Serena Bio

Born in Saginaw, Michigan, Serena Williams is currently the top ranked female professional tennis player in the world. Only 27 years old, Williams is also the current US and Australian Open singles champion, the winner of 20 Grand Slam titles in total (10 in singles, 8 women’s doubles and 2 mixed doubles) and is the most recent player to have held all four of the Grand Slam titles at the same time. Serena Williams is universally acknowledged as one of the greatest athletes ever to pick up a racket, being named the 17th best athlete by Tennis magazine in 2005. She still has much of her career ahead of her; and along with her sister Venus, she is one of the most popular players in the world of tennis.

Serena Williams was born in September 26, 1981 in Saginaw, Michigan by parents Richard and Oracene Price Williams. She is the youngest of the five siblings; Lyndrea, Isha, Yetunde and Venus. When the family moved to Los Angeles, Richard has dreamed of making one of his daughters a tennis superstar. Serena, along with her other siblings, was personally coached by parents and began playing tennis at young age and trained at the public courts in Compton, California. She participated in numerous clinics, particularly those that are targeted for at-risk youth. At the age of four and a half, Serena already won her first tournament. By the age of 10, she already participated in 49 tournaments and has won 46 of them.

The Williams children were all homeschooled; their father stopped sending his tennis playing daughters to national junior tournaments, fearing that they would have to deal with racism on the court. Instead, he sent Serena to Rick Macci’s tennis school in Florida, where she trained with Andy Roddick (who Williams actually defeated in a practice match).

All these years of training built Serena into an incredible player. While she is best known as a baseline player, her technique consists of taking control of the rallies and Williams is considered to be one of the more aggressive players in the sport. Her serve, return and ground strokes whether fore or backhand are known for their power. Her serves are known as among the best in tennis, winning admiration from players, sportscasters and fans at every match. She serves at a high speed, regularly meeting and even exceeding 120 mph (she broke a record with her serves of 127 and 129 mph at Charleston in 2008). Her return serve can overpower opponents; and she hits both topspin and flat serves on either corner of the service box.

Other than for her phenomenal playing style, she is also known for her unique fashion sense. The Williams family has even started a line of clothes called Aneres. She has appeared on television shows and in movies and has even posed for a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. She also has many endorsement deals and has produced custom sportswear in association with Nike. She is also active in charity work, having received the Avon Foundation’s Celebrity Role Model Award for her work in breast cancer fundraising. She has also used her earnings to fund a new secondary school in Kenya.