to West Palm Beach, Florida, By 1991, Williams had a 46–3 record on the United States Tennis Association junior tour and was ranked No. 1 among under-10 players in Florida. When Williams was 10, Richard stopped sending his daughters to national junior tennis tournaments, as he wanted them to "go slowly" and focus on school, and because he wanted to ensure they would not burn out before turning professional.

In 1995, when Williams was in the ninth grade, her father pulled his daughters out of Macci's academy and took over all coaching at their home.

Professional career 1995–1998: Professional debut

Williams's parents initially 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 due to age-eligibility restrictions. She subsequently filed an antitrust lawsuit against the WTA, but withdrew it at her parents' request. where she used a wild-card entry to circumvent age-eligibility rules.

After not playing in 1996, Williams won her first main-draw match at the Ameritech Cup Chicago in November 1997. Ranked No.304, she upset No.7 Mary Pierce and No.4 Monica Seles, recording her first career wins against top10 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. Her run in Chicago propelled Williams into the Top 100 for the first time in her career, and she finished 1997 ranked No.99 in the world.

At the 1998 Sydney International, Williams defeated No.3 Davenport in the quarterfinals, before losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals. Williams's first main draw of a Grand Slam tournament was at the Australian Open, where she defeated sixth-seeded Irina Spîrlea in the first round, before losing to Venus in the second round in the sisters' first professional face-off. Williams reached six other quarterfinals during the year, but lost all of them, including her first match against No.1-ranked Martina Hingis. She lost in the fourth round of the French Open to Vicario, and in the third round of the US Open to Spîrlea. She withdrew from Wimbledon two games into a match after straining a calf muscle. After losing the French Open mixed doubles final to Venus and Justin Gimelstob, Williams won the mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon and the US Open with Max Mirnyi. Williams won her first professional title in non-mixed doubles at the U.S. National Indoor Championships in Oklahoma City with Venus, which made them the third pair of sisters to win a WTA title. Williams finished the year ranked No.20 in singles, the fastest achievement of that milestone in women's history.

1999: First major and becoming a top-5 player

In February 1999, Williams won her first professional singles title when she defeated Amélie Mauresmo in the final of the Open Gaz de France in Paris. In March, Williams won her first WTA 1000 event at the Evert Cup in California, defeating Steffi Graf in the final.

She and Venus Williams have been widely credited with increasing diversity within tennis.

For their first match in March 2019, the members of the United States women's national soccer team each wore a jersey with the name of a woman who inspired them on the back. Crystal Dunn chose Serena Williams. Also in 2019, Time created 89 new covers to celebrate women of the year starting from 1920; it chose Williams for 2003.

In September 2022, Twitter said that Williams was the most tweeted-about female athlete of all time.

Player profile Playing style Williams was an aggressive baseliner whose game was centered around her powerful serve and forceful groundstrokes. Owing to her high-risk playing style, she typically hit a large number of winners and a large number of unforced errors. Williams's serve—which is considered the greatest in the history of women's tennis —is known for its speed and accurate placement, which allowed her to deliver numerous aces. Williams possessed 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 made 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. Williams also possessed effective and accurate kick and slice serves. She deployed these as second serves, minimizing double faults and preventing opponents from scoring free points.

Williams's forehand and backhand are considered two of the most powerful shots in the history of women's tennis. She hit both her forehand and her backhand in an open stance, allowing her to generate consistently powerful, heavy, and dominating groundstrokes. She was able to generate sharp, acute angles, which allowed her to hit winners from any position on the court. Her forehand—which has been described as "devastating"—was hit with heavy topspin, which allowed her to dominate rallies. She was capable of hitting her forehand both crosscourt and down the line to produce winners. Her two-handed backhand was equally dominant, and has been described as one of the greatest backhands of all time. Williams tended to hit her backhand flatter than her forehand, which allowed her to hit with speed, power, and depth both crosscourt and down the line. Despite playing primarily from the baseline, Williams was an adept net player thanks to her extensive doubles experience. She frequently chose to finish points at the net, either with deft touch, aggressive drive volleys, or a solid, powerful, and reliable overhead smash. She possessed an aggressive return of serve; she neutralized powerful first serves, and attacked weak second serves. She is widely considered one of the greatest returners of all time. American tennis player Christina McHale praised her composure in high-pressure moments, while Martina Navratilova called her mental strength "unbelievable". Williams has been noted for her ability to produce extraordinary comebacks, particularly at the Grand Slam level. She won three Slams after saving match points, more than any other player in history. 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 McEnroe as "a gift", and he called her "the greatest" competitor in the history of women's tennis. She has also been praised for her ability to serve aces at critical moments. As noted by retired player Li Na in 2016, "break point down, [there is an] 80% chance [she] serves an ace".

Coaches Williams had five coaches during her career: Richard Williams (1994–2022), Oracene Price (1994–2003), Patrick Mouratoglou (2012–2022), Eric Hechtman (2022) and Rennae Stubbs (2022).

Endorsements Williams graduated from Driftwood Academy in 1999, and soon after signed a $12 million endorsement deal with Puma. During Williams's tennis career, Nike designed custom clothing and footwear for her. 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 long partnership with Nike. According to John Hoke, Nike's Chief Design Officer, Williams assisted with the design of the building.

In 2015, Williams became the Chief Sporting Officer for British luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin, and in 2018 she joined the board of directors of SurveyMonkey. During her career, Williams had endorsement deals with AbbVie, Anheuser-Busch InBev, AT&T, Audemars Piguet, Beats by Dre, Berlei Bras, Block Inc, Bumble, Chase Bank, Delta Air Lines, DirecTV, DoorDash, Ford Motor, Gatorade, Gucci, Hanes, IBM, Intel, Mission Athletecare, OnePiece, OPI Products, Pepsi, Subway, Tempur, Tonal and the Walt Disney Company.

Rackets Williams used the Wilson Hammer Stretch range of rackets when she won her first Grand Slam title in 1999, before switching to the Hyper Hammer range. She switched to the Wilson nCode briefly in 2005, and has used various iterations of the Wilson Blade since 2008. Her racket is typically oversized, with a head size of 104 square inches. Since 2017, Wilson has manufactured a signature racket, the Wilson Blade SW104, which is designed to Williams's specifications. Since 2020, Williams has used a smaller variant of this racket, the Wilson Blade SW102 Autograph.

Career statistics

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline Singles

Current through the 2026 Wimbledon Championships.

Note: 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.

Doubles

Grand Slam tournament finals

Singles: 33 (23–10)

Doubles: 14 (14–0)

Mixed doubles: 4 (2–2)

Records

Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.

Personal life Alexis Ohanian in 2018Williams is married to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. He proposed to her on December 10, 2016, and they married on November 16, 2017, in New Orleans. Later that evening, her spokesperson confirmed the pregnancy. The fact that she was 20 weeks pregnant when announcing her pregnancy meant that she was roughly eight to nine weeks pregnant when she won the Australian Open earlier that year. Williams later said that posting the picture was an accident. On September 1, 2017, Williams gave birth to a daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. The child, who goes by "Olympia", was delivered through emergency caesarean-section after her heart rate dropped during labor. Williams gave Olympia a doll, Qai Qai, that has become famous on social media. By February 2021, Williams had hired a tennis coach for Olympia, then three years old. In August 2023, Williams gave birth to a second daughter, Adira River Ohanian.

Williams was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, but was not baptized until 2023. In 2017, she said she "never really practiced [the faith]". She does not celebrate birthdays, which is a practice of the faith.

Williams made an appearance on stage during Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl LIX halftime show, doing a crip walk amongst other background dancers. Williams is alleged to have been romantically involved with Drake (with whom Lamar is involved in an ongoing feud) in 2011 and 2015.

Other activities Philanthropy Williams runs the Serena Williams Foundation, which has partnered with major organizations to advance community development. The foundation also provides university scholarships for underprivileged students in the United States. In 2016, the Serena Williams Fund partnered with Helping Hands Jamaica to build the Salt Marsh Primary School for Jamaican youth in Trelawny Parish.

Williams received a Celebrity Role Model Award from the Avon Foundation in 2003 for her work fighting breast cancer. The same year, she won the "Young Heroes Award" from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater L.A. and Inland. In 2004, she won the "Family Circle and Prudential Financial Player Who Makes a Difference Award". In 2004 and 2005, Serena and Venus visited hospitals and played several tennis matches in predominantly Black cities to raise funds for the local Ronald McDonald House charities. An ESPN episode was dedicated to the charity tour.

In response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Williams, along with other ATP and WTA stars, decided to forgo their final day of preparation for the Australian Open to assist earthquake victims. Serena and Venus are contributors to First Serve Miami, a foundation for youth who want to learn tennis but face social and economic obstacles. The sisters have collaborated on philanthropic projects through the Williams Sisters Fund, which assists individuals and communities affected by violence, and aims to ensure that youth have access to education. In 2014, Williams began hosting an annual charity run named "The Serena Williams Ultimate Fun Run" to support the Fund. In 2016, in her childhood home of Compton, she and Venus founded the Yetunde Price Resource Center, in honor of their late half-sister Yetunde. Other organizations Williams supports include the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Hearts of Gold, the Common Ground Foundation, the Small Steps Project, the HollyRod Foundation, Beyond the Boroughs National Scholarship Fund, World Education, the Eva Longoria Foundation, the Caliber Foundation and the Cure for MND Foundation.

Business ventures In August 2009, Serena and Venus became minority owners of the Miami Dolphins after purchasing a small stake in the team. According to the Dolphins, they are the first African-American women to hold any amount of ownership in an NFL franchise. In 2014, Williams founded the venture capital firm Serena Ventures, which invests in start-up companies whose "perspectives and innovations level the playing field for women and people of color". As of 2022, Serena Ventures had raised more than $110 million.

In July 2020, it was announced that Williams was part of a nearly all-women investors' group that was awarded a new franchise in the National Women's Soccer League, the highest level of the women's sport in the United States. Williams's husband Alexis Ohanian is classified as the "lead investor", but he holds a minority interest, and is the only man in the ownership group. Other owners in the group include prominent actresses, media figures, businesswomen, former members of the US women's national team, and Williams's eldest daughter. The new team began playing in 2022 as Angel City FC.

Activism Williams became more involved in social change as her career progressed, primarily using social media to express her views. In 2016 she voiced her support for Black Lives Matter on her Facebook page. She expressed concern that her young nephew could be in danger from police due to his skin color. During American tennis player Tennys Sandgren's breakthrough run to the quarterfinals of the 2018 Australian Open, it was revealed that he tweeted insensitive words about the LGBT community, followed members of the alt-right, and referred to an article describing Williams's on-court behavior as "disgusting". Williams responded to him by saying, "I don't need or want [an apology]. But there is an entire group of people that deserves an apology."

Also in 2016, Williams wrote an open letter in Porter Magazine 's feature "Incredible Women of 2016" in support of gender equality and to share her personal struggles as a woman in tennis. She claimed that women's contributions to the sport are not recognized in the same way as men's contributions, and she also commented on the issue of unequal pay. Williams has received several awards for her activism, particularly her endeavors involving Black communities.

Fashion Williams has been noted for her unusual and colorful outfits on court. She arrived at the 2004 US Open in a denim skirt and knee-high leg wraps that looked like boots, which she was not allowed to wear during matches. At the 2018 French Open, she promoted her clothing line Serena by wearing a catsuit, which was subsequently banned by the French Tennis Federation. At the 2018 US Open, Williams wore a black tutu during her first match.

In 2009, she launched a signature collection of handbags and jewelry, Signature Statement, which is sold mainly on the Home Shopping Network. In 2010, she became a certified nail technician in preparation for her upcoming nail collection with HairTech.

In February 2019, Williams was appointed to the board of directors of the online fashion marketplace Poshmark. In the fall of that year, she launched the first collection of her clothing line S by Serena. Inspired by 1990s street wear, the apparel is designed for a range of body types and body sizes.

Media and publishing In 2005, the Williams sisters authored the book Venus & Serena: Serving From The Hip: 10 Rules For Living, Loving and Winning, which was written with Hilary Beard. In 2009, Williams released the autobiography On the Line. The same year, she appeared in online videos and print advertisements for Tampax Pearl tampons, becoming the first active female professional athlete to appear in advertising for a feminine hygiene product. Williams posed for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2003 and 2004. Filmography Williams has appeared in films, television series, and music videos. She and Venus also served as executive producers on the 2021 film King Richard, a biopic about their father.