Serena Williams Biography

Serena Williams dominated women’s professional tennis for two decades after she and her sister Venus became stars of the sport in the late 1990s. She has won 23 major singles titles, the most in the modern era and just one behind Margaret Court‘s all-time record of 24 majors.

Serena Williams was a child prodigy who began playing tennis before she reached kindergarten. She is Black, which was a rarity in pro tennis when Serena and Venus reached the pros in the 1990s. Serena quickly became known for her determination, powerful game and flashy fashion sense. She was a year younger than Venus and (at 5’10”) about three inches shorter, but became the first sister to win a major tournament by claiming the singles title at the 1999 U.S. Open.

Serena Williams went on to eclipse Venus as the leading women’s tennis player of the early 2000s; in 2002-03 she won the “Serena Slam” by holding all four grand slam titles at once: the 2002 French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles, and the 2003 Australian Open. Her full list of major singles titles: Wimbledon in 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016; the French Open in 2002, 2013 and 2015 (with a full 11 years between the first two wins); the Australian Open in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2017; and the U.S. Open in 1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Serena Williams won a gold medal in women’s singles at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, matching the gold won by her sister Venus at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.