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Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981)
is a professional women's tennis player, who is a
former World No. 1 of the Women's Tennis
Association (WTA). She is the younger sister of
another female tennis champion, Venus Williams.
She currently resides at Palm Beach Gardens,
Florida, United States.

==Early life==
Serena Williams was born in Saginaw,
Michigan|Saginaw, Michigan. When she and her four
sisters were young, their parents, Richard and
Oracene (also called Brandy), took them to the
poor and sometimes violent Los Angeles,
California|Los Angeles suburb of Compton,
California|Compton. Her father dreamed of making
at least one of his daughters a tennis superstar,
hoping that involvement in sports would give them
a way out of that neighborhood.

When Serena was four and a half, she won her first
tournament, and she entered 49 tournaments before
the age of 10, winning 46 of them. At one point,
she replaced sister Venus as the number one ranked
tennis player aged 12 or under in California.

==1991-1997==
In 1991, Richard Williams, saying that he hoped to
prevent his daughters from facing racism, stopped
sending them to national junior tennis
tournaments, and Serena attended a tennis school
run by professional player Rick Macci instead.
Macci had already helped the careers of Jennifer
Capriati and Mary Pierce, among others. Soon
Richard, who had struck a deal on behalf of his
daughters with a major clothing company, was able
to move the rest of the Williams family to West
Palm Beach, Florida|West Palm Beach, to be near
Serena and Venus.

Serena became a professional in September 1995 at
the age of 14. Because of her age, she had to
participate in non-WTA events at first. Her first
professional event was the Bell Challenge in
Quebec, and she was ousted in less than an hour of
play. 

By 1997, ranked number 304 in the world, she upset
both Monica Seles and Mary Pierce  at the
Ameritech Open in Chicago, Illinois, recording her
first career wins over top 10 players. She
finished 1997 in the top 100 at no. 99.

==1998==

1998 was the first year when she finished in the
WTA top 20. She began the season in Sydney as a
qualifier, ranked no. 96, and she beat world no. 3
Lindsay Davenport in the quarterfinal. Serena,
with her top 20 ranking, was then expected to do
well in her first Grand Slam (Tennis)|Grand Slam
tournament, but she lost in the second round of
the Australian Open to sister Venus.

Serena reached six other quarterfinals during the
season. She won the mixed doubles title at
Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon and US Open
(tennis)|US Open with Max Mirnyi, completing the
Williams family's sweep of the 1998 mixed doubles
Grand Slams. Sister Venus also won the mixed
doubles at the Australian and French Open|Roland
Garros opens with Justin Gimelstob. She won her
first pro title in doubles at Oklahoma City with
sister Venus becoming the third pair of sisters to
win a WTA tour women's doubles title. She earned
2.6 million dollars in the season.

==1999==

In 1999, Serena was ranked number 21, and she and
sister Venus had become celebrities. She defeated
Amélie Mauresmo in a final the same day that
Venus won in Oklahoma City, marking first time in
professional tennis history tht two sisters had
won titles in the same week.

Ranked number 21, she defeated 3 top 10 players:
world no. 2 Lindsay Davenport in the second round,
world no. 8 Mary Pierce in the quarterfinal, and
world no. 7 Steffi Graf in the final at Indian
Wells. 

Serena has been the focus of many ad campaigns,
including one with shoe and clothes maker Puma
AG|Puma, which signed her to a $12 million
agreement. 

On September 11 1999, Serena won her first Grand
Slam tournament when she became U.S. Open
(tennis)|US Open champion, becoming the first
African American woman to win a Grand Slam
tournament since Althea Gibson in 1958. The next
day, she and sister Venus won the doubles
championship at the same tournament. She finished
1999 ranked no. 4 in just her third full season.

==2000-2002==

In 2000, she won the doubles gold medal at the
Olympics with sister Venus. 2001 was the third
consecutive year in which she finished in the top
10 reaching her first Grand Slam singles final in
two years. In 2002, she won the French Open,
Wimbledon championships|Wimbledon, and the US Open
(tennis)|US Open.

==2003==
She won the Australian Open in 2003, her fourth
straight Grand Slam singles title, becoming only
the ninth woman ever to win all four Grand Slam
events.  Her accomplishment was dubbed the Serena
Slam.

For the first time since January 2002, the Grand
Slam final did not read Williams-Williams at the
French Open in June 2003. Venus lost to Vera
Zvonareva in the fourth round of the French Open.
Among boos and catcalls, Serena lost to Justine
Henin-Hardenne of Belgium in a controversial match
marred by cheating on the part of Henin-Hardenne.
Henin-Hardenne backed away from her position, just
as Serena was about to serve at a critical point
in the match. Serena missed the serve. After a
futile exchange with the umpire which turned the
crowd against her, the lost point stayed.
Henin-Hardenne later said she would have told the
umpire the truth about obstructing the serve "if
it was anyone but Serena." Henin-Hardenne's coach,
Carlos Rodriguez publicly voiced the same
sentiment. Henin-Hardenne arrogantly commented:
"Everybody's happy today, but the Williams
sisters." Henin-Hardenne still sports a losing
record against Serena Williams.

At Wimbledon in 2003, Serena Williams became
back-to-back champion, completely crushing an
overwhelmed and inferior Henin-Hardenne in
straight set in the semifinals and her sister
Venus in the finals by a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Serena beat her sister Venus to win the Australian
Open in 2003. This was only the sixth time a woman
has held all four of tennis' major championships
within 12 months. This accomplishment was also
remarkable in that Serena had to beat her sister
each time. The Williams siblings are the first two
women in Grand Slam history to square off in five
consecutive finals. 

Williams' older sister, Yetunde Price, was
murdered on the morning of September 14, 2003, by
gunshots as she passed by in a car driven by a man
in the Compton area.


==2004-2005==
Serena withdrew from Australian Open 2004 to
continue rehabilitating her left knee. She reached
the final of Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon
once again, but lost to the 17-year-old Russian
player Maria Sharapova. On July 30, Serena
withdrew from her quarterfinal match against
Russia's Vera Zvonareva with a left knee injury.
On August 1, she announced her withdrawal from the
Rogers Cup due to the same injury. The injury also
forced her to pull out of the 2004 Summer
Olympics.

Controversy has arisen over Williams's level of
dedication to the sport. Some believe that she is
far too concerned with her fashion and acting
careers and has not focused enough recently on her
tennis. Disappointing performances during 2004
have been cited as proof of this lack of focus.
However, in 2005, she won her seventh Grand Slam
event, winning the Australian Open. She defeated
the three of the tournament's top 4 seeds, #2
Amelie Mauresmo, #4 Maria Sharapova and #1 Lindsay
Davenport, en route to the title.

In April 2005, MTV announced plans to broadcast a
reality show around the lives of Serena and Venus
Williams. Williams was also on Punk'd when she was
trying to save a Punk'd problem kid played by Rob
Pinkston until Ashton Kutcher exposed the set-up.

Her participation in Wimbledon 2005 ended in the
third round when she was beaten by fellow American
Jill Craybas (ranked 85th in the world) 6-3,
7-6(4). Serena broke down in tears in the
subsequent press conference. She had come into the
tournament with an stress fracture in her ankle, a
severe lack of conditioning, and had not played a
competitive match for six weeks, missing the
French Open.

As Serena slumped in the tournament, Venus
progressed, defeating top-seeded Lindsay Davenport
in the 2005 Wimbledon final. Venus admitted later
that she emulated Serena's never-say-die spirit,
and this attitude led her Wimbledon victory.

==Titles (37)==
{| cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="1"
style="border: #cccccc solid 1px; border-collapse:
collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee" 
|Legend (Singles)
|- bgcolor="#e5d1cb" 
| Grand Slam (7)
|- bgcolor="#ffffcc" 
| WTA Championships (1)
|- bgcolor="#dfe2e9"
| Tier I Event (7)
|- bgcolor="#ffffff" 
| WTA Tour (11)
|}

===Singles (26)===
{| bgcolor="#f7f8ff" cellpadding="3"
cellspacing="0" border="1" style="font-size: 95%;
border: gray solid 1px; border-collapse:
collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
|No.
|Date
|Tournament
|Opponent in the final
|Score
|-
| 1.
| Feb 22, 1999
| Paris, France
| Amelie Mauresmo (France)        
| 2-6 6-3 7-6
|-
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|2.
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Mar 1, 1999                   
      
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Indian Wells, USA 
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Steffi Graf (Germany)
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|6-3 3-6 7-5
|-
| 3.
| Aug 9, 1999                            
| Los Angeles, USA
| Julie Halard-Decugis (France)
| 6-1 6-4
|-
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|4.
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Aug 30, 1999                  
             
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|U.S. Open (tennis)|U.S. Open,
New York City|New York, USA
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Martina Hingis (Switzerland)
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|6-3 7-6
|-
| 5.
| Sep 27, 1999
| Grand Slam Cup, Munich, Germany
| Venus Williams (USA)
| 6-1 3-6 6-3
|-
| 6.
| Feb 14, 2000                             
| Hanover, Germany
| Denisa Chladkova (Czech Republic)
| 6-1 6-1
|-
| 7.
| Aug 7, 2000
| Los Angeles, USA
| Lindsay Davenport (USA)
| 4-6 6-4 7-6
|-
| 8.
| Oct 2, 2000                           
| Tokyo, Japan
| Julie Halard-Decugis (France)
| 7-5 6-1
|-
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|9.
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Mar 1, 2001                   
    
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Indian Wells, USA
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Kim Clijsters (Belgium)
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|4-6 6-4 6-2
|-
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|10.
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Aug 13, 2001                  
        
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Toronto, Canada
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Jennifer Capriati (USA)
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|6-1 6-7 6-3
|-
| bgcolor="#ffffcc"|11.
| bgcolor="#ffffcc"|Oct 29, 2001
| bgcolor="#ffffcc"|WTA Tour Championships|Sanex
Championships, Munich, Germany  
| bgcolor="#ffffcc"|Lindsay Davenport (USA)
| bgcolor="#ffffcc"|W/O
|-
| 12.
| Feb 25, 2002
| Scottsdale, USA 
| Jennifer Capriati (USA)
| 6-2 4-6 6-4
|-
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|13.
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Mar 18, 2002
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Miami, USA
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Jennifer Capriati (USA)
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|7-5 7-6
|-
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|14.
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|May 13, 2002
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Rome
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Justine Henin-Hardenne
(Belgium)
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|7-6 6-4
|-
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|15.
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|May 27, 2002
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|French Open, Paris, France
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Venus Williams (USA)
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|7-5 6-3
|-
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|16.
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Jun 24, 2002
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Wimbledon
Championships|Wimbledon, London, Britain 
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Venus Williams (USA)
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|7-6 6-3
|-
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|17.
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Aug 26, 2002
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|U.S. Open (tennis)|U.S. Open,
New York, USA 
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Venus Williams (United States)
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|6-4 6-3
|-
| 18.
| Sep 16, 2002                                    

| Tokyo, Japan
| Kim Clijsters (Belgium)
| 2-6 6-3 6-3
|-
| 19.
| Sep 9, 2002
| Leipzig, Germany
| Anastasia Myskina (Russia)
| 6-3 6-2
|-
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|20.
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Jan 13, 2003
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Australian Open, Melbourne,
Australia
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Venus Williams (USA)
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|7-6 3-6 6-4
|-
| 21.
| Feb 3, 2003
| Paris, France
| Amélie Mauresmo (France)
| 6-3 6-2
|-
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|22.
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Mar 17, 2003             
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Miami, USA
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Jennifer Capriati (USA)
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|4-6 6-4 6-1
|-
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|23.
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Jun 23, 2003         
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Wimbledon
Championships|Wimbledon
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Venus Williams (United States)
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|4-6 6-4 6-2
|-
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|24.
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Mar 22, 2004          
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Miami, USA
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Elena Dementieva (Russia)
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|6-1 6-1
|-
| 25.
| Sep 20, 2004         
| Beijing, China
| Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia)
| 4-6 7-5 6-4
|-
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|26.
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Jan 17, 2005
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Australian Open, Melbourne,
Australia
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Lindsay Davenport (USA)
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|2-6 6-3 6-0
|}

===Performance timeline===
{| bgcolor="#f7f8ff" cellpadding="3"
cellspacing="0" border="1" style="font-size: 95%;
border: gray solid 1px; border-collapse:
collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! Tournament !! 2005 !! 2004 !! 2003 !! 2002 !!
2001 !! 2000 !! 1999 !! 1998 !! Career
|-
|Australian Open
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|SF
|align="center"|4r
|align="center"|3r
|align="center"|2r
|align="center"|2
|-
|French Open
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|QF
|align="center"|SF
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|QF
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|3r
|align="center"|4r
|align="center"|1
|-
|Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon
|align="center"|3r
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|QF
|align="center"|SF
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|3r
|align="center"|2
|-
|U.S. Open (tennis)|US Open
|align="center"|.
|align="center"|QF
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|QF
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|3r
|align="center"|2
|-
|WTA Tour Championships
|align="center"|.
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|1
|}

===Doubles (11)===
*1998: Oklahoma City
*1998: Zurich
*1999: Hannover 
*1999: French Open
*1999: U.S. Open
*2000: Wimbledon
*2000: Summer Olympics-Sydney 
*2001: Australian Open 
*2002: Wimbledon
*2002: Leipzig (with Alexandra Stevenson)
*2003: Australian Open 

All titles except 2002 Leipzig won with Venus
Williams as partner.

==External links==
* http://www.serenawilliams.com/ Official web site
of Serena Williams
*wta|id=230234|name=Serena Williams

Tennis World Number Ones (women)