Serena Williams is regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. She has just retired with four Olympic gold medals and 23 Grand Slams, the most by any player in the Open Era. Serena announced her evolution away from professional tennis in August 2022 and played her final match at the US Open on September 2, 2022 in the New York City.
The Williams sister, Serena and Venus are the only tennis players in history to win four Olympic golds. They also became first to win Olympic golds in the same event on three occasions and only Open Era women tennis players to win Olympic golds in both the singles and doubles as well.
Serena is the only player, male or female, to accomplish a Career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles. Serena was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) for 319 weeks, including a joint-record 186 consecutive weeks. She is the only tennis player, male or female, to win three of the four Grand Slams at least six times. She is also a five-time winner of the WTA Tour Championships in the singles.
Serena won the Wimbledon Singles in 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016. Serena has won a record 13 Grand Slam singles on hard court.
From the 2002 French Open to the 2003 Australian Open, she was dominant in singles, winning all four major singles titles to achieve a “Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam” and the “Career Grand Slam.”
She holds the Open Era record for most women’s singles at the Australian Open (7), shares the record at the US Open (6) and won French Open thrice. She also holds the records for the most women’s singles won at majors (367) and most singles majors won since turning 30 years (10).
Serena boasts a Career Grand Slam in women’s doubles too, having won the Australian Open four times, the French Open twice, the Wimbledon six times and the US Open twice. Serena holds the most combined major titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles among recent players, with 39: 23 in singles, 14 in women’s doubles, and two in mixed doubles.
She is the most recent woman to simultaneously hold all four major singles titles and to win the “Surface Slam” (major titles on hard, clay and grass courts in the same year). She is also, with Venus, the most recent player to have simultaneously held all four major women’s doubles titles.
Serena also won 14 major women’s doubles titles, all with her sister Venus. This includes a “Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam” between the 2009 Wimbledon and the 2010 French Open, which granted the sisters the doubles world No. 1 ranking.
Serena was declared winner of the WTA Player of the Year” (7 times), ITF World Champion” (6 times), Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press (4 times), the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year (4 times in 2003, 2010, 2016, 2018), and the Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine in 2015. Serena received two prizes at the 2013 ESPY Awards – the Best Female Athlete and Best Female Tennis Player.
Family, early career and marriage
Serena Jameka 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: half-sisters Yetunde, Lyndrea, and Isha Price, and full older sister Venus. When the children were young, the family moved to Compton, California, where she started playing tennis at age four. Her father home-schooled her and her sister, Venus and both the parents were their coaches.
When Serena was nine, the family moved to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida so she could attend the tennis academy of Rick Macci, who provided her with additional coaching. Richard stopped sending his daughters to national junior tournaments when Serena was 10, as he wanted them to “go slowly” and focus on schoolwork.
Serena announced her engagement on December 30, 2016, and married Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian on November 16, 2017, in New Orleans. They first met at the Cavalieri hotel in Rome on May 12, 2015, when Serena was participating at the Italian Open whilst Ohanian was to speak at a conference. They were blessed with a daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., in West Palm Beach, Florida on September 1, 2017. She is commonly called “Olympia.”
Early professional career
1999: Serena won her first professional singles at the Open Gaz de France in Paris. At the Miami Masters, Serena and her sister Venus played in the first all-sister singles final in WTA history. At the US Open, she won singles and with sister Venus won the doubles.
2000: Serena and Venus won the doubles at Wimbledon and Sydney 2000 Olympics.
2001: Serena and Venus completed in the doubles a “Career Grand Slam.”
2002: Serena won the Miami Masters, Italian Open and French Open. She also won her first Wimbledon, defeating Venus and earned world No. 1 ranking for the first time. At the US Open, Serena defeated her sister. Serena won the “Surface Slam,” after Sampras (1984) and Graf (1993, 1995, 1996)
2003: At the Australian Open, Serena beat Venus and became the sixth woman to complete a Career Grand Slam, alongside Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and Steffi Graf. Serena won Wimbledon, defeating Venus.
2004: Serena made a triumphant return after the surgery at the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami.
2005: Serena won the Australian Open.
2007: Serena won the Australian Open and dedicated the title to her deceased half-sister Yetunde.
2008: Serena and Venus won doubles at Wimbledon and Beijing 2008 Olympics. At the US Open, Serena defeated Venus.
2009: She won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and at the WTA Tour, finishing the year ranked No. 1. She also broke the record previously set by Justine Henin for the most prize money earned by a female tennis player in a year, with $6,545,586.
2010: At the French Open, Serena and Venus won the doubles and at Wimbledon, Serena emerged the winner.
2012: Serena won singles at Wimbledon, US Open and London 2012 Olympics. Serena and Venus claimed their Wimbledon doubles and defended their Olympic doubles. The Golden Slam is one of the rarest achievements in tennis. It means winning all four Grand Slams and a singles gold medal at the Olympics. This heroic act in the Open Era has been achieved by Steffi Graf (1988), Andre Agassi (1996), Rafael Nadal (2010) before Serena Williams (2012).
2013: Serena became the oldest woman in the Open Era to hold the No. 1 ranking. In the Miami final, Williams recorded her 70th come-from-behind win. The win made Williams only the fourth woman in the Open Era to have won a tournament at least six times. Williams won her fiftieth career singles title in Madrid.
Serena became the oldest US Open champion and the oldest to win the WTA Championships. Williams became the first woman to win more than $10 million in a season. Serena finished the year at No. 1, becoming the oldest No. 1 player in WTA history.
Winner of All Grand Slams
2014: Serena won her sixth overall US Open, joining Chris Evert for most singles titles. Serena also tied Evert and Navratilova’s 18 Grand Slam singles won in the Open Era. By virtue of having won both the US Open and the US Open Series, Serena collected $4,000,000 – the biggest payday in tennis history. She held the No. 1 ranking for the entire calendar year, a feat not accomplished since Steffi Graf in 1996.
2015: Serena won the Australian Open and became the only player in history to win all four Grand Slams at least once after having turned 30. Serena competed at the Indian Wells Masters ending her 14-year boycott of the event and upon her return she received a standing ovation and won her first match. At the Miami Open, Serena recorded 700 match wins. This also made her one of only three active players to have won 700 or more matches in singles, others being Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
At the French Open, Serena became the first woman in the Open Era to win 50 matches at all four of the Grand Slams. Williams then reached her 40th Grand Slam singles quarterfinal and won her third French Open and 20th Grand Slam. The win made her only the third person in history to win each Grand Slam at least three times, joining Margaret Court and Steffi Graf. She also became the first player to win the Australian-French Open double since Jennifer Capriati in 2001.
Serena completed her second career “Serena Slam” by winning her 6th Wimbledon and 21st Grand Slam. The victory made Serena the oldest woman in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam single. It also was her eighth consecutive victory in Grand Slam singles, breaking Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of seven from 1995 through 1999 and, on the men’s side, tying Pete Sampras’s Open Era record of eight from 1995 through 2000.
The week of July 13 marked the first time in WTA history that the No. 1 player had more than twice as many points as No. 2. On October 5, Serena surpassed Chris Evert for third-most weeks ranked world No. 1. She held the No. 1 ranking the entire season for the second consecutive year.
Open Era Grand Slam record
2016: The week of February 15 marked Serena’s 157th consecutive week ranked No. 1, passing Navratilova’s mark of 156. At the Indian Wells she won her 70th career WTA title. Serena and Venus won their sixth Wimbledon doubles and 14th doubles Grand Slam overall. The week of September 5 marked Serena’s 186th consecutive week ranked No. 1, equalling Steffi Graf’s record for longest run in WTA history.
2017: She won the Australian Open for a record seventh time, defeating her sister, Venus. It was her 23rd Grand Slam singles title, surpassing Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of 22. It was the first time in the Open Era that two players aged 35 or older competed in the final of a Grand Slam. The win ensured her return to the No. 1 ranking. On April 19, Serena revealed that she was 20 weeks pregnant and led to the conclusion that she would have been roughly eight to nine weeks pregnant when she won the Australian Open. On December 30, Williams played her first match since giving birth at the World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi.
2018: She was runner up in both the Wimbledon and the US Open, after her return from pregnancy.
2019: Serena won the third crown of the Indian Wells Masters.
2020: Serena won her first singles as a mother at the 2020 ASB Classic. She became the first woman with at least one title in four decades - 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. She also became the first player in history to reach the semi-finals of Grand Slam and US Open in four decades - 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s.
2021: In May, at the Italian Open, Serena played her 1000th match.
Legacy
Serena was an aggressive baseliner, whose game was centred around her powerful serve and forceful ground strokes. Serena’s greatest asset was her serve and same was considered the greatest in the history of women’s tennis. She possessed an accurate and consistent ball toss, which allowed her to serve to any position on the court with minimal differences in the position of the ball in the air.
Serena also possessed effective and accurate kick and slice serves, which she deployed as second serves, minimising double faults, and preventing opponents from scoring free points. Serena was also known for her forceful ground strokes, which were considered two of the most powerful shots in the history of women’s tennis. She hits both her forehand and her backhand in an open stance, allowing her to generate consistently powerful, heavy, and dominating ground strokes.
She was also known for her forehand, which had been described as “devastating”. Her forehand was hit with heavy topspin; this allowed her to dominate rallies, and she could hit her forehand both crosscourt and down the line to produce winners. Her two-handed backhand was equally dominant and had been described as one of the greatest backhands of all time. She was an exceptional athlete, known for her movement, speed, court coverage, agility, flexibility, balance, and footwork.
She had been praised for her mental strength and competitive spirit, with her described as one of the toughest opponents to beat on the court. Martina Navratilova declared her mental strength “unbelievable.” She had been noted for her ability to produce extraordinary comebacks, particularly on the Grand Slam level, winning three Slams after saving match points, a feat achieved more often than by any other player in tennis history.
Her ability to come back from set and break deficits in Grand Slam matches was described by John McEnroe as “a gift,” and McEnroe declared that she was “the greatest” competitor in the history of women’s tennis. She had been described as one of the most complete players on tour, and one of the greatest players of all time, irrespective of gender. Williams has stated that her favourite surface was clay, although she also excelled on faster hard and grass courts.
She used various iterations of the Wilson Blade racquet since 2008. Her racquet was typically oversized, with a head size of 104 square inches. Since 2017, Wilson had manufactured a signature racquet, the Wilson Blade SW104, which was designed to Serena’s specifications. Since 2020, Serena had used a smaller variant of this racquet, the Wilson Blade SW102 Autograph.
The Williams sisters, with author Hilary Beard, wrote a book titled, Venus & Serena: Serving From The Hip: 10 Rules For Living, Loving and Winning, which was published in 2005. Serena released her first solo autobiography, entitled On the Line, following the 2009 US Open. In 2017, BBC Sport users picked Williams as the “Greatest Female Tennis Player of the Open Era.”
Her numerous victories on court have largely been a positive influence on young girls and boys who see Serena as a role model and an ambassador of tennis. In 2018, Roger Federer said the player who probably had best case for tennis “Greatest of All Time,” man or woman, was Serena Williams.
In December 2019, The Associated Press named Serena, Female Athlete of the Decade for the 2010s. In May 2020, the Tennis Channel ranked Williams as the “Greatest Women Tennis Player of All Time.” In September 2022, Twitter said that Serena Williams was the most tweeted about female athlete ever.
(The author is an Associate Professor, International Scholar, winner of Presidential Awards and multiple National Accolades for Academic pursuits. He possesses a PhD, MPhil, and double MSc. His email is [email protected])