Serena Williams
Encyclopedia
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association
has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on November 2, 2009. She is considered to be one of the greatest women's tennis players of all time.
Her 27 Grand Slam
titles places her ninth on the all-time list: 13 in singles, 12 in women's doubles, and 2 in mixed doubles. She is the most recent player, male or female, to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously and only the fifth woman in history to do so. She was also the first woman, along with sister Venus Williams
, to hold all four Grand Slam doubles titles simultaneously since Martina Hingis
did so in 1998. Her 13 Grand Slam singles titles is sixth on the all-time list. Williams ranks fourth in Grand Slam women's singles titles won during the open era
, behind Steffi Graf
(22 titles) and Chris Evert
and Martina Navratilova (18 titles each). She has won more Major titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles than any other active player, male or female.
Williams has won two Olympic gold medals in women's doubles. She has won more career prize money than any other female athlete in history. Serena has played older sister Venus in 23 professional matches since 1998, with Serena winning 13 of these matches. They have met in eight Grand Slam finals, with Serena winning six times. Beginning with the 2002 French Open
, they played each other in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, which was the first time in the open era that the same two players had contested four consecutive Grand Slam finals. The pair have won 12 Grand Slam doubles titles together.
, to Richard Williams
and Oracene Price
. She is of African American heritage and is the youngest of Price's five daughters: half-sisters Yetunde
(1972–2003), Lyndrea and Isha Price, and full sister Venus
. When the children were young, the family moved to the city of Compton
in Los Angeles county, where Serena started playing tennis at the age of five. Her father home-schooled Serena and her sister Venus and to this day, Serena Williams was and remains coached by both her parents.
Williams' family moved from Compton to Haines City
when she was nine so that she could attend the tennis academy of Rick Macci, who would provide additional coaching. Macci spotted the exceptional talents of the sisters. He did not always agree with Williams' father but respected that "he treated his daughters like kids, allowed them to be little girls". Richard stopped sending his daughters to national junior tennis tournaments when Williams was 10, since he wanted them to take it slow and focus on school work. Another motivation was racial, as he had allegedly heard parents of white players talk about the Williams sisters in a derogatory manner during tournaments. At that time, 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. In 1995, when Serena was in the ninth grade, Richard pulled his daughters out of Macci's academy, and from then on took over all coaching at their home. When asked in 2000 whether having followed the normal path of playing regularly on the junior circuit would have been beneficial, Williams responded: "Everyone does different things. I think for Venus and I, we just tried a different road, and it worked for us."
s from both her forehand
and backhand
swings. Williams' forehand is considered to be among the most powerful shots in the women's game as is her double-handed backhand. Williams strikes her backhand groundstroke using an open stance, and uses the same open stance for her forehand. Williams's aggressive play, a "high risk" style, is balanced in part by her serve, which combines great power and placement with very high consistency. Her serve has been hit as hard as 129 mph (206.5 km/h), the second-fastest all-time among female players. Serena also possesses a very solid volley
and powerful overhead which is very useful for her net game. Although many think of Williams as only an offensive player, she also plays a strong defensive game.
in Quebec City
. She lost in the first round of qualifying to world no. 149 Annie Miller
in less than an hour of play and earned US$240 in prize money.
Williams did not play a tournament in 1996. The following year, she lost in the qualifying rounds of three tournaments, before winning her first main-draw match in November at the Ameritech Cup Chicago
. Ranked world no. 304, she upset world no. 7 Mary Pierce
and world no. 4 Monica Seles
, recording her first career wins over top 10 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 world no. 5 Lindsay Davenport
. She finished 1997 ranked world no. 99.
Williams began 1998 at the Medibank International Sydney. As a qualifier ranked world no. 96, she defeated world no. 3 Davenport in the quarterfinals, before losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
in the semifinals. Williams made her debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open
, where she defeated sixth-seeded Irina Spîrlea
in the first round, before losing to sister Venus
in the second round in the sisters' first professional match. Williams reached six other quarterfinals during the year, but lost all of them, including her first match against world no. 1 Martina Hingis
at the Lipton International Players Championships in Key Biscayne, and her second match against Venus at the Italian Open
in Rome. She failed to reach the quarterfinals of any Grand Slam tournament the remainder of the year, losing in the fourth round of the French Open to Sánchez Vicario, and the third round of both Wimbledon and the US Open, to Virginia Ruano Pascual
and Spîrlea, respectively. She did, however, win the mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon
and the US Open with Max Mirnyi
, completing the Williams family's sweep of the 1998 mixed doubles Grand Slam tournaments. Williams won her first professional title in doubles in Oklahoma City with Venus, becoming the third pair of sisters to win a WTA title. The Williams sisters won two more doubles titles together during the year. Serena finished the year ranked world no. 20 in singles.
to Sandrine Testud
. The following month, she won her first professional singles title, when she defeated Australian Open runner-up Amélie Mauresmo
, 6–2, 3–6, 7–6, in the final of the Open Gaz de France
in Paris. With Venus also winning the IGA Superthrift Classic in Oklahoma City
that day, the pair became the first sisters to win professional tournaments in the same week. A month later, Serena won her first Tier I singles title at the Evert Cup in Indian Wells, California
by defeating world no. 7 Steffi Graf
, 6–3, 3–6, 7–5, in the final. At the following tournament, the Tier I Lipton International Players Championships
in Key Biscayne, Williams defeated world no. 1 Martina Hingis
in the semifinals, before Venus ended her 16-match winning streak in the first all-sister singles final in WTA history. On April 5, 1999, Serena made her top-10 debut at world no. 9.
Williams played three tournaments during the 1999 European spring clay court season. She lost in the quarterfinals of the Tier I Italian Open in Rome to World No. 1 Hingis and in the quarterfinals of the Tier I German Open in Berlin to World No. 7 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
. Serena and Venus won the women's doubles title at the French Open
, but Serena was upset by Mary Joe Fernandez
in the third round of the singles competition. She then missed Wimbledon
because of injury.
When she returned to the tour, Williams won a Fed Cup
singles match, before playing two tournaments during the 1999 North American summer hard-court season. She won the JPMorgan Chase Open
in Los Angeles, defeating world no. 1 Hingis in the semifinals and Julie Halard-Decugis
in the final. Williams was seeded seventh at the US Open, where she defeated world no. 4 Monica Seles
, world no. 2 Lindsay Davenport
, and world no. 1 Hingis to become the second African-American woman (after Althea Gibson
in 1958) to win a Grand Slam
singles tournament. The Williams sisters also won the doubles title at this tournament, their second Grand Slam title together.
To complete 1999, Williams won a doubles match in the Fed Cup final against Russia, her third tournament of the year at the Grand Slam Cup
in Munich, and lost in the second round of the tournament in Filderstadt
. Williams ended the year ranked world no. 4 in just her second full year on the main tour.
Williams started 2000 by losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open
to 16th seeded Elena Likhovtseva
. She failed to defend her titles in Paris and Indian Wells, although she did win the Faber Grand Prix
in Hanover
. Williams missed the French Open
because of injury. She returned at Wimbledon
, where she lost to eventual champion Venus in the semifinals after Serena had lost just 13 games in advancing to the second Grand Slam semifinal of her career. The Williams sisters teamed to win the doubles title at the event. Williams successfully defended her title in Los Angeles in August, defeating world no. 1 Hingis in the semifinals and world no. 2 Davenport in the final. She reached the final of the Du Maurier Open in Montreal, Canada
the following week, where an injury forced her to retire from her match with Hingis. Her defense of the US Open title ended when she lost in the quarterfinals to second-seeded Davenport. Williams teamed with Venus to win the gold medal in doubles at the Sydney Olympics in September. She then won her third singles title of the year the following week at the Toyota Princess Cup
in Tokyo. She finished the year ranked world no. 6.
Williams played two tournaments in Australia at the beginning of 2001, losing to world no. 1 Hingis in the quarterfinals of both the tournament in Sydney and the Australian Open. Serena and her sister Venus won the women's doubles title at the latter tournament, becoming only the fifth doubles team in history to win all four Grand Slam women's doubles titles during their career, a "Career Grand Slam".
She did not play again until March, when she defeated Kim Clijsters
in the final of the Tier I Tennis Masters Series in Indian Wells, California. She advanced to the final there when Venus withdrew just before the start of their semifinal match. Venus claimed that an injury prevented her from playing, but the withdrawal
was controversial. Neither Williams sister has entered the tournament since. The following week at the Tier I Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Williams lost to Jennifer Capriati
in the quarterfinals.
Williams did not play a clay-court tournament before the 2001 French Open
, where she lost in the quarterfinals to Capriati, 2-6, 7-5, 2-6. Williams also did not play a grass-court tournament before Wimbledon, where she again lost in the quarterfinals to Capriati, 7-6, 5-7, 3-6, marking the fourth consecutive Grand Slam tournament at which Williams had exited in the quarterfinals.
Williams played three tournaments during the 2001 North American summer hard-court season. After losing in the quarterfinals of the tournament in Los Angeles, Williams captured her second title of the year at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto
, defeating Seles in the semifinals and world no. 3 Capriati in the final. Williams was seeded tenth at the US Open, where she defeated world no. 6 and Wimbledon runner-up Justine Henin in the fourth round, world no. 3 Davenport in the quarterfinals, and world no. 1 Hingis in the semifinals, before losing to sister Venus in the final. That was the first Grand Slam final contested by two sisters during the open era
.
At the 2001-ending Sanex Championships
in Munich, Williams defeated Silvia Farina Elia
, Henin, and Testud en route to the final. She then won the championship by walkover when Davenport withdrew before the start of the final because of a knee injury. Williams finished 2001 at world no. 6 for the second straight year.
. She won her first title of the year at the State Farm Women's Tennis Classic
in Scottsdale, USA
, defeating world no. 2 Jennifer Capriati
in the final. She then won the Tier I Ericsson Open
in Key Biscayne
for the first time, becoming one of three players in the open era
to defeat the world's top 3 at one tournament, after beating world no. 3 Martina Hingis
in the quarterfinals, world no. 2 and sister Venus
in the semifinals, and world no. 1 Capriati in the final. Her 6–2, 6–2 win over Venus was her second career win over her sister.
Williams played three clay court tournaments before the 2002 French Open
. Her first tournament was at Charleston
, where she was the third seed. Serena reached the quarterfinals after wins over Jennifer Hopkins
and Nathalie Dechy
, but eventually lost to world no. 30, Patty Schnyder
, 6–2, 4–6, 5–7. She reached her first clay-court final in May, at the Eurocard German Open in Berlin, losing to Justine Henin in a third set tiebreak. The following week, Williams won her first clay court title at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, defeating Capriati in the semifinals and Henin in the final. This raised her ranking to a new high of world no. 3. Williams, as the third seed at the French Open, made the last eight at the tournament with wins over Martina Sucha
, Dally Randriantefy
, Janette Husárová
, and a three-set win over Vera Zvonareva
. In her quarterfinal match, she defeated '00 champion
, Mary Pierce
, 6–1, 6–1. In the semifinals, she faced defending champion and world no. 1, Jennifer Capriati
. After an outstanding display of tennis, Williams advanced to her first French Open final, 3–6, 7–6, 6–2. In the final, she faced world no. 2 and older sister, Venus
. Serena won in the final, 7–5, 6–3, to claim her second Grand Slam
title, her first in almost two and a half years. Serena rose to a career high of no. 2 after the win, second only to older sister Venus
At the 2002 Wimbledon Championships
, Williams defeated Evie Dominikovic
, Francesca Schiavone
, Els Callens
, and Chanda Rubin
to reach her third Wimbledon
quarterfinal. In her next match, Williams breezed past Daniela Hantuchová
, 6–3, 6–2, and Amélie Mauresmo
, 6–2, 6–1, to reach the final for the first time. There, she again defeated defending champion and no. 1 Venus, 7–6, 6–3, to win a Grand Slam singles title without dropping a set for the first time in her career. This victory earned Williams the world no. 1 ranking, dethroning her sister and becoming only the second African-American woman to hold that ranking. The Williams sisters also won the doubles title at the tournament, the fifth Grand Slam doubles title for the pair.
Williams played just one tournament between Wimbledon and the US Open, losing in the quarterfinals of the JPMorgan Chase Open
in Los Angeles to Chanda Rubin
, ending a 21-match winning streak. As the top-seeded player at the US Open, she defeated Corina Morariu
, future rival Dinara Safina
, Nathalie Dechy
, and Dája Bedáňová
to make her fourth consecutive quarterfinal, where she crushed Daniela Hantuchová
, 6–2, 6–1, to book a place in the semifinals against former champion and no. 1 Lindsay Davenport
. It marked the fourth consecutive time she face Davenport at the US Open. After a tight second set, Serena made her third US Open final in four years, where she faced Venus once more. Serena won the US Open title for the second time with a 6–4, 6–3 win in the final, making it her fourth Grand Slam
singles title to date.
Williams won two consecutive singles titles in the fall, defeating Kim Clijsters
to win the Toyota Princess Cup
in Tokyo, and Anastasia Myskina
to win the Sparkassen Cup in Leipzig, Germany
. She reached the final at the year-end Home Depot Championships
, where she lost to fifth seeded Clijsters in straight sets, ending her 18-match winning streak.
Williams finished 2002 with a 56–5 record, eight singles titles, and the world no. 1 ranking. She was the first African-American (male or female) to end a year with that ranking since Althea Gibson
in 1958. She was the first woman to win three Grand Slam titles in one year since Hingis in 1997.
At the 2003 Australian Open
, Williams went on to reach the semifinals for the first time, where she recovered from 5–2 down in the third set and saved two match points, before defeating Clijsters. She faced her sister Venus for the fourth consecutive Grand Slam final and won, 7–6, 3–6, 6–4, to become the sixth woman in the open era to complete a Career Grand Slam, joining Billie Jean King
, Chris Evert
, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf
, and Margaret Court. She also became the fifth woman to hold all Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously, joining Maureen Connolly Brinker, Court, Graf, and Navratilova. The Williams sisters
won their sixth Grand Slam doubles title together at this event.
Williams then captured singles titles at the Open Gaz de France
in Paris and the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, defeating Clijsters in the semifinals and Capriati in the final. The following week, Williams lost the final at the clay-court Family Circle Cup
in Charleston, USA
to Henin, her first loss of the year after 21 wins. She also lost to Mauresmo in the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. Despite these losses, Williams was the top seed at the French Open, where she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Henin, 2-6, 6-4, 5-7, marking Williams's first loss in a Grand Slam tournament since 2001. The match was controversial, as Williams questioned Henin's sportsmanship, and spectators applauded Williams's errors.
Williams rebounded from the loss at the 2003 Wimbledon Championships
, defeating Henin in the semifinals and Venus in the final, 4–6, 6–4, 6–2. This was Williams' second consecutive Wimbledon title and her sixth Grand Slam singles title overall. This was her last tournament of the year, as knee surgery prevented her from competing in the year's remaining events, including the US Open. As a result, she lost the world no. 1 ranking to Clijsters in August, having held it for 57 consecutive weeks. Williams finished the year ranked world no. 3 and with four titles. On September 14, 2003, while Williams was still recovering from surgery, her sister Yetunde Price
was murdered.
to continue rehabilitating her left knee. She then withdrew from further tournaments, which generated speculation that she was losing interest in the sport. After eight months away from the tour, Williams began her comeback at the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Florida
, where she defeated 16-year-old Russian Maria Sharapova
in the fourth round and world no. 8 Elena Dementieva
in the final. This was the third consecutive year that Williams had won this tournament.
She then played three clay-court tournaments leading up to the French Open
. She lost in the quarterfinals of the Bausch & Lomb Championships
in Amelia Island, Florida, and, the following week at the Tier I Family Circle Cup
in Charleston
, she withdrew before her third-round match because of an injured knee. She was away from the tour for four weeks before playing the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, where she lost to world no. 9 Jennifer Capriati
in the semifinals, 4-6, 4-6. Although ranked world no. 7, she was seeded second at the French Open. She won her first four matches over players ranked outside the top 50, before Capriati beat her in the quarterfinals,3-6, 6-2, 3-6. This was the first time she had lost before the semifinals at a Grand Slam singles tournament since Wimbledon
in 2001.
She was seeded first at Wimbledon
, even though her ranking had dropped to world no. 10. She reached the final, where she was defeated by 13th-seeded Sharapova 1-6, 4-6. This loss caused her ranking to drop out of the top 10 for the first time since early 1999.
Williams reached her third final of the year at the JPMorgan Chase Open
in Los Angeles on hard courts. She lost there to Lindsay Davenport
, 1-6, 3-6, which was her first loss to Davenport since the 2000 US Open. Williams then withdrew before her quarterfinal match at the Acura Classic in San Diego with another left knee injury. This injury caused her to miss both the Tier I Rogers AT&T Cup in Montreal and the Athens Olympics
. She returned for the US Open, where she was seeded third even though she was ranked world no. 11. She lost there in the quarterfinals to world no. 8 Capriati, 6-2, 4-6, 4-6. This match featured several missed line calls, including one that led to the suspension of the chair umpire for the remainder of the tournament. This match is commonly referred to as the impetus for the current challenge system.
Williams played only three tournaments the remainder of the year. She won her second title of the year at the China Open
in Beijing, in which she defeated US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova
in the final. Five weeks later, she lost in the second round of the tournament in Linz, Austria
to world no. 73 Alina Jidkova
, but still qualified for the WTA Tour Championships
. In the round-robin phase of the tournament, she defeated world no. 5 Dementieva, lost to world no. 1 Davenport, and defeated world no. 3 Anastasia Myskina
. She lost to world no. 6 Sharapova in the final, 6-4, 2-6, 4-6. Williams trailed 5–2 in the second set, when she asked for treatment of an abdominal injury that caused her to serve around 65 mph. She led 4–0 in the third set, before Sharapova won the last six games of the match. Williams finished 2004 ranked world no. 7, but did not win a Grand Slam singles tournament for the first time since 2001.
At the 2005 Australian Open
, Williams rejected suggestions that she and sister Venus were a declining force in tennis, following Venus's early exit at the tournament. In the quarterfinals, Williams defeated second-seeded Mauresmo, 6–2, 6–2. In the semifinals, she saved three match points in defeating fourth-seeded Sharapova, 2–6, 7–5, 8–6. In the final, Williams defeated world no. 1 Davenport, 2–6, 6–3, 6–0, to win her second Australian Open singles title and seventh Grand Slam singles title. The win moved Williams back to world no. 2, and she stated that she was now targeting the no. 1 spot.
She did not, however, reach the final at any of her next five tournaments. She withdrew before her quarterfinal match at the Open Gaz de France
in Paris, citing a stomach illness. Three weeks later, she retired from her semifinal match with Jelena Janković
at the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open, citing a strained tendon in her right shoulder. Four weeks later, she lost to sister Venus for the first time since 2001 in the quarterfinals of the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, 1-6, 6-7. The following week, a left ankle injury forced her to retire from her quarterfinal match on clay at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island. Five weeks away from the tour did not improve her results, as she lost in the second round of the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome to Francesca Schiavone
, 6-7, 1-6. The ankle injury also caused her to miss the French Open
.
She returned for Wimbledon
as the fourth seeded player, but, after struggling through her first two matches in three sets, she was defeated in the third round by world no. 85 Jill Craybas
, 3-6, 6-7.
After winning her first match at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto, a recurrence of her left knee injury caused her to withdraw from the tournament. At the US Open, Williams lost to her sister Venus in the fourth round, 6-7, 2-6. This was the earliest the sisters had met in a Grand Slam tournament since their first meeting at the 1998 Australian Open
. Williams played just one more match the remainder of the year, a loss to world no. 127 Sun Tiantian
at the tournament in Beijing
. She failed to qualify for the year-end championship for the first time since 1998. She finished the year ranked world no. 11, her first time finishing outside of the top 10 since 1998.
Williams did not participate in any of the official warm-up tournaments for the 2006 Australian Open
. Williams was the defending champion at the Australian Open, but fell to world no. 17 Daniela Hantuchová
in the third round, 1-6, 6-7. She then withdrew from tournaments in Tokyo
(citing her lack of fitness) and Dubai and from the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne (citing a knee injury and lack of fitness). On April 10, her ranking fell out of the top 100 for the first time since November 16, 1997. Shortly after, she announced that she would miss both the French Open and Wimbledon
because of a chronic knee injury. She said that she would not be able to compete before "the end of the summer", on doctor's orders.
Williams returned to the Tour in July at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open
in Cincinnati. Ranked world no. 139 because of her inactivity, she defeated world no. 11 Myskina in the first round, 6–2, 6–2, before losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Vera Zvonareva
. She also reached the semifinals in Los Angeles, losing to world no. 28 Janković in straight sets.
At the US Open, Williams was unseeded in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 1998 and needed a wildcard to enter the tournament because her ranking was too low. She lost to top-seeded Mauresmo in the fourth round, 4-6, 6-0, 2-6. She did not play again in 2006, ending the year ranked world no. 95. This was her lowest year-end ranking since 1997. Williams played just four tournaments in 2006.
branded "deluded."
Williams lost in the quarterfinals of the tournament in Hobart, Australia
, a warm-up for the Australian Open
. Williams was unseeded at the Australian Open because of her world no. 81 ranking and was widely regarded as "out of shape." In the third round, however, Williams defeated fifth-seeded Nadia Petrova
, which was her first win over a top-10 player since defeating Lindsay Davenport
in the 2005 Australian Open
final. In the final, Williams defeated top-seeded Maria Sharapova
, 6–1, 6–2 to win her third Australian Open singles title and her eighth Grand Slam
singles title. Williams dedicated the title to her deceased sister Yetunde. Her performance in the final was described by TENNIS.com as "one of the best performances of her career" and by BBC Sport as "arguably the most powerful display ever seen in women's tennis."
Williams next played at the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida
in late March. In the final, Williams defeated world no. 1 Justine Henin, 0–6, 7–5, 6–3 after saving a match point in the second set.
At the Tier I Family Circle Cup
in Charleston, South Carolina
on clay courts, Williams retired from her second-round match because of a groin pull. The following week, Williams won her first singles match in the first round Fed Cup
tie against Belgium
on hard courts, but withdrew from the second singles match to rest her knee. Williams played only one clay-court tournament in Europe before the French Open. In Rome at the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Williams lost to 14th-seeded Patty Schnyder
of Switzerland in the quarterfinals, 3-6, 6-2, 6-7. After the tournament, however, she re-entered the top 10 at world no. 9. As the eighth seed at the French Open
, Williams lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Henin, 4-6, 3-6. Williams said her performance was "hideous and horrendous" and worse than ever. She also said that she felt "violated".
Despite the loss, Williams was one of the favorites for the Wimbledon title. During her fourth round match against Daniela Hantuchová
, Williams collapsed from an acute muscle spasm at 5–5 in the second set. After a medical timeout and holding serve to force a tiebreak, rain forced play to be suspended for nearly two hours. When the players returned, Williams won the match, 6–2, 6–7, 6–2. Williams then lost her quarterfinal match with world no. 1 Henin, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6. Williams started the match with a heavily taped calf and was forced to use a one-handed backhand slice because of a left thumb injury. Williams was criticized for claiming after the match that she would have beaten Henin had Williams been healthy. After Wimbledon, Williams moved up to world no. 7, her highest ranking since 2005.
Because of the thumb injury, Williams did not play a tournament between Wimbledon and the US Open
. At the US Open, she beat 2007 Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli
in the fourth round, but lost her third consecutive Grand Slam singles quarterfinal to Henin, 6-7, 1-6.
In October, Williams lost in the quarterfinals of the tournament in Stuttgart
to world no. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova
. Williams then reached her third final of the year at the Tier I Kremlin Cup
in Moscow, defeating Kuznetsova in the semifinals, before losing to Elena Dementieva
. Nevertheless, Williams's performances at these tournaments raised her ranking to world no. 5 and qualified her for the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships
in Madrid. Her participation there was short. Because of injury, she retired from her first match with Anna Chakvetadze
, after losing the first set, and then withdrew from the tournament. Williams finished 2007 as World No. 7 and the top-ranked American for the first time since 2003.
Williams started 2008 by participating on the U.S. team that won the Hopman Cup
for the fifth time in Perth, Australia
. Williams was the seventh seed at the Australian Open
, but lost in the quarterfinals to world no. 4 and third-seeded Jelena Janković
, 3-6, 4-6. This was her fourth straight loss in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament. In the women's doubles event, Serena and her sister Venus
lost in the quarterfinals to the seventh-seeded team of Zheng Jie
and Yan Zi
.
Williams then withdrew from three tournaments because of an urgent need for dental surgery. Upon her return to the Tour, Williams won three consecutive singles titles. At the Tier II tournament in Bangalore, India
, Serena defeated sister Venus in the semifinals, 6–3, 3–6, 7–6, after Serena saved a match point at 6–5 in the third set. This was the first time they had played each other since the fourth round of the 2005 US Open. Serena then defeated Schnyder in the final. At the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Williams won her fifth career singles title there, tying Steffi Graf
for the most singles titles at this tournament. Williams defeated world no. 1 Henin in the quarterfinals, world no. 3 Kuznetsova in the semifinals, and world no. 4 Janković in the final. This was her 30th career singles title.
At the clay-court Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, Williams defeated, for the fourth consecutive time, second-seeded Sharapova in the quarterfinals. In the final, Williams defeated Vera Zvonareva
to capture her tenth career Tier I title and first clay-court title since the 2002 French Open
. Her 17-match winning streak was ended by Dinara Safina
in the quarterfinals of the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open
in Berlin, 6-2, 1-6, 6-7. Williams was the fifth-seeded player at the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome and made it to the quarterfinals, where Alizé Cornet
received a walkover over Williams because of a back injury.
Williams was the fifth-seeded player at the French Open
. Although she was the only former winner of this tournament in this year's draw, following the sudden retirement of four-time champion Henin, she lost in the third round to 27th-seeded Katarina Srebotnik
, 4-6, 4-6.
At Wimbledon
, the sixth-seeded Williams reached the finals for the first time in four years. She defeated former world no. 1 and 2006 Wimbledon champion Amélie Mauresmo
in the third round, before losing the final to her older sister Venus in straight sets. This was the first Grand Slam final in which the Williams sisters had played each other since 2003. Serena and Venus then teamed to win the women's doubles title without dropping a set the entire tournament, their first Grand Slam women's doubles title since 2003.
Williams then played four World Team Tennis
matches for the Washington Kastles
, contributing 49 points for her team.
Williams was seeded first at the tournament in Stanford, California
, but retired from her semifinal match against qualifier Aleksandra Wozniak
while trailing 6–2, 3–1 because of a left knee injury. That injury caused Williams to withdraw from the tournament in Los Angeles the following week.
Playing in the singles draw at the Olympics
for the first time in Beijing
, Williams was the fourth-seeded player in singles, but lost to fifth-seeded and eventual gold-medalist Dementieva in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6. Serena and her sister Venus won the gold medal in doubles to add to their victory at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, beating the Spanish team of Anabel Medina Garrigues
and Virginia Ruano Pascual
in the final.
Williams was seeded fourth at the US Open and defeated her seventh-seeded sister Venus in the quarterfinals, 7–6, 7–6. Serena trailed 5–3 in both sets and saved two set points in the first set and eight set points in the second set. Williams then defeated Safina in the semifinals and second-seeded Jelena Janković
, 6–4, 7–5, in the final, after saving four set points at 5–3 in the second set. This was her third US Open and ninth Grand Slam singles title. This victory returned her to the world no. 1 ranking for the first time since 2003.
At the Tier II Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
in Stuttgart
, Williams was the top seed, but lost to world no. 30 Li Na
in the second round, 6-0, 1-6, 4-6. Serena also played doubles there with her sister Venus, but they withdrew after winning their first round match because of a left ankle injury to Serena. On October 3, Williams announced her withdrawal from the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow, citing a continuing left ankle injury and a desire to give her body time to recover from a packed playing schedule. Because of her withdrawal, she lost the world no. 1 ranking to Janković.
Williams defeated Safina in her first round-robin match at the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, before losing to her sister Venus, 7-5, 1-6, 2-6, in her second round-robin match. She then withdrew from her match against Dementieva, citing a stomach muscle injury. She ended the year ranked world no. 2 and with four singles titles, her strongest performance in both respects since 2003.
for the third consecutive time, 3-6, 1-6.
Williams was seeded second at the Australian Open
. She claimed her tenth Grand Slam
singles title by defeating Dinara Safina
in the final, 6–0, 6–3, in 59 minutes. This win returned her to the world no. 1 ranking and resulted in her becoming the all-time career prize money leader in women's sports, overtaking golfer Annika Sörenstam
. In women's doubles, Serena and her sister Venus
captured the title for the third time.
At the Open GDF SUEZ in Paris, Williams withdrew from the tournament before her scheduled semifinal with Dementieva because of a knee injury. Williams was the top seed at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, a Premier 5
event on the tour
. She defeated former world no. 1 Ana Ivanović
in the quarterfinals, before losing to her sister Venus in the semifinals, 1-6, 6-2, 6-7.
At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida
, a Premier Mandatory
event, Williams was upset in the final by 11th seeded Victoria Azarenka
. This was the first of four consecutive losses for Williams, the longest losing streak of her career. She was defeated in her opening match at her first three clay-court events of the year, including the Premier 5 Internazionali d'Italia in Rome and the Premier Mandatory Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. She lost the world no. 1 ranking to Safina on April 20. Despite not having won a match on clay in 2009 before the French Open, she reached the quarterfinals there, before losing to the eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova
, 6-7, 7-5, 5-7. This ended her 18-match Grand Slam tournament winning streak.
She rebounded at Wimbledon, saving a match point in defeating fourth seeded Dementieva in the semifinals, 6–7, 7–5, 8–6. In the final, Serena defeated her sister Venus, 7–6, 6–2, to win her third Wimbledon title and her 11th Grand Slam singles title. Although Williams was now holding three of the four Grand Slam singles titles, she continued to trail Safina in the WTA rankings, a fact Williams publicly mocked. Williams and her sister Venus teamed to win the women's doubles title at Wimbledon for the second consecutive year, their ninth Grand Slam title in women's doubles.
Following Wimbledon, Williams played two Premier 5 tournaments before the US Open. She lost in the third round of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati and in the semifinals, to world no. 5 Dementieva, of the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
She was seeded second at the US Open, where she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Kim Clijsters
amid controversy involving shouting at a line judge when defending match point, an offense which ultimately cost Williams the point and therefore the match. She continued in the doubles competition, teaming up with Venus to win their third Grand Slam doubles title of the year and tenth of their career.
Williams played only two tournaments after the US Open. At the Premier Mandatory China Open
in Beijing, she was defeated in the third round by Nadia Petrova
. Williams won all three of her round-robin matches at the year-end WTA Tour Championships
in Doha, Qatar, defeating world no. 7 Venus Williams, world no. 5 Dementieva, and world no. 3 Kuznetsova. She saved a match point against Venus, before winning in a third-set tiebreak. She then advanced to the final, when US Open runner-up Wozniacki retired from their semifinal match while trailing, 6–4, 0–1. In the final, Williams played Venus for the second time in four days, winning once again, 6–2, 7–6, against her tired and error-stricken sister. This was Serena's second singles title at this event.
Williams finished the year ranked world no. 1 for the second time in her career, having played in 16 tournaments, more than any other year. She also broke the record previously set by Justine Henin for the most prize money earned by a female tennis player in one year, with Williams earning $6,545,586. In doubles, the Williams sisters
finished the year ranked world no. 2, despite playing only six tournaments as a pair. She won five Grand Slam titles, putting her total Grand Slam titles at 23.
Williams was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in a landslide vote (66 of 158 votes – no other candidate received more than 18 votes). She also was the International Tennis Federation
World Champion in singles and doubles.
Aravane Rezaï
in the semifinals, 3–6, 7–5, 6–4, after trailing 5–2 in the second set and being two points from defeat. She then lost the final to world no. 5 and defending champion Elena Dementieva
, 3-6, 2-6.
At the Australian Open, Williams was the defending champion in both singles and doubles. She reached the singles quarterfinals without losing a service game or a set, where she eliminated Victoria Azarenka
, 4–6, 7–6, 6–2, after trailing 4–0 in the second set. In the semifinals, Williams defeated 16th seeded Li Na
, 7–6, 7–6, on her fifth match point to reach her fifth final in Melbourne and her fifteenth Grand Slam singles final. She then defeated 2004 champion Justine Henin, 6–4, 3–6, 6–2, for her twelfth Grand Slam singles title. This was the first time that Henin and Williams had played each other in a Grand Slam tournament final. Williams is the first female player to win consecutive Australian Open singles titles since Jennifer Capriati
in 2001–02. In doubles, Serena and Venus successfully defended their title by defeating the top-ranked team of Cara Black
and Liezel Huber
in the final, 6–4, 6–3.
A leg injury then caused Williams to withdraw from five consecutive tournaments, including the Premier 5 Dubai Tennis Championships
and the Premier Mandatory Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne. She returned to the WTA Tour at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia
in Rome, where she lost to Jelena Janković
in the semifinals, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(5-7), after failing to convert a match point while serving at 5–4 in the third set, and then surrendering a 5–2 lead in the deciding tiebreaker.
At the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open
, she received a first-round bye. In her first match, she made 73 unforced errors in defeating Vera Dushevina
in the longest match of her career, 3 hours, 26 minutes, 6–7, 7–6, 7–6. Williams saved a match point at 6–5 in the second set, then injured her upper leg early in the third set. She then fell to 16th seeded Nadia Petrova
, 6-4, 2-6, 3-6. Williams won only two of her eighteen opportunities to break Petrova's serve. She teamed with Venus to win the doubles title.
At the French Open
, she lost to Samantha Stosur
in the quarterfinals, 3-6, 7-6, 6-8. Williams made 46 unforced errors and squandered a match point at 5–4 in the final set. It was the first Grand Slam tournament that Williams had not won or been defeated by the eventual champion since the 2008 French Open
. Williams had not advanced past the quarterfinals at this event since 2003. She also played doubles with Venus as the top seeds. Their defeat of Huber and Anabel Medina Garrigues
in the semifinals improved their doubles ranking to world no. 1. They then defeated 12th seeds Květa Peschke
and Katarina Srebotnik
in the final, 6–2, 6–3, to win their fourth consecutive Grand Slam women's doubles title.
Her next tournament was Wimbledon, where she defeated Russian Vera Zvonareva
in the final, 6–3, 6–2, without facing a break point and breaking the serve of Zvonareva three times. She did not lose a set in the tournament. After the match, Martina Navratilova said that Williams is in the top 5 of all the women's tennis players in all of history, which she said that "it's not just about how many Slams you win or how many tournaments you win—it's just your game overall. And she’s definitely got all the goods." Serena was the defending champion in doubles with her sister Venus, winning the last two years. They lost in the quarterfinals to Elena Vesnina
and Zvonareva, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6.
In Munich on July 7, Williams stepped on broken glass while in a restaurant. She received 18 stitches, but the following day she lost an exhibition match to Kim Clijsters
, 3-6, 2-6, in Brussels before a world-record crowd for a tennis match, 35,681 at the King Baudouin Stadium
. The cut foot turned out to be a serious injury, requiring surgery and preventing her from playing for the remainder of 2010. As a result, she lost the world no. 1 ranking to Dane Caroline Wozniacki
on October 11, 2010 and ended the year ranked no. 4 in singles, despite having played only six tournaments, and no. 11 in doubles after four tournaments.
and the 2011 Australian Open
. As a result, she dropped to world no. 12 in the WTA rankings, her lowest ranking since March 2007. However, she stayed in the top 20, despite not having played for 11 months. On March 2, 2011, she confirmed that she had suffered a hematoma
and a pulmonary embolism
.
She made her first appearance on the WTA tour in almost a year at the 2011 AEGON International
in Eastbourne, winning her first match since Wimbledon, against Tsvetana Pironkova
, 1–6, 6–3, 6–4, but lost to top-seeded world no. 3 Vera Zvonareva
in the second round, 6–3, 6–7, 5–7, in a match that lasted over three hours.
Her next tournament was Wimbledon
, where she was the defending champion. Despite being ranked no. 26, she was seeded seventh. In her first round match, she faced French no. 2, Aravane Rezai
and won, 6–3, 3–6, 6–1. With this victory, at the Majors
she currently holds a 44–0 record in first-round matches. She then won her second round match against Simona Halep
, 3–6, 6–2, 6–1, and her third round against Maria Kirilenko
, 6–3, 6–2. She lost to ninth seed, Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli
in the round of 16, 3–6, 6–7. Bartoli described beating Williams as the greatest win of her life. As a result of this loss, Williams' ranking dropped to world no. 175.
Williams then played in Stanford
as an unseeded player. She won her opening-round match against Anastasia Rodionova, 6–0, 6–0. In her second-round match, she took out Maria Kirilenko
in three sets, 6–2, 3–6, 6–2, to set up a meeting with Wimbledon finalist, Maria Sharapova
. Sharapova stated previously in the week that she was excited at the thought of playing Williams, and Serena easily dispatched the Russian in straight sets, 6–1, 6–3. This was Serena's sixth consecutive win against Maria. In the semifinals, Serena took on Wimbledon semifinalist, Sabine Lisicki
and defeated her 6–1, 6–2. Serena powered through to her first final of the season, where she would took on Wimbledon quarterfinalist Marion Bartoli
, who had defeated her at Wimbledon. Serena won her 38th career WTA singles title when she defeated Marion in straight sets in the final, 7–5, 6–1, also making it her first title in 2011 after three attempts and her first title since winning Wimbledon in 2010.
In her next tournament, Williams won the Rogers Cup
, Serena started off strongly by beating Alona Bondarenko, 6–0, 6–3. In her second-round match, she beat Julia Goerges in straight sets, as well. After back-to-back three-setters against Jie Zheng and Lucie Safarova
, the semifinals matched Serana against one of the most consistent players of the year, Viktoria Azarenka. Serena beat her handily, 6–3, 6–3, to advance to her second consecutive final. In the final, Serena defeated Samantha Stosur
, 6–4, 6–2, to win her second consecutive title and her 39th career title overall. Her ranking jumped to world no. 31.
At the Cincinnati
Open, Serena defeated Lucie Hradecka
, 6–3, 7–5. The next day, she withdrew from the tournament citing a right toe injury.
Next on her schedule was the US Open
, in which she entered using her protected ranking of no. 1. She was seeded 28th and faced Bojana Jovanovski
in the first round, winning the match easily, 6–1, 6–1, improving her record in Major first-round matches to 45–0. She next faced Michaëlla Krajicek
, whom she beat, 6–0, 6–1, to set up a meeting against fourth seed Victoria Azarenka
. She defeated Azarenka, 6–1, 7–6, to advance to the fourth round. In her fourth-round match, Williams defeated former world no.1 Ana Ivanovic
, 6–3, 6–4. She then beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
in the quarterfinals, 7–5, 6–1, and defeated world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki
, 6–2, 6–4 in the semifinals. She lost the final, 2-6, 3-6, to Samantha Stosur
, during a match which featured her verbally abusing the chair umpire. The US Open final turned out to be Williams' last match in 2011, and she will end the year ranked world no. 12 with 2 titles and with a 22–3 record for the season. She only participated in six tournaments throughout the season.
as her preparation for the Australian Open
.
12 times in Grand Slam
singles tournaments and 11 times in other tournaments (including 11 finals). She has a three match lead in the head-to-head series, 13–10 (including the last 4 in a row). They are the only women during the open era to have played each other in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals.
Currently Venus has 43 career tennis titles, while Serena has 39.
, several calls were made in Capriati's favor, even though later video review showed the calls to be clearly in error. Williams attempted at times to argue some calls, but was not successful. Capriati won the match, but tournament officials dismissed the match's umpire from the tournament. The controversy contributed to the adoption of MacCam
and Hawk-Eye
systems.
match, this time against Kim Clijsters
in the semifinal round. The drama began at the end of the first set, when Williams slammed her racquet on the court in frustration over losing the set. She was given a warning, with a potential second violation carrying a one-point penalty. While trailing 4–6, 5–6, 15–30, Williams's second serve was called a foot fault, resulting in two match points for Clijsters. Williams gestured with her racquet to the lineswoman who had made the call and yelled at her, including profanities. During the subsequent on-court conference between the head judge, the lineswoman, US Open officials, and Williams, a television microphone picked up Williams saying to the lineswoman, "I didn't say I would kill you. Are you serious?" The incident resulted in Williams being penalized a point for unsportsmanlike conduct — necessitated by the earlier warning for racquet abuse — meaning Clijsters won the match 6–4, 7–5. The following day, Williams was issued the maximum permissible on-site fine of $10,000 (plus $500 for racquet abuse). After further investigation, the Grand Slam Committee in November 2009 fined her $175,000 in lieu of suspending her from the 2010 US Open or other Grand Slam events. They also placed her on a two year probation, so if Williams commits another offense in the next two years at a Grand Slam tournament, she will be suspended from participating in the following US Open. If she commits no offenses in the next two years, her fine will be reduced to $82,500. Williams initially refused to apologize for her outburst, both in her post-match press conference and in an official statement released the following day. She eventually apologized to the lineswoman in a statement two days following the incident.
against Samantha Stosur
, Williams again generated controversy. After shouting "Come on!" as the Australian attempted to return a forehand
Williams believed to be a winner, chair umpire Eva Asderaki
awarded the point to Stosur based on the USTA
's deliberate hindrance rule, which states, "If a player commits any act which hinders his opponent in making a stroke, then, if this is deliberate, he shall lose the point or if involuntary, the point shall be replayed." As the point was 30–40 on Williams's serve, the penalty gave the break of serve to Stosur. Williams became angry with the chair umpire and made several gestures and unflattering comments toward her during the next several changeovers, warning her, "Don't look at me," and telling her that if Asderaki ever saw Williams coming toward her, she should "look the other way". She told the umpire that she was "a loser", "a hater" and "unattractive, on the inside". Williams initially gained momentum in the set following the penalty, breaking back in the next game, but eventually flagged and lost the match, 6–2, 6–3. At the end of the match, she declined to offer the customary handshake to Asderaki. Williams mentioned the incident in her post-match speech as the tournament runner-up, claiming, "I hit a winner, but I guess it didn't count," but added, "It wouldn't have mattered in the end. Sam played really well." A writer for ESPN
suggested that Williams could avoid being found to have violated the terms of the "probation" on which she was placed following her 2009 outburst, as she did not appear to have used profanity
in addressing Asderaki during the match. In the end, Williams was fined $2,000 and was not barred from competing in the 2012 US Open because "...Williams's conduct, while verbally abusive, [did] not rise to the level of a major offence under the grand slam code of conduct."
at the US Open. At the 2004 US Open, Williams wore denim skirts and knee-high boots—tournament officials, however, did not allow her to wear the boots during matches. At Wimbledon in 2008, the white trench coat
she wore during warm-up for her opening match was the subject of much discussion since it was worn despite the sunny weather. Off-court, Williams has also presented new designs. In November 2004, at the London premiere of After the Sunset
she wore a red gown that had a near-topless effect.
Williams formerly had a special line with Puma
and currently has a line with Nike
. The deal with Nike is worth US$40 million and was signed in April 2004. Since 2004, she has also been running her own line of designer apparel called "Aneres"—her first name spelled backward. In 2009 she launched a signature collection of handbags and jewelry. The collection, called Signature Statement, is sold mainly on the Home Shopping Network (HSN).
In early 2010, Williams became a certified nail technician in preparation for her upcoming nail collection with a company called HairTech.
Serena joined the animation along with sister Venus, Pete Sampras
and Andre Agassi
. She has also provided guest voice work in a 2005 episode of Playhouse Disney's animated kids show Higglytown Heroes
and a 2007 episode of the Nickelodeon
cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender
, which she has described as her "favorite show".
Williams has posed for the 2003 and 2004 editions of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
. In April 2005, MTV announced plans to broadcast a reality show around the lives of Serena and Venus, which was eventually aired on ABC Family
. Williams has appeared twice on MTV's Punk'd
and in 2007, appeared in the ABC
reality television series Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race
. In 2002, she played Miss Wiggins in the season 3 episode "Crouching Mother, Hidden Father" of My Wife and Kids
; she has also guest-starred during episodes of ER
and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
. In 2007 Williams appeared in the music video of "I Want You" by the American rapper Common, alongside performers Alicia Keys
and Kanye West
.
In late 2009, Williams became the first active female professional athlete to appear in a feminine hygiene
product advertising campaign. A series of online videos and print advertisements for Tampax
Pearl tampon
s showed her hitting balls at Mother Nature
, played by Catherine Lloyd Burns
, to prevent Mother Nature giving her a red-wrapped gift, representing her menstrual period. In the online videos, the two have dueling press conferences over the "bad blood" between them. "A lot of celebrities are not open to working with our brand, and we're thrilled that Serena is", said a brand manager for Tampax at Procter & Gamble
.
Serena and sister Venus were mentioned in a couple of songs namely in Super Furry Animals
studio album Phantom Power
in a track entitle "Venus and Serena", in a single by Snoop Dogg
Signs and Ludacris
' single My Chick Bad
.
. The formal announcement was made during a press conference overlooking the practice field. The Williams are the first African-American females to obtain ownership in an NFL franchise. Other prominent owners include: Jimmy Buffett, Gloria and Emilio Estefan (the first Cuban-American owners), and Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez
. Stephan Ross, the majority owner of the Dolphins, said "We are thrilled to have Venus and Serena join the Dolphins as limited partners. They are among the most admired athletes in the world and have become global ambassadors for the game of tennis. Their addition to our ownership group further reflects our commitment to connect with aggressively and embrace the great diversity that makes South Florida a multicultural gem."
, Williams, along with other ATP and WTA stars decided to forego their final day of preparation for the 2010 Australian Open
to form a charity event in which all proceeds will go to the Haiti earthquake victims.
During the 2009 Wimbledon Championships
, Williams said that she is in the process of writing a TV show storyline, which will be converted into script form by her agency. She stated that the show will represent subject matter from a mix of popular American television shows such as Desperate Housewives
, Sex and the City
, and Family Guy
.
Serena released her first solo published work, an autobiography entitled On the Line, following the 2009 US Open.
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time
.
Women's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association , founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King, is the principal organizing body of Women's Professional Tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women. Its counterpart organization in the men's professional game is the Association of...
has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on November 2, 2009. She is considered to be one of the greatest women's tennis players of all time.
Her 27 Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
titles places her ninth on the all-time list: 13 in singles, 12 in women's doubles, and 2 in mixed doubles. She is the most recent player, male or female, to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously and only the fifth woman in history to do so. She was also the first woman, along with sister Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...
, to hold all four Grand Slam doubles titles simultaneously since Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
did so in 1998. Her 13 Grand Slam singles titles is sixth on the all-time list. Williams ranks fourth in Grand Slam women's singles titles won during the open era
Open era
Open era or Open Era may refer to:* Open Era , the period since 1968 where professionals can compete in Grand Slams* Glasnost era, the increased openness in the Soviet Union from the mid-1980s...
, behind Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
(22 titles) and Chris Evert
Chris Evert
Christine Marie "Chris" Evert is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. She was the year-ending World No...
and Martina Navratilova (18 titles each). She has won more Major titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles than any other active player, male or female.
Williams has won two Olympic gold medals in women's doubles. She has won more career prize money than any other female athlete in history. Serena has played older sister Venus in 23 professional matches since 1998, with Serena winning 13 of these matches. They have met in eight Grand Slam finals, with Serena winning six times. Beginning with the 2002 French Open
2002 French Open
The 2002 French Open was the second Grand Slam event of 2002 and the 101st edition of the French Open. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from late May through early June, 2002.-Men's singles:...
, they played each other in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, which was the first time in the open era that the same two players had contested four consecutive Grand Slam finals. The pair have won 12 Grand Slam doubles titles together.
Early life
Serena Williams was born in Saginaw, MichiganSaginaw, Michigan
Saginaw is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw was once a thriving lumber town and manufacturing center. Saginaw and Saginaw County lie in the Flint/Tri-Cities region of Michigan...
, to Richard Williams
Richard Williams (tennis)
Richard Williams is an American tennis coach, and the father of Venus and Serena Williams.-Biography:Williams is one of six children and only son of single mother Julia Mae Williams. He has been known to exaggerate aspects of his upbringing. A childhood friend told Sports Illustrated writer L...
and Oracene Price
Oracene Price
Oracene Price is an American tennis coach. She is best known for being the mother of Venus and Serena Williams, top professional tennis players. She is the former wife of Richard Williams, whom she divorced in 2002. As a coach and parent, she has regularly been called unflappable and...
. She is of African American heritage and is the youngest of Price's five daughters: half-sisters Yetunde
Yetunde Price
Yetunde Hawanya Tara Price was the elder half-sister and personal assistant to leading tennis players Venus Williams and Serena Williams. At the time of her death, she was 31 years old, the eldest of their mother Oracene Price's five daughters and mother of three children, a registered nurse and...
(1972–2003), Lyndrea and Isha Price, and full sister Venus
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...
. When the children were young, the family moved to the city of Compton
Compton, California
Compton is a city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city of Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county and on May 11, 1888, was the eighth city to incorporate. The city is considered part of the South side by residents of Los...
in Los Angeles county, where Serena started playing tennis at the age of five. Her father home-schooled Serena and her sister Venus and to this day, Serena Williams was and remains coached by both her parents.
Williams' family moved from Compton to Haines City
Haines City, Florida
Haines City is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. The population was 13,174 at the 2000 census. As of 2010, the population estimated by the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Florida is 18,762. Haines City is the third most populous city in Polk County, Florida...
when she was nine so that she could attend the tennis academy of Rick Macci, who would provide additional coaching. Macci spotted the exceptional talents of the sisters. He did not always agree with Williams' father but respected that "he treated his daughters like kids, allowed them to be little girls". Richard stopped sending his daughters to national junior tennis tournaments when Williams was 10, since he wanted them to take it slow and focus on school work. Another motivation was racial, as he had allegedly heard parents of white players talk about the Williams sisters in a derogatory manner during tournaments. At that time, Williams had a 46–3 record on the United States Tennis Association
United States Tennis Association
The United States Tennis Association is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass-roots to the professional levels...
junior tour and was ranked No. 1 among under 10 players in Florida. In 1995, when Serena was in the ninth grade, Richard pulled his daughters out of Macci's academy, and from then on took over all coaching at their home. When asked in 2000 whether having followed the normal path of playing regularly on the junior circuit would have been beneficial, Williams responded: "Everyone does different things. I think for Venus and I, we just tried a different road, and it worked for us."
Playing style
Williams is primarily a baseline player. Her game is built around taking immediate control of rallies with a powerful and consistent serve (considered by some to be the best in the women's game), return of serve, and forceful groundstrokeGroundstroke
A groundstroke in tennis is a forehand or backhand shot that is executed after the ball bounces once on the court. It is usually hit from the back of the tennis court, around the baseline....
s from both her forehand
Forehand
The forehand in tennis and other racket sports such as table tennis, squash and badminton is a shot made by swinging the racquet across one's body in the direction of where the player wants to place the shot...
and backhand
Backhand
The backhand is a tennis shot in which one swings the racquet around one's body in the direction where one wants the ball to go, usually performed from the baseline or as an approach shot. The term is also used in other racquet sports, and other areas where a similar motion is employed...
swings. Williams' forehand is considered to be among the most powerful shots in the women's game as is her double-handed backhand. Williams strikes her backhand groundstroke using an open stance, and uses the same open stance for her forehand. Williams's aggressive play, a "high risk" style, is balanced in part by her serve, which combines great power and placement with very high consistency. Her serve has been hit as hard as 129 mph (206.5 km/h), the second-fastest all-time among female players. Serena also possesses a very solid volley
Volley (tennis)
A volley in tennis is a shot in which the ball is struck before it bounces on the ground. Generally a player hits a volley while standing near the net, although it can be executed farther back, in the middle of the tennis court or even near the baseline....
and powerful overhead which is very useful for her net game. Although many think of Williams as only an offensive player, she also plays a strong defensive game.
1995–98: Professional debut
Williams's first professional event was in September 1995, at the age of 13, at the Bell ChallengeBell Challenge
The Bell Challenge is a WTA Tour Tier III tennis tournament held in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada since 1993. The tournament is played on indoor hardcourts....
in Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
. She lost in the first round of qualifying to world no. 149 Annie Miller
Annie Miller
Annie Miller was an English artists' model who, among others, sat for the members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, William Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais. Her on-off relationship with Holman Hunt has been dramatised several times.-Early life:Annie Miller was born in...
in less than an hour of play and earned US$240 in prize money.
Williams did not play a tournament in 1996. The following year, she lost in the qualifying rounds of three tournaments, before winning her first main-draw match in November at the Ameritech Cup Chicago
Ameritech Cup Chicago
The Ameritech Cup is a defunct WTA Tour affiliated tennis tournament held every year from 1971 until 1997 in Chicago, Illinois in the United States. Its sponsors were Virginia Slims from 1971 to 1978 and again from 1983 to 1994, Avon from 1979 to 1982 and Ameritech from 1995 to 1997...
. Ranked world no. 304, she upset world no. 7 Mary Pierce
Mary Pierce
Mary Pierce is a French-American tennis professional playing on the Women's Tennis Association tour. She is a citizen of France, Canada, and the United States but plays for France in team competitions and the Olympics.Pierce has won four Grand Slam titles, two in singles and two in doubles...
and world no. 4 Monica Seles
Monica Seles
Monica Seles is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She was born in Novi Sad, Serbia, former Yugoslavia to Hungarian parents. She became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994 and also received Hungarian citizenship in June 2007...
, recording her first career wins over top 10 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 world no. 5 Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Ann Davenport is a former World No. 1 American professional tennis player. She has won three Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her as the 29th-best player of the preceding forty years...
. She finished 1997 ranked world no. 99.
Williams began 1998 at the Medibank International Sydney. As a qualifier ranked world no. 96, she defeated world no. 3 Davenport in the quarterfinals, before losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
Aránzazu 'Arantxa' Isabel Maria Sánchez Vicario is a Spanish former professional tennis player...
in the semifinals. Williams made her debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open
1998 Australian Open
The 1998 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 86th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 19 January through 1 February 1998.-Men's Singles:...
, where she defeated sixth-seeded Irina Spîrlea
Irina Spîrlea
Irina Spîrlea is a former tennis player from Romania, who turned professional in 1990. She won four singles and six doubles titles during her career. The right-hander reached her highest individual ranking on the WTA Tour on October 13, 1997, when she became number 7 in the world...
in the first round, before losing to sister Venus
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...
in the second round in the sisters' first professional match. Williams reached six other quarterfinals during the year, but lost all of them, including her first match against world no. 1 Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
at the Lipton International Players Championships in Key Biscayne, and her second match against Venus at the Italian Open
Rome Masters
The Italian Open is an annual tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is the most prestigious red clay tennis tournament in the world after the French Open, with the men's competition being an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour, and the women's...
in Rome. She failed to reach the quarterfinals of any Grand Slam tournament the remainder of the year, losing in the fourth round of the French Open to Sánchez Vicario, and the third round of both Wimbledon and the US Open, to Virginia Ruano Pascual
Virginia Ruano Pascual
Virginia Ruano Pascual is a Spanish professional female tennis player. She was born in Madrid, Spain.She has won three career singles titles but she has been more successful in doubles where she has won 43 titles, including 10 Grand Slam titles Between 2002...
and Spîrlea, respectively. She did, however, win the mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon
1998 Wimbledon Championships
The 1998 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on :grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon in London in England...
and the US Open with Max Mirnyi
Max Mirnyi
Max Mirnyi is a professional tennis player from Belarus.Today Mirnyi is a doubles specialist, but he also enjoyed a good singles career, finishing in the top 50 in the world for seven straight years, as well as representing Belarus in Davis Cup competition since April 1994, where he holds a...
, completing the Williams family's sweep of the 1998 mixed doubles Grand Slam tournaments. Williams won her first professional title in doubles in Oklahoma City with Venus, becoming the third pair of sisters to win a WTA title. The Williams sisters won two more doubles titles together during the year. Serena finished the year ranked world no. 20 in singles.
1999–2001: Becoming a top-10 player
Williams lost in the third round of the 1999 Australian Open1999 Australian Open
The 1999 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 87th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 18 through 31 January 1999. This was the first Grand Slam of the calendar year.In the singles...
to Sandrine Testud
Sandrine Testud
Sandrine Testud is a former professional female tennis player from France.-Career:Testud broke into top 20 singles rankings in July 1997. On February 7, 1999, she became the fourth Frenchwoman after Françoise Durr, Mary Pierce and Nathalie Tauziat to break into singles top 10 rankings...
. The following month, she won her first professional singles title, when she defeated Australian Open runner-up Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo ; is a French former professional tennis player, and a former World No. 1. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon....
, 6–2, 3–6, 7–6, in the final of the Open Gaz de France
Open Gaz de France
Open GDF Suez, formerly Open Gaz de France, is a Premier level tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held in Paris, France. Held since 1993, the tournament is played on indoor hardcourts....
in Paris. With Venus also winning the IGA Superthrift Classic in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
that day, the pair became the first sisters to win professional tournaments in the same week. A month later, Serena won her first Tier I singles title at the Evert Cup in Indian Wells, California
Indian Wells, California
Indian Wells is a city in Riverside County, California, in the Coachella Valley , in between Palm Desert and La Quinta. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 4,958....
by defeating world no. 7 Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
, 6–3, 3–6, 7–5, in the final. At the following tournament, the Tier I Lipton International Players Championships
Miami Masters
The Miami Masters is an annual tennis tournament for men and women held in Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida. It is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the men's tour and a Premier Mandatory event on the women's tour and is played on hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park...
in Key Biscayne, Williams defeated world no. 1 Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
in the semifinals, before Venus ended her 16-match winning streak in the first all-sister singles final in WTA history. On April 5, 1999, Serena made her top-10 debut at world no. 9.
Williams played three tournaments during the 1999 European spring clay court season. She lost in the quarterfinals of the Tier I Italian Open in Rome to World No. 1 Hingis and in the quarterfinals of the Tier I German Open in Berlin to World No. 7 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
Aránzazu 'Arantxa' Isabel Maria Sánchez Vicario is a Spanish former professional tennis player...
. Serena and Venus won the women's doubles title at the French Open
1999 French Open
-Men's Singles:* Men's SinglesList of the 1999 French Open champions:-Men's singles: Andre Agassi def. Andrei Medvedev, 1–6, 2–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–4...
, but Serena was upset by Mary Joe Fernandez
Mary Joe Fernández
Mary Joe Fernández Godsick is an American former professional tennis player...
in the third round of the singles competition. She then missed Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
because of injury.
When she returned to the tour, Williams won a Fed Cup
Fed Cup
Fed Cup is the premier team competition in women's tennis, launched in 1963 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the International Tennis Federation...
singles match, before playing two tournaments during the 1999 North American summer hard-court season. She won the JPMorgan Chase Open
JPMorgan Chase Open
The LA Women's Tennis Championships presented by Herbalife is a Premier-level tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held in Carson, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. The tournament is played on outdoor hard courts and is a part of the US Open Series....
in Los Angeles, defeating world no. 1 Hingis in the semifinals and Julie Halard-Decugis
Julie Halard-Decugis
Julie Halard-Decugis is a former professional female tennis player.Halard-Decugis lived in La Baule, France during the initial stages of her career and later moved to Pully, Switzerland...
in the final. Williams was seeded seventh at the US Open, where she defeated world no. 4 Monica Seles
Monica Seles
Monica Seles is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She was born in Novi Sad, Serbia, former Yugoslavia to Hungarian parents. She became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994 and also received Hungarian citizenship in June 2007...
, world no. 2 Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Ann Davenport is a former World No. 1 American professional tennis player. She has won three Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her as the 29th-best player of the preceding forty years...
, and world no. 1 Hingis to become the second African-American woman (after Althea Gibson
Althea Gibson
Althea Gibson was a World No. 1 American sportswoman who became the first African-American woman to be a competitor on the world tennis tour and the first to win a Grand Slam title in 1956. She is sometimes referred to as "the Jackie Robinson of tennis" for breaking the color barrier...
in 1958) to win a Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
singles tournament. The Williams sisters also won the doubles title at this tournament, their second Grand Slam title together.
To complete 1999, Williams won a doubles match in the Fed Cup final against Russia, her third tournament of the year at the Grand Slam Cup
Grand Slam Cup
The Grand Slam Cup was a tennis tournament held annually at the Olympiahalle in Munich in Germany from 1990 through 1999. The event was organized by the International Tennis Federation , which invited the best-performing players in the year's Grand Slam events to compete in the Grand Slam Cup.The...
in Munich, and lost in the second round of the tournament in Filderstadt
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix is a tennis tournament held in Stuttgart, Germany . Held since 1978, the tournament is the oldest women's indoor tournament in Europe. Currently it is a Tier II tournament on the WTA Tour. The singles champion also receives a Porsche 911 Carrera sports car in addition...
. Williams ended the year ranked world no. 4 in just her second full year on the main tour.
Williams started 2000 by losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open
2000 Australian Open
The 2000 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts from 17 through to 30 January.-Singles players:Men's SinglesWomen's Singles-Former champions:...
to 16th seeded Elena Likhovtseva
Elena Likhovtseva
Elena Alexandrovna Likhovtseva is a Russian tennis player, currently inactive. She turned professional in January 1992 at the age of 16.Likhovtseva's career best appearance in a Grand Slam was when she reached the semi finals of the French Open 2005 before she was defeated by Mary Pierce, 6–1 6–1...
. She failed to defend her titles in Paris and Indian Wells, although she did win the Faber Grand Prix
Faber Grand Prix
The Faber Grand Prix is a defunct WTA Tour affiliated tennis tournament played from 1992 to 2000. It was held in Essen in Germany from 1992 to 1994 and in Hanover in Germany from 1996 to 2000. The tournament was played on indoor carpet courts.-Singles:...
in Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
. Williams missed the French Open
2000 French Open
List of the 2000 French Open champions:-Men's Singles:* Men's Singles-Men's singles: Gustavo Kuerten def. Magnus Norman, 6–2, 6–3, 2–6, 7–6...
because of injury. She returned at Wimbledon
2000 Wimbledon Championships
List of the 2000 Wimbledon Champions:-Men's Singles:* Men's Singles-Men's singles: Pete Sampras def. Patrick Rafter, 6–7, 7–6, 6–4, 6–2...
, where she lost to eventual champion Venus in the semifinals after Serena had lost just 13 games in advancing to the second Grand Slam semifinal of her career. The Williams sisters teamed to win the doubles title at the event. Williams successfully defended her title in Los Angeles in August, defeating world no. 1 Hingis in the semifinals and world no. 2 Davenport in the final. She reached the final of the Du Maurier Open in Montreal, Canada
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
the following week, where an injury forced her to retire from her match with Hingis. Her defense of the US Open title ended when she lost in the quarterfinals to second-seeded Davenport. Williams teamed with Venus to win the gold medal in doubles at the Sydney Olympics in September. She then won her third singles title of the year the following week at the Toyota Princess Cup
Toyota Princess Cup
The Toyota Princess Cup was a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament held annually from 1997-2002. It was played in Tokyo, Japan and was categorized as a Tier II event....
in Tokyo. She finished the year ranked world no. 6.
Williams played two tournaments in Australia at the beginning of 2001, losing to world no. 1 Hingis in the quarterfinals of both the tournament in Sydney and the Australian Open. Serena and her sister Venus won the women's doubles title at the latter tournament, becoming only the fifth doubles team in history to win all four Grand Slam women's doubles titles during their career, a "Career Grand Slam".
She did not play again until March, when she defeated Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 7 November 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 13 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles....
in the final of the Tier I Tennis Masters Series in Indian Wells, California. She advanced to the final there when Venus withdrew just before the start of their semifinal match. Venus claimed that an injury prevented her from playing, but the withdrawal
Boycott of BNP Paribas Open by Venus and Serena Williams
During the 2001 Tennis Masters Series tournament in Indian Wells, California, controversy erupted when Venus Williams withdrew four minutes prior to her semifinal match with her sister Serena. Serena was subsequently booed during the championship match against Kim Clijsters and during the trophy...
was controversial. Neither Williams sister has entered the tournament since. The following week at the Tier I Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Williams lost to Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Marie Capriati is a former world number one ranked professional tennis player, and the winner of three women's singles championships in Grand Slam tournaments. Capriati made her professional debut in 1990 at the age of 14 when she reached the finals of the hard court tournament in Boca...
in the quarterfinals.
Williams did not play a clay-court tournament before the 2001 French Open
2001 French Open
The 2001 French Open was the second Grand Slam event of 2001 and the 100th edition of the French Open. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from late May through early June, 2001.-Men's Singles:...
, where she lost in the quarterfinals to Capriati, 2-6, 7-5, 2-6. Williams also did not play a grass-court tournament before Wimbledon, where she again lost in the quarterfinals to Capriati, 7-6, 5-7, 3-6, marking the fourth consecutive Grand Slam tournament at which Williams had exited in the quarterfinals.
Williams played three tournaments during the 2001 North American summer hard-court season. After losing in the quarterfinals of the tournament in Los Angeles, Williams captured her second title of the year at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, defeating Seles in the semifinals and world no. 3 Capriati in the final. Williams was seeded tenth at the US Open, where she defeated world no. 6 and Wimbledon runner-up Justine Henin in the fourth round, world no. 3 Davenport in the quarterfinals, and world no. 1 Hingis in the semifinals, before losing to sister Venus in the final. That was the first Grand Slam final contested by two sisters during the open era
Open era
Open era or Open Era may refer to:* Open Era , the period since 1968 where professionals can compete in Grand Slams* Glasnost era, the increased openness in the Soviet Union from the mid-1980s...
.
At the 2001-ending Sanex Championships
WTA Tour Championships
The WTA Tour Championships is a tennis tournament played annually at the end of the season for the top-ranked players on the Women's Tennis Association tour. The month, city and number of players has changed since the first edition in 1972...
in Munich, Williams defeated Silvia Farina Elia
Silvia Farina Elia
Silvia Farina Elia is a former female tennis player from Italy. She reached a career high of World No. 11 on 20 May 2002. She won her first ITF title at Caltagirone in 1991 and her first WTA tournament at Strasbourg in 2001...
, Henin, and Testud en route to the final. She then won the championship by walkover when Davenport withdrew before the start of the final because of a knee injury. Williams finished 2001 at world no. 6 for the second straight year.
2002–03: The "Serena Slam"
Injury forced Williams to retire from her semifinal match at the Medibank International Sydney and to withdraw from the 2002 Australian Open2002 Australian Open
List of the 2002 Australian Open champions:-Men's Singles: Thomas Johansson def. Marat Safin, 3–6, 6–4, 6–4, 7–6...
. She won her first title of the year at the State Farm Women's Tennis Classic
State Farm Women's Tennis Classic
The State Farm Women's Tennis Classic was a tennis tournament held in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States from 2000 to 2003. It was played on outdoor hardcourts and was a Tier II tournament throughout its run. Despite its short time as a WTA tournament, it boasts an impressive list of winners...
in Scottsdale, USA
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
, defeating world no. 2 Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Marie Capriati is a former world number one ranked professional tennis player, and the winner of three women's singles championships in Grand Slam tournaments. Capriati made her professional debut in 1990 at the age of 14 when she reached the finals of the hard court tournament in Boca...
in the final. She then won the Tier I Ericsson Open
Miami Masters
The Miami Masters is an annual tennis tournament for men and women held in Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida. It is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the men's tour and a Premier Mandatory event on the women's tour and is played on hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park...
in Key Biscayne
Key Biscayne
Key Biscayne is an island located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay. It is the southernmost of the barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of Florida, and lies south of Miami Beach and southeast of Miami...
for the first time, becoming one of three players in the open era
Open era
Open era or Open Era may refer to:* Open Era , the period since 1968 where professionals can compete in Grand Slams* Glasnost era, the increased openness in the Soviet Union from the mid-1980s...
to defeat the world's top 3 at one tournament, after beating world no. 3 Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
in the quarterfinals, world no. 2 and sister Venus
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...
in the semifinals, and world no. 1 Capriati in the final. Her 6–2, 6–2 win over Venus was her second career win over her sister.
Williams played three clay court tournaments before the 2002 French Open
2002 French Open
The 2002 French Open was the second Grand Slam event of 2002 and the 101st edition of the French Open. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from late May through early June, 2002.-Men's singles:...
. Her first tournament was at Charleston
Family Circle Cup
The Family Circle Cup is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. The tournament is currently played on the green clay courts at the Daniel Island Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina, USA...
, where she was the third seed. Serena reached the quarterfinals after wins over Jennifer Hopkins
Jennifer Hopkins
Jennifer Dent is an American professional tennis player.She has won six International Tennis Federation women's circuit titles in her career and nearly cracked the top 50. In 2001, she reached her first single final in Hobart...
and Nathalie Dechy
Nathalie Dechy
Nathalie Dechy is a French former professional tour tennis player.Dechy is a three-time doubles Grand Slam champion, winning the 2006 US Open women's doubles title with Vera Zvonareva, the 2007 French Open mixed doubles title with Andy Ram, and the 2007 US Open women's doubles title with Dinara...
, but eventually lost to world no. 30, Patty Schnyder
Patty Schnyder
Patty Schnyder is a retired Swiss professional tennis player. She played on the WTA tour from 1993 to 2011 and is a former World No. 7. She defeated several World No...
, 6–2, 4–6, 5–7. She reached her first clay-court final in May, at the Eurocard German Open in Berlin, losing to Justine Henin in a third set tiebreak. The following week, Williams won her first clay court title at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, defeating Capriati in the semifinals and Henin in the final. This raised her ranking to a new high of world no. 3. Williams, as the third seed at the French Open, made the last eight at the tournament with wins over Martina Sucha
Martina Suchá
Martina Suchá is a retired female tennis player from Slovakia.With a height of 1.70 m and a weight of 57 kg , she is right-handed, and plays with a two-handed backhand....
, Dally Randriantefy
Dally Randriantefy
Dally Randriantefy is a former professional female tennis player.Her highest rank on the WTA tour is No.44 and her best results have been a semi-final appearance at the WTA Strasbourg tournament in 2005 and winning seven ITF singles titles...
, Janette Husárová
Janette Husárová
Janette Husárová is a professional female tennis player from Slovakia. She is probably best remembered for winning the WTA Tour Championships women's doubles title in 2002 partenering Russian Elena Dementieva...
, and a three-set win over Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva is a professional tennis player from Russia. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. Her career high is World No. 2 by the WTA, and she is currently ranked as the World No. 7. Zvonarёva has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles and reached the...
. In her quarterfinal match, she defeated '00 champion
2000 French Open - Women's Singles
Mary Pierce defeated Conchita Martínez 6-2 7-5 in the final to win the Women's Singles title at the 2000 French Open.See also:-Seeds:The seeded players are listed below. Mary Pierce is the champion; others show the round in which they were eliminated....
, Mary Pierce
Mary Pierce
Mary Pierce is a French-American tennis professional playing on the Women's Tennis Association tour. She is a citizen of France, Canada, and the United States but plays for France in team competitions and the Olympics.Pierce has won four Grand Slam titles, two in singles and two in doubles...
, 6–1, 6–1. In the semifinals, she faced defending champion and world no. 1, Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Marie Capriati is a former world number one ranked professional tennis player, and the winner of three women's singles championships in Grand Slam tournaments. Capriati made her professional debut in 1990 at the age of 14 when she reached the finals of the hard court tournament in Boca...
. After an outstanding display of tennis, Williams advanced to her first French Open final, 3–6, 7–6, 6–2. In the final, she faced world no. 2 and older sister, Venus
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...
. Serena won in the final, 7–5, 6–3, to claim her second Grand Slam
Grand Slam
Grand Slam may refer to:-Card games:* In the game of contract bridge a bid to win all the tricks of that hand. By extension, the taking of all the important elements in an endeavour.-Equestrianism:...
title, her first in almost two and a half years. Serena rose to a career high of no. 2 after the win, second only to older sister Venus
At the 2002 Wimbledon Championships
2002 Wimbledon Championships
List of the 2002 Wimbledon Champions:-Men's singles: Lleyton Hewitt def. David Nalbandian, 6–1, 6–3, 6–2*It was Hewitt's 4th title of the year, and his 16th overall. It was his 2nd career Grand Slam title, and his 1st Wimbledon title.-Women's singles: Serena Williams def...
, Williams defeated Evie Dominikovic
Evie Dominikovic
Evie Dominikovic is an Australian tennis player. Dominikovic turned professional in 1997. Her best grand slam result is making it to the third round at the 2001 Australian Open and at the 2002 French Open....
, Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone is an Italian tennis player who turned professional in 1998. She won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She was also runner-up at the 2011 French Open. As of 24 October 2011, Schiavone's ranking is World...
, Els Callens
Els Callens
Els Callens was a professional female tennis player from Belgium. She became a pro in January 1990.Her biggest achievement came in 2000 during the Summer Olympics in Sydney where she won the bronze medal in doubles, partnering Dominique Van Roost-Monami.She retired on Wednesday 26 October 2005...
, and Chanda Rubin
Chanda Rubin
Chanda Rubin is an American tennis player. Winning seven WTA Tour singles titles, she reached her highest ranking World No. 6 on April 8, 1996, after reaching semifinals at the 1996 Australian Open. Rubin is also former World No...
to reach her third Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
quarterfinal. In her next match, Williams breezed past Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová is a Slovak professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first Tier I tournament and ended the year in the top 10.She is currently coached by Larri Passos...
, 6–3, 6–2, and Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo ; is a French former professional tennis player, and a former World No. 1. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon....
, 6–2, 6–1, to reach the final for the first time. There, she again defeated defending champion and no. 1 Venus, 7–6, 6–3, to win a Grand Slam singles title without dropping a set for the first time in her career. This victory earned Williams the world no. 1 ranking, dethroning her sister and becoming only the second African-American woman to hold that ranking. The Williams sisters also won the doubles title at the tournament, the fifth Grand Slam doubles title for the pair.
Williams played just one tournament between Wimbledon and the US Open, losing in the quarterfinals of the JPMorgan Chase Open
JPMorgan Chase Open
The LA Women's Tennis Championships presented by Herbalife is a Premier-level tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held in Carson, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. The tournament is played on outdoor hard courts and is a part of the US Open Series....
in Los Angeles to Chanda Rubin
Chanda Rubin
Chanda Rubin is an American tennis player. Winning seven WTA Tour singles titles, she reached her highest ranking World No. 6 on April 8, 1996, after reaching semifinals at the 1996 Australian Open. Rubin is also former World No...
, ending a 21-match winning streak. As the top-seeded player at the US Open, she defeated Corina Morariu
Corina Morariu
Corina Marie Morariu is a former American female professional tennis player of Romanian heritage.Morariu turned professional in 1994. Mainly known as a doubles specialist, she won the women's doubles title at Wimbledon in 1999 with Lindsay Davenport. She also won the mixed doubles title at the...
, future rival Dinara Safina
Dinara Safina
Dinara Mikhailovna Safina , born April 27, 1986 in Moscow, is a Russian professional tennis player of Tatar background. Safina's career high ranking is World No. 1....
, Nathalie Dechy
Nathalie Dechy
Nathalie Dechy is a French former professional tour tennis player.Dechy is a three-time doubles Grand Slam champion, winning the 2006 US Open women's doubles title with Vera Zvonareva, the 2007 French Open mixed doubles title with Andy Ram, and the 2007 US Open women's doubles title with Dinara...
, and Dája Bedáňová
Dája Bedánová
Dája Bedáňová is a former professional female tennis player from the Czech Republic. She lives in Leonberg, Germany. Bedáňová turned pro in 2000 and retired in 2005.-Singles wins :...
to make her fourth consecutive quarterfinal, where she crushed Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová is a Slovak professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first Tier I tournament and ended the year in the top 10.She is currently coached by Larri Passos...
, 6–2, 6–1, to book a place in the semifinals against former champion and no. 1 Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Ann Davenport is a former World No. 1 American professional tennis player. She has won three Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her as the 29th-best player of the preceding forty years...
. It marked the fourth consecutive time she face Davenport at the US Open. After a tight second set, Serena made her third US Open final in four years, where she faced Venus once more. Serena won the US Open title for the second time with a 6–4, 6–3 win in the final, making it her fourth Grand Slam
Grand Slam
Grand Slam may refer to:-Card games:* In the game of contract bridge a bid to win all the tricks of that hand. By extension, the taking of all the important elements in an endeavour.-Equestrianism:...
singles title to date.
Williams won two consecutive singles titles in the fall, defeating Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 7 November 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 13 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles....
to win the Toyota Princess Cup
Toyota Princess Cup
The Toyota Princess Cup was a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament held annually from 1997-2002. It was played in Tokyo, Japan and was categorized as a Tier II event....
in Tokyo, and Anastasia Myskina
Anastasia Myskina
Anastasiya Andreyevna Myskina is a professional tennis player from Russia. She won the 2004 French Open singles title, becoming the first Russian female tennis player to win a Grand Slam main draw singles title. Subsequent to this victory she rose to number 3 on the WTA ranking, becoming the first...
to win the Sparkassen Cup in Leipzig, Germany
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
. She reached the final at the year-end Home Depot Championships
WTA Tour Championships
The WTA Tour Championships is a tennis tournament played annually at the end of the season for the top-ranked players on the Women's Tennis Association tour. The month, city and number of players has changed since the first edition in 1972...
, where she lost to fifth seeded Clijsters in straight sets, ending her 18-match winning streak.
Williams finished 2002 with a 56–5 record, eight singles titles, and the world no. 1 ranking. She was the first African-American (male or female) to end a year with that ranking since Althea Gibson
Althea Gibson
Althea Gibson was a World No. 1 American sportswoman who became the first African-American woman to be a competitor on the world tennis tour and the first to win a Grand Slam title in 1956. She is sometimes referred to as "the Jackie Robinson of tennis" for breaking the color barrier...
in 1958. She was the first woman to win three Grand Slam titles in one year since Hingis in 1997.
At the 2003 Australian Open
2003 Australian Open
The 2003 Australian Open was a tennis tournament held in 2003. It was the first Grand Slam event of the 2003 ATP Tour and the 2003 WTA Tour. It was the 91st edition of the event.-Men's Singles: Andre Agassi def...
, Williams went on to reach the semifinals for the first time, where she recovered from 5–2 down in the third set and saved two match points, before defeating Clijsters. She faced her sister Venus for the fourth consecutive Grand Slam final and won, 7–6, 3–6, 6–4, to become the sixth woman in the open era to complete a Career Grand Slam, joining Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
, Chris Evert
Chris Evert
Christine Marie "Chris" Evert is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. She was the year-ending World No...
, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
, and Margaret Court. She also became the fifth woman to hold all Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously, joining Maureen Connolly Brinker, Court, Graf, and Navratilova. The Williams sisters
Williams sisters
The Williams sisters are two professional American tennis players: Venus Williams born 1980, seven-time Grand Slam title winner , and Serena Williams born 1981, thirteen-time Grand Slam title winner , both of whom were coached from an early age by their father Richard Williams...
won their sixth Grand Slam doubles title together at this event.
Williams then captured singles titles at the Open Gaz de France
Open Gaz de France
Open GDF Suez, formerly Open Gaz de France, is a Premier level tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held in Paris, France. Held since 1993, the tournament is played on indoor hardcourts....
in Paris and the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, defeating Clijsters in the semifinals and Capriati in the final. The following week, Williams lost the final at the clay-court Family Circle Cup
Family Circle Cup
The Family Circle Cup is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. The tournament is currently played on the green clay courts at the Daniel Island Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina, USA...
in Charleston, USA
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
to Henin, her first loss of the year after 21 wins. She also lost to Mauresmo in the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. Despite these losses, Williams was the top seed at the French Open, where she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Henin, 2-6, 6-4, 5-7, marking Williams's first loss in a Grand Slam tournament since 2001. The match was controversial, as Williams questioned Henin's sportsmanship, and spectators applauded Williams's errors.
Williams rebounded from the loss at the 2003 Wimbledon Championships
2003 Wimbledon Championships
List of the 2003 Wimbledon Champions:-Men's Singles: Roger Federer def. Mark Philippoussis, 7–6, 6–2, 7–6*It was Federer's 5th title of the year, and his 9th overall. It was his 1st career Grand Slam title. He became the first Swiss male player to win a Grand Slam singles...
, defeating Henin in the semifinals and Venus in the final, 4–6, 6–4, 6–2. This was Williams' second consecutive Wimbledon title and her sixth Grand Slam singles title overall. This was her last tournament of the year, as knee surgery prevented her from competing in the year's remaining events, including the US Open. As a result, she lost the world no. 1 ranking to Clijsters in August, having held it for 57 consecutive weeks. Williams finished the year ranked world no. 3 and with four titles. On September 14, 2003, while Williams was still recovering from surgery, her sister Yetunde Price
Yetunde Price
Yetunde Hawanya Tara Price was the elder half-sister and personal assistant to leading tennis players Venus Williams and Serena Williams. At the time of her death, she was 31 years old, the eldest of their mother Oracene Price's five daughters and mother of three children, a registered nurse and...
was murdered.
2004–06: Injuries and inconsistent results
Williams withdrew from the Australian Open2004 Australian Open
The 2004 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tournament held in Melbourne, Australia 19 January to 1 February, 2004.-Men's Singles: Roger Federer def. Marat Safin, 7–6, 6–4, 6–2...
to continue rehabilitating her left knee. She then withdrew from further tournaments, which generated speculation that she was losing interest in the sport. After eight months away from the tour, Williams began her comeback at the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Florida
Key Biscayne, Florida
Key Biscayne is a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States on the island of Key Biscayne. The population was 10,507 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 10,324....
, where she defeated 16-year-old Russian Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open...
in the fourth round and world no. 8 Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viatcheslavovna Dementieva is a retired Russian professional tennis player. Dementieva is most notable for winning the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She won 16 WTA singles titles and reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open. Dementieva achieved a...
in the final. This was the third consecutive year that Williams had won this tournament.
She then played three clay-court tournaments leading up to the French Open
2004 French Open
The 2004 French Open was the 103rd edition of the tournament. Gastón Gaudio became the first men's Open Era Grand Slam title winner to save match points in the final; the last time that had happened was 70 years earlier. Gaudio also became the first Argentine man since Guillermo Vilas to win a...
. She lost in the quarterfinals of the Bausch & Lomb Championships
Bausch & Lomb Championships
The MPS Group Championships was a women's tennis tournament held in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, United States. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event was an International series tournament played on outdoor green clay courts from 1980 to 2010.-History:...
in Amelia Island, Florida, and, the following week at the Tier I Family Circle Cup
Family Circle Cup
The Family Circle Cup is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. The tournament is currently played on the green clay courts at the Daniel Island Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina, USA...
in Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, she withdrew before her third-round match because of an injured knee. She was away from the tour for four weeks before playing the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, where she lost to world no. 9 Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Marie Capriati is a former world number one ranked professional tennis player, and the winner of three women's singles championships in Grand Slam tournaments. Capriati made her professional debut in 1990 at the age of 14 when she reached the finals of the hard court tournament in Boca...
in the semifinals, 4-6, 4-6. Although ranked world no. 7, she was seeded second at the French Open. She won her first four matches over players ranked outside the top 50, before Capriati beat her in the quarterfinals,3-6, 6-2, 3-6. This was the first time she had lost before the semifinals at a Grand Slam singles tournament since Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
in 2001.
She was seeded first at Wimbledon
2004 Wimbledon Championships
List of the 2004 Wimbledon Champions:-Men's Singles: Roger Federer def. Andy Roddick, 4–6, 7–5, 7–6, 6–4*It was Federer's sixth title of the year, and his 17th overall. It was his third career Grand Slam title, and his 2nd at Wimbledon....
, even though her ranking had dropped to world no. 10. She reached the final, where she was defeated by 13th-seeded Sharapova 1-6, 4-6. This loss caused her ranking to drop out of the top 10 for the first time since early 1999.
Williams reached her third final of the year at the JPMorgan Chase Open
JPMorgan Chase Open
The LA Women's Tennis Championships presented by Herbalife is a Premier-level tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held in Carson, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. The tournament is played on outdoor hard courts and is a part of the US Open Series....
in Los Angeles on hard courts. She lost there to Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Ann Davenport is a former World No. 1 American professional tennis player. She has won three Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her as the 29th-best player of the preceding forty years...
, 1-6, 3-6, which was her first loss to Davenport since the 2000 US Open. Williams then withdrew before her quarterfinal match at the Acura Classic in San Diego with another left knee injury. This injury caused her to miss both the Tier I Rogers AT&T Cup in Montreal and the Athens Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
. She returned for the US Open, where she was seeded third even though she was ranked world no. 11. She lost there in the quarterfinals to world no. 8 Capriati, 6-2, 4-6, 4-6. This match featured several missed line calls, including one that led to the suspension of the chair umpire for the remainder of the tournament. This match is commonly referred to as the impetus for the current challenge system.
Williams played only three tournaments the remainder of the year. She won her second title of the year at the China Open
China Open (tennis)
The China Open is an annual professional tennis tournament held in Beijing, China. The men's singles and doubles events were first held in 1993, the year in which the Qatar Open and Dubai Tennis Championships were also introduced to the men's tour, as the ATP opened a series of new tournaments in...
in Beijing, in which she defeated US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of October 10, 2011 ranked No. 21 in the WTA singles and No. 90 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in six doubles...
in the final. Five weeks later, she lost in the second round of the tournament in Linz, Austria
Generali Ladies Linz
The Generali Ladies Linz is a tennis tournament held in Linz, Austria. Held since 1987, this WTA Tour event is a Tier II-tournament and is played on indoor hardcourts...
to world no. 73 Alina Jidkova
Alina Jidkova
Alina Vladimirovna Jidkova , soubriquet Alinka, is a former Women's Tennis Association tennis player....
, but still qualified for the WTA Tour Championships
2004 WTA Tour Championships
The 2004 WTA Tour Championships were held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, United States.-Singles: Maria Sharapova def. Serena Williams, 4–6, 6–2, 6–4-Doubles:...
. In the round-robin phase of the tournament, she defeated world no. 5 Dementieva, lost to world no. 1 Davenport, and defeated world no. 3 Anastasia Myskina
Anastasia Myskina
Anastasiya Andreyevna Myskina is a professional tennis player from Russia. She won the 2004 French Open singles title, becoming the first Russian female tennis player to win a Grand Slam main draw singles title. Subsequent to this victory she rose to number 3 on the WTA ranking, becoming the first...
. She lost to world no. 6 Sharapova in the final, 6-4, 2-6, 4-6. Williams trailed 5–2 in the second set, when she asked for treatment of an abdominal injury that caused her to serve around 65 mph. She led 4–0 in the third set, before Sharapova won the last six games of the match. Williams finished 2004 ranked world no. 7, but did not win a Grand Slam singles tournament for the first time since 2001.
At the 2005 Australian Open
2005 Australian Open
The 2005 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament held in Melbourne, Australia from 17 until 30 January 2005.-Men's Singles: Marat Safin def. Lleyton Hewitt, 1–6, 6–3, 6–4, 6–4...
, Williams rejected suggestions that she and sister Venus were a declining force in tennis, following Venus's early exit at the tournament. In the quarterfinals, Williams defeated second-seeded Mauresmo, 6–2, 6–2. In the semifinals, she saved three match points in defeating fourth-seeded Sharapova, 2–6, 7–5, 8–6. In the final, Williams defeated world no. 1 Davenport, 2–6, 6–3, 6–0, to win her second Australian Open singles title and seventh Grand Slam singles title. The win moved Williams back to world no. 2, and she stated that she was now targeting the no. 1 spot.
She did not, however, reach the final at any of her next five tournaments. She withdrew before her quarterfinal match at the Open Gaz de France
Open Gaz de France
Open GDF Suez, formerly Open Gaz de France, is a Premier level tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held in Paris, France. Held since 1993, the tournament is played on indoor hardcourts....
in Paris, citing a stomach illness. Three weeks later, she retired from her semifinal match with Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from Serbia. She reached the final of the 2008 US Open and won the 2007 Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title. Janković is ranked world no...
at the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open, citing a strained tendon in her right shoulder. Four weeks later, she lost to sister Venus for the first time since 2001 in the quarterfinals of the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, 1-6, 6-7. The following week, a left ankle injury forced her to retire from her quarterfinal match on clay at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island. Five weeks away from the tour did not improve her results, as she lost in the second round of the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome to Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone is an Italian tennis player who turned professional in 1998. She won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She was also runner-up at the 2011 French Open. As of 24 October 2011, Schiavone's ranking is World...
, 6-7, 1-6. The ankle injury also caused her to miss the French Open
2005 French Open
The 2005 French Open was the 104th edition of the tournament. Rafael Nadal, seeded fourth in his first French Open, was a strong favorite after winning the Rome and Monte Carlo Masters, with Guillermo Coria, a 2004 finalist and runner-up in Monaco, calling Nadal the best clay-court player in the...
.
She returned for Wimbledon
2005 Wimbledon Championships
The 2005 Wimbledon Championships was the 119 edition. It was held at the All England Club between 20 June and 3 July.Roger Federer successfully defended the men's singles crown defeating Andy Roddick in straight sets. Whilst Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport played the longest women's final in...
as the fourth seeded player, but, after struggling through her first two matches in three sets, she was defeated in the third round by world no. 85 Jill Craybas
Jill Craybas
- Early years :Craybas was born in Providence, Rhode Island. She received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she played for coach Andy Brandi's Florida Gators women's tennis team in National Collegiate Athletics Association competition from 1993 to...
, 3-6, 6-7.
1998 Australian Open
The 1998 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 86th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 19 January through 1 February 1998.-Men's Singles:...
. Williams played just one more match the remainder of the year, a loss to world no. 127 Sun Tiantian
Sun Tiantian
Sun Tiantian is a Chinese female tennis player.- Career :In September 2000, Tiantian won two successive US$10,000 ITF singles titles, a feat she would repeat in June 2001, when she won another two back-to-back....
at the tournament in Beijing
China Open (tennis)
The China Open is an annual professional tennis tournament held in Beijing, China. The men's singles and doubles events were first held in 1993, the year in which the Qatar Open and Dubai Tennis Championships were also introduced to the men's tour, as the ATP opened a series of new tournaments in...
. She failed to qualify for the year-end championship for the first time since 1998. She finished the year ranked world no. 11, her first time finishing outside of the top 10 since 1998.
Williams did not participate in any of the official warm-up tournaments for the 2006 Australian Open
2006 Australian Open
The 2006 Australian Open was played between 16 and 29 January 2006.- Leadup :Several leading men's players declined to attend the Open due to injury, including Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal and defending champion Marat Safin....
. Williams was the defending champion at the Australian Open, but fell to world no. 17 Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová is a Slovak professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first Tier I tournament and ended the year in the top 10.She is currently coached by Larri Passos...
in the third round, 1-6, 6-7. She then withdrew from tournaments in Tokyo
Toray Pan Pacific Open
The is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1984 on in Tokyo, Japan. It is classified on the WTA Tour as a Tier I tournament since 1993. The event has traditionally been played on indoor carpet at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, but the 2008 event...
(citing her lack of fitness) and Dubai and from the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne (citing a knee injury and lack of fitness). On April 10, her ranking fell out of the top 100 for the first time since November 16, 1997. Shortly after, she announced that she would miss both the French Open and Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
because of a chronic knee injury. She said that she would not be able to compete before "the end of the summer", on doctor's orders.
Williams returned to the Tour in July at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open
Cincinnati Masters
The Cincinnati Open is an annual outdoor hardcourts tennis event held in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio, USA. The event started on September 18, 1899 and is the oldest tennis tournament in the United States played in its original city., Between...
in Cincinnati. Ranked world no. 139 because of her inactivity, she defeated world no. 11 Myskina in the first round, 6–2, 6–2, before losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva is a professional tennis player from Russia. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. Her career high is World No. 2 by the WTA, and she is currently ranked as the World No. 7. Zvonarёva has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles and reached the...
. She also reached the semifinals in Los Angeles, losing to world no. 28 Janković in straight sets.
At the US Open, Williams was unseeded in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 1998 and needed a wildcard to enter the tournament because her ranking was too low. She lost to top-seeded Mauresmo in the fourth round, 4-6, 6-0, 2-6. She did not play again in 2006, ending the year ranked world no. 95. This was her lowest year-end ranking since 1997. Williams played just four tournaments in 2006.
2007–08: Return to the top 10
Williams began 2007 with renewed confidence, stating her intention to return to the top of the rankings, a comment former player and commentator Pat CashPat Cash
Patrick Hart "Pat" Cash is a retired Australian professional tennis player who won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1987.-Early career:...
branded "deluded."
Williams lost in the quarterfinals of the tournament in Hobart, Australia
Moorilla Hobart International
The Hobart International is a women's professional tennis tournament held at the Hobart International Tennis Centre in Hobart, Australia. Held since 1994, it forms a part of the Women's Tennis Association Tour and is classed as an International tournament...
, a warm-up for the Australian Open
2007 Australian Open
The 2007 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament held in Melbourne, Australia from 15 January until 28 January 2007.The total prize pool was set at exactly A$20 million, with the winners of both the men's and women's singles competition each receiving A$1,281,000. Over 500 players...
. Williams was unseeded at the Australian Open because of her world no. 81 ranking and was widely regarded as "out of shape." In the third round, however, Williams defeated fifth-seeded Nadia Petrova
Nadia Petrova
Nadezhda Viktorovna Petrova is a Russian professional tennis player.Overall, she has won 28 WTA Titles, ten in singles and eighteen in doubles. In singles, Petrova has reached a career high ranking of World No. 3 in May 2006 and has reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2003 and 2005...
, which was her first win over a top-10 player since defeating Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Ann Davenport is a former World No. 1 American professional tennis player. She has won three Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her as the 29th-best player of the preceding forty years...
in the 2005 Australian Open
2005 Australian Open
The 2005 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament held in Melbourne, Australia from 17 until 30 January 2005.-Men's Singles: Marat Safin def. Lleyton Hewitt, 1–6, 6–3, 6–4, 6–4...
final. In the final, Williams defeated top-seeded Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open...
, 6–1, 6–2 to win her third Australian Open singles title and her eighth Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
singles title. Williams dedicated the title to her deceased sister Yetunde. Her performance in the final was described by TENNIS.com as "one of the best performances of her career" and by BBC Sport as "arguably the most powerful display ever seen in women's tennis."
Williams next played at the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida
Key Biscayne, Florida
Key Biscayne is a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States on the island of Key Biscayne. The population was 10,507 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 10,324....
in late March. In the final, Williams defeated world no. 1 Justine Henin, 0–6, 7–5, 6–3 after saving a match point in the second set.
At the Tier I Family Circle Cup
Family Circle Cup
The Family Circle Cup is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. The tournament is currently played on the green clay courts at the Daniel Island Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina, USA...
in Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
on clay courts, Williams retired from her second-round match because of a groin pull. The following week, Williams won her first singles match in the first round Fed Cup
2007 Fed Cup
The 2007 Fed Cup is the 45th edition of the most important tournament between national teams in women's tennis. 74 nations participated in the tournament...
tie against Belgium
Belgium Fed Cup team
The Belgian Fed Cup team has been competing in the International Tennis Federation sanctioned Fed Cup since the very beginning: 1963. It has won the competition once, in 2001...
on hard courts, but withdrew from the second singles match to rest her knee. Williams played only one clay-court tournament in Europe before the French Open. In Rome at the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Williams lost to 14th-seeded Patty Schnyder
Patty Schnyder
Patty Schnyder is a retired Swiss professional tennis player. She played on the WTA tour from 1993 to 2011 and is a former World No. 7. She defeated several World No...
of Switzerland in the quarterfinals, 3-6, 6-2, 6-7. After the tournament, however, she re-entered the top 10 at world no. 9. As the eighth seed at the French Open
2007 French Open
The 2007 French Open was held in Paris, France from 27 May through to 10 June 2007. Followed two weeks later, as usual, by Wimbledon in London, United Kingdom. Rafael Nadal became the first man to win the tournament 3 times consecutively since Björn Borg, 1978–81; and maintained his unbeaten run...
, Williams lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Henin, 4-6, 3-6. Williams said her performance was "hideous and horrendous" and worse than ever. She also said that she felt "violated".
Despite the loss, Williams was one of the favorites for the Wimbledon title. During her fourth round match against Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová is a Slovak professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first Tier I tournament and ended the year in the top 10.She is currently coached by Larri Passos...
, Williams collapsed from an acute muscle spasm at 5–5 in the second set. After a medical timeout and holding serve to force a tiebreak, rain forced play to be suspended for nearly two hours. When the players returned, Williams won the match, 6–2, 6–7, 6–2. Williams then lost her quarterfinal match with world no. 1 Henin, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6. Williams started the match with a heavily taped calf and was forced to use a one-handed backhand slice because of a left thumb injury. Williams was criticized for claiming after the match that she would have beaten Henin had Williams been healthy. After Wimbledon, Williams moved up to world no. 7, her highest ranking since 2005.
Because of the thumb injury, Williams did not play a tournament between Wimbledon and the US Open
2007 U.S. Open (tennis)
The 2007 US Open was held from 27 August to 9 September 2007, at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, New York City....
. At the US Open, she beat 2007 Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli is a French professional tennis player and the current French no. 1. She has won seven Women's Tennis Association singles titles and three doubles titles. She was also a runner-up at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships....
in the fourth round, but lost her third consecutive Grand Slam singles quarterfinal to Henin, 6-7, 1-6.
In October, Williams lost in the quarterfinals of the tournament in Stuttgart
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix is a tennis tournament held in Stuttgart, Germany . Held since 1978, the tournament is the oldest women's indoor tournament in Europe. Currently it is a Tier II tournament on the WTA Tour. The singles champion also receives a Porsche 911 Carrera sports car in addition...
to world no. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of October 10, 2011 ranked No. 21 in the WTA singles and No. 90 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in six doubles...
. Williams then reached her third final of the year at the Tier I Kremlin Cup
Kremlin Cup
The Kremlin Cup is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It is currently part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour and is a Premier Tournament on the WTA Tour...
in Moscow, defeating Kuznetsova in the semifinals, before losing to Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viatcheslavovna Dementieva is a retired Russian professional tennis player. Dementieva is most notable for winning the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She won 16 WTA singles titles and reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open. Dementieva achieved a...
. Nevertheless, Williams's performances at these tournaments raised her ranking to world no. 5 and qualified her for the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships
2007 WTA Tour Championships
The 2007 WTA Tour Championships, officially Sony Ericsson Championships, is the thirty seventh season-ending WTA Tour Championships, the annual tennis tournament for the eight best female tennis players in singles, and four teams in doubles, on the 2007 WTA Tour...
in Madrid. Her participation there was short. Because of injury, she retired from her first match with Anna Chakvetadze
Anna Chakvetadze
Anna Djambulilovna Chakvetadze is a Russian professional tennis player . On September 10, 2007, she reached her career-high professional singles ranking of World No. 5. She has won eight WTA Singles Titles and appeared in the 2007 US Open semifinals. As of July 4, 2011, Chakvetadze is ranked World...
, after losing the first set, and then withdrew from the tournament. Williams finished 2007 as World No. 7 and the top-ranked American for the first time since 2003.
Williams started 2008 by participating on the U.S. team that won the Hopman Cup
Hopman Cup
The Hopman Cup is an annual international team tennis tournament held in Perth, Western Australia in early January each year, which plays mixed teams on a country by country basis...
for the fifth time in Perth, Australia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
. Williams was the seventh seed at the Australian Open
2008 Australian Open
The 2008 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 96th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 14 through 27 January 2008.After twenty years of playing on...
, but lost in the quarterfinals to world no. 4 and third-seeded Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from Serbia. She reached the final of the 2008 US Open and won the 2007 Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title. Janković is ranked world no...
, 3-6, 4-6. This was her fourth straight loss in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament. In the women's doubles event, Serena and her sister Venus
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...
lost in the quarterfinals to the seventh-seeded team of Zheng Jie
Zheng Jie
Zheng Jie is a Chinese professional tennis player. Her career high ranking is World No. 15 which she achieved on May 18, 2009. As of August 15, 2011, Zheng is ranked World No. 65 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles....
and Yan Zi
Yan Zi
Yan Zi is a Chinese women's tennis player.Yan Zi may also refer to:* Stefanie Sun , also known as Sun Yan Zi, Singaporean singer** Yan Zi , Sun's self-titled album...
.
Williams then withdrew from three tournaments because of an urgent need for dental surgery. Upon her return to the Tour, Williams won three consecutive singles titles. At the Tier II tournament in Bangalore, India
Bangalore Open
The Bangalore Open was a tennis tournament held in Bangalore, India. The tournament began in Hyderabad in 2003, and moved to Bangalore in 2006. This WTA Tour event was played on outdoor hardcourts. It as a Premier Mandatory event with a prize Money of US$175,000...
, Serena defeated sister Venus in the semifinals, 6–3, 3–6, 7–6, after Serena saved a match point at 6–5 in the third set. This was the first time they had played each other since the fourth round of the 2005 US Open. Serena then defeated Schnyder in the final. At the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Williams won her fifth career singles title there, tying Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
for the most singles titles at this tournament. Williams defeated world no. 1 Henin in the quarterfinals, world no. 3 Kuznetsova in the semifinals, and world no. 4 Janković in the final. This was her 30th career singles title.
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva is a professional tennis player from Russia. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. Her career high is World No. 2 by the WTA, and she is currently ranked as the World No. 7. Zvonarёva has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles and reached the...
to capture her tenth career Tier I title and first clay-court title since the 2002 French Open
2002 French Open
The 2002 French Open was the second Grand Slam event of 2002 and the 101st edition of the French Open. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from late May through early June, 2002.-Men's singles:...
. Her 17-match winning streak was ended by Dinara Safina
Dinara Safina
Dinara Mikhailovna Safina , born April 27, 1986 in Moscow, is a Russian professional tennis player of Tatar background. Safina's career high ranking is World No. 1....
in the quarterfinals of the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open
Qatar Telecom German Open
The German Open, sponsored from 2006 through 2008 as the Qatar Telecom German Open, was a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women played in Berlin, Germany. Held since 1896, it was one of the oldest tournaments for women...
in Berlin, 6-2, 1-6, 6-7. Williams was the fifth-seeded player at the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome and made it to the quarterfinals, where Alizé Cornet
Alizé Cornet
Alizé Cornet is a French professional tennis player and the current French number three . She was born in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, and has a career-high ranking of No. 11, achieved on 16 February 2009; as of 4 July 2011 she is ranked World No. 69...
received a walkover over Williams because of a back injury.
Williams was the fifth-seeded player at the French Open
2008 French Open
The 2008 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 107th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from May 25 through June 8, 2008....
. Although she was the only former winner of this tournament in this year's draw, following the sudden retirement of four-time champion Henin, she lost in the third round to 27th-seeded Katarina Srebotnik
Katarina Srebotnik
Katarina Srebotnik is a Slovenian professional tennis player. Srebotnik is right-handed, 1.80 m, weighs 65 kg and lives in Dubai. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 20 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour on August 7, 2006.Srebotnik won 4 singles titles on the WTA-tour and was a steady top 30...
, 4-6, 4-6.
At Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
, the sixth-seeded Williams reached the finals for the first time in four years. She defeated former world no. 1 and 2006 Wimbledon champion Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo ; is a French former professional tennis player, and a former World No. 1. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon....
in the third round, before losing the final to her older sister Venus in straight sets. This was the first Grand Slam final in which the Williams sisters had played each other since 2003. Serena and Venus then teamed to win the women's doubles title without dropping a set the entire tournament, their first Grand Slam women's doubles title since 2003.
World Team Tennis
World TeamTennis is a coed professional tennis league played with a unique team format in the United States. Each match consists of five sets. Each set features a different configuration . Coaches, before the match, decide the order in which the sets will be played...
matches for the Washington Kastles
Washington Kastles
The Washington Kastles, a professional tennis team based in Washington, D.C., are a franchise of the World TeamTennis Pro League and the 2009 WTT Champions. The Kastles entered the World TeamTennis League in 2008 and are owned by Mark Ein. The team is named for Kastle Systems, a security company...
, contributing 49 points for her team.
Williams was seeded first at the tournament in Stanford, California
Bank of the West Classic
The Bank of the West Classic is a week-long tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, United States. The 2011 event will be held on July 25th to July 31st. Started in 1971, the tournament is the oldest women's-only tournament in the world...
, but retired from her semifinal match against qualifier Aleksandra Wozniak
Aleksandra Wozniak
Aleksandra Wozniak is a Canadian professional tennis player. She turned professional in November 2005. Wozniak achieved a career-best ranking of no. 21 on June 22, 2009, making her the fourth-highest ranked Canadian singles player of all time. She has won one WTA and eight ITF tournaments...
while trailing 6–2, 3–1 because of a left knee injury. That injury caused Williams to withdraw from the tournament in Los Angeles the following week.
Playing in the singles draw at the Olympics
Tennis at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Tennis competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing were held from August 10 to August 17 at the Olympic Green Tennis Centre. The DecoTurf surface rendered the event a hardcourt tournament....
for the first time in Beijing
Tennis at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Tennis competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing were held from August 10 to August 17 at the Olympic Green Tennis Centre. The DecoTurf surface rendered the event a hardcourt tournament....
, Williams was the fourth-seeded player in singles, but lost to fifth-seeded and eventual gold-medalist Dementieva in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6. Serena and her sister Venus won the gold medal in doubles to add to their victory at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, beating the Spanish team of Anabel Medina Garrigues
Anabel Medina Garrigues
Ana Isabel Medina Garrigues , better known as Anabel Medina, is a Spanish female tennis player. She reached a career high WTA Tour ranking of No. 16 on 4 May 2009, and has won 11 singles titles and 14 doubles titles, including the 2008 French Open and 2009 French Open with Virginia Ruano Pascual...
and Virginia Ruano Pascual
Virginia Ruano Pascual
Virginia Ruano Pascual is a Spanish professional female tennis player. She was born in Madrid, Spain.She has won three career singles titles but she has been more successful in doubles where she has won 43 titles, including 10 Grand Slam titles Between 2002...
in the final.
Williams was seeded fourth at the US Open and defeated her seventh-seeded sister Venus in the quarterfinals, 7–6, 7–6. Serena trailed 5–3 in both sets and saved two set points in the first set and eight set points in the second set. Williams then defeated Safina in the semifinals and second-seeded Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from Serbia. She reached the final of the 2008 US Open and won the 2007 Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title. Janković is ranked world no...
, 6–4, 7–5, in the final, after saving four set points at 5–3 in the second set. This was her third US Open and ninth Grand Slam singles title. This victory returned her to the world no. 1 ranking for the first time since 2003.
At the Tier II Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix is a tennis tournament held in Stuttgart, Germany . Held since 1978, the tournament is the oldest women's indoor tournament in Europe. Currently it is a Tier II tournament on the WTA Tour. The singles champion also receives a Porsche 911 Carrera sports car in addition...
in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, Williams was the top seed, but lost to world no. 30 Li Na
Li Na (tennis)
Li Na , goes first before the equivalent of a first name in some other nations. Her name off court in China is Li Na. When listed on the , she is known as Na Li. However, in the match, the commentators call her Li Na, and when her full name is listed in text on court, it is also written as Li Na.;...
in the second round, 6-0, 1-6, 4-6. Serena also played doubles there with her sister Venus, but they withdrew after winning their first round match because of a left ankle injury to Serena. On October 3, Williams announced her withdrawal from the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow, citing a continuing left ankle injury and a desire to give her body time to recover from a packed playing schedule. Because of her withdrawal, she lost the world no. 1 ranking to Janković.
Williams defeated Safina in her first round-robin match at the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, before losing to her sister Venus, 7-5, 1-6, 2-6, in her second round-robin match. She then withdrew from her match against Dementieva, citing a stomach muscle injury. She ended the year ranked world no. 2 and with four singles titles, her strongest performance in both respects since 2003.
2009: Back at world no. 1
At the Medibank International in Sydney, top-seeded Williams lost in the semifinals to Russian Elena DementievaElena Dementieva
Elena Viatcheslavovna Dementieva is a retired Russian professional tennis player. Dementieva is most notable for winning the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She won 16 WTA singles titles and reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open. Dementieva achieved a...
for the third consecutive time, 3-6, 1-6.
2009 Australian Open
The 2009 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 97th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 19 January through 1 February 2009. The 2009 men's...
. She claimed her tenth Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
singles title by defeating Dinara Safina
Dinara Safina
Dinara Mikhailovna Safina , born April 27, 1986 in Moscow, is a Russian professional tennis player of Tatar background. Safina's career high ranking is World No. 1....
in the final, 6–0, 6–3, in 59 minutes. This win returned her to the world no. 1 ranking and resulted in her becoming the all-time career prize money leader in women's sports, overtaking golfer Annika Sörenstam
Annika Sörenstam
Annika Sörenstam is a Swedish-American professional golfer whose achievements rank her as one of the most successful golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she won 90 international tournaments as a professional, making her the female golfer...
. In women's doubles, Serena and her sister Venus
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...
captured the title for the third time.
At the Open GDF SUEZ in Paris, Williams withdrew from the tournament before her scheduled semifinal with Dementieva because of a knee injury. Williams was the top seed at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, a Premier 5
WTA Premier tournaments
Premier Tournaments is a category of tennis tournaments in the Women's Tennis Association tour.Premier events include:*Four "Premier Mandatory" events in Indian Wells, Key Biscayne, Madrid, and Beijing with prize money of $4.5 million....
event on the tour
2009 WTA Tour
The 2009 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour was the 37th season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on January 5, 2009, and concluded on November 8, 2009 after 56 events....
. She defeated former world no. 1 Ana Ivanović
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanović is a former world no. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of November 7, 2011, she is ranked 22th on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open...
in the quarterfinals, before losing to her sister Venus in the semifinals, 1-6, 6-2, 6-7.
At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida
Key Biscayne, Florida
Key Biscayne is a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States on the island of Key Biscayne. The population was 10,507 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 10,324....
, a Premier Mandatory
WTA Premier tournaments
Premier Tournaments is a category of tennis tournaments in the Women's Tennis Association tour.Premier events include:*Four "Premier Mandatory" events in Indian Wells, Key Biscayne, Madrid, and Beijing with prize money of $4.5 million....
event, Williams was upset in the final by 11th seeded Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Her career high and current ranking is world no. 3, which she first achieved on 12 September 2011. She became the highest-ranked Belarusian player ever, surpassing Natasha Zvereva by two spots....
. This was the first of four consecutive losses for Williams, the longest losing streak of her career. She was defeated in her opening match at her first three clay-court events of the year, including the Premier 5 Internazionali d'Italia in Rome and the Premier Mandatory Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. She lost the world no. 1 ranking to Safina on April 20. Despite not having won a match on clay in 2009 before the French Open, she reached the quarterfinals there, before losing to the eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of October 10, 2011 ranked No. 21 in the WTA singles and No. 90 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in six doubles...
, 6-7, 7-5, 5-7. This ended her 18-match Grand Slam tournament winning streak.
She rebounded at Wimbledon, saving a match point in defeating fourth seeded Dementieva in the semifinals, 6–7, 7–5, 8–6. In the final, Serena defeated her sister Venus, 7–6, 6–2, to win her third Wimbledon title and her 11th Grand Slam singles title. Although Williams was now holding three of the four Grand Slam singles titles, she continued to trail Safina in the WTA rankings, a fact Williams publicly mocked. Williams and her sister Venus teamed to win the women's doubles title at Wimbledon for the second consecutive year, their ninth Grand Slam title in women's doubles.
Following Wimbledon, Williams played two Premier 5 tournaments before the US Open. She lost in the third round of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati and in the semifinals, to world no. 5 Dementieva, of the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
She was seeded second at the US Open, where she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 7 November 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 13 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles....
amid controversy involving shouting at a line judge when defending match point, an offense which ultimately cost Williams the point and therefore the match. She continued in the doubles competition, teaming up with Venus to win their third Grand Slam doubles title of the year and tenth of their career.
Williams played only two tournaments after the US Open. At the Premier Mandatory China Open
China Open (tennis)
The China Open is an annual professional tennis tournament held in Beijing, China. The men's singles and doubles events were first held in 1993, the year in which the Qatar Open and Dubai Tennis Championships were also introduced to the men's tour, as the ATP opened a series of new tournaments in...
in Beijing, she was defeated in the third round by Nadia Petrova
Nadia Petrova
Nadezhda Viktorovna Petrova is a Russian professional tennis player.Overall, she has won 28 WTA Titles, ten in singles and eighteen in doubles. In singles, Petrova has reached a career high ranking of World No. 3 in May 2006 and has reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2003 and 2005...
. Williams won all three of her round-robin matches at the year-end WTA Tour Championships
2009 WTA Tour Championships
The 2009 WTA Tour Championships was held in Doha, Qatar from October 27 to November 1. It was the second time the Khalifa International Tennis Complex hosted the WTA Tour Year-End Singles and Doubles Championships.Women's Tennis Association rank No...
in Doha, Qatar, defeating world no. 7 Venus Williams, world no. 5 Dementieva, and world no. 3 Kuznetsova. She saved a match point against Venus, before winning in a third-set tiebreak. She then advanced to the final, when US Open runner-up Wozniacki retired from their semifinal match while trailing, 6–4, 0–1. In the final, Williams played Venus for the second time in four days, winning once again, 6–2, 7–6, against her tired and error-stricken sister. This was Serena's second singles title at this event.
Williams finished the year ranked world no. 1 for the second time in her career, having played in 16 tournaments, more than any other year. She also broke the record previously set by Justine Henin for the most prize money earned by a female tennis player in one year, with Williams earning $6,545,586. In doubles, the Williams sisters
Williams sisters
The Williams sisters are two professional American tennis players: Venus Williams born 1980, seven-time Grand Slam title winner , and Serena Williams born 1981, thirteen-time Grand Slam title winner , both of whom were coached from an early age by their father Richard Williams...
finished the year ranked world no. 2, despite playing only six tournaments as a pair. She won five Grand Slam titles, putting her total Grand Slam titles at 23.
Williams was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in a landslide vote (66 of 158 votes – no other candidate received more than 18 votes). She also was the International Tennis Federation
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 205 national tennis associations.It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913...
World Champion in singles and doubles.
2010: Continued dominance of the WTA Tour
Williams's first scheduled tournament was the Medibank International Sydney. She defeated FrenchwomanFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Aravane Rezaï
Aravane Rezaï
Aravane Rezaï is an Iranian-French tennis player born in Saint-Étienne, France to Iranian parents. She is the current French No. 5 in women's tennis. Rezaï took up tennis after a childhood stint as her older brother's ball girl...
in the semifinals, 3–6, 7–5, 6–4, after trailing 5–2 in the second set and being two points from defeat. She then lost the final to world no. 5 and defending champion Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viatcheslavovna Dementieva is a retired Russian professional tennis player. Dementieva is most notable for winning the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She won 16 WTA singles titles and reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open. Dementieva achieved a...
, 3-6, 2-6.
At the Australian Open, Williams was the defending champion in both singles and doubles. She reached the singles quarterfinals without losing a service game or a set, where she eliminated Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Her career high and current ranking is world no. 3, which she first achieved on 12 September 2011. She became the highest-ranked Belarusian player ever, surpassing Natasha Zvereva by two spots....
, 4–6, 7–6, 6–2, after trailing 4–0 in the second set. In the semifinals, Williams defeated 16th seeded Li Na
Li Na (tennis)
Li Na , goes first before the equivalent of a first name in some other nations. Her name off court in China is Li Na. When listed on the , she is known as Na Li. However, in the match, the commentators call her Li Na, and when her full name is listed in text on court, it is also written as Li Na.;...
, 7–6, 7–6, on her fifth match point to reach her fifth final in Melbourne and her fifteenth Grand Slam singles final. She then defeated 2004 champion Justine Henin, 6–4, 3–6, 6–2, for her twelfth Grand Slam singles title. This was the first time that Henin and Williams had played each other in a Grand Slam tournament final. Williams is the first female player to win consecutive Australian Open singles titles since Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Marie Capriati is a former world number one ranked professional tennis player, and the winner of three women's singles championships in Grand Slam tournaments. Capriati made her professional debut in 1990 at the age of 14 when she reached the finals of the hard court tournament in Boca...
in 2001–02. In doubles, Serena and Venus successfully defended their title by defeating the top-ranked team of Cara Black
Cara Black
Cara Black is a professional female tennis player from Zimbabwe. She has won 7 singles titles and 63 women's doubles titles. She has won all four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles and three of the four Grand Slam titles in women's doubles. She is currently ranked World No. 28 in women's doubles...
and Liezel Huber
Liezel Huber
Liezel Huber is a professional tennis player who competes for, resides in, and is a naturalized citizen of the United States. Huber has won four Grand Slam titles in women's doubles with partner Cara Black, one with Lisa Raymond, and two mixed doubles titles with Bob Bryan. On November 12, 2007,...
in the final, 6–4, 6–3.
A leg injury then caused Williams to withdraw from five consecutive tournaments, including the Premier 5 Dubai Tennis Championships
Dubai Tennis Championships
The Dubai Tennis Championships is a professional tennis tournament owned and organized by Dubai Duty Free and held annually in Dubai, United Arab...
and the Premier Mandatory Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne. She returned to the WTA Tour at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia
2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia
The 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia was a tennis tournament, being played on outdoor clay courts at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy. It was the 67th edition of the event and was classified as an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the 2010 ATP World Tour and a Premier 5 event on the 2010 WTA Tour...
in Rome, where she lost to Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from Serbia. She reached the final of the 2008 US Open and won the 2007 Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title. Janković is ranked world no...
in the semifinals, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(5-7), after failing to convert a match point while serving at 5–4 in the third set, and then surrendering a 5–2 lead in the deciding tiebreaker.
At the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open
2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open
The 2010 Madrid Masters was played on outdoor clay courts at the Park Manzanares in Madrid, Spain from May 7 – May 16. It was the 9th edition of the event on the ATP and 2nd on the WTA...
, she received a first-round bye. In her first match, she made 73 unforced errors in defeating Vera Dushevina
Vera Dushevina
Vera Yevgenyevna Dushevina is a Russian professional female tennis player. She was born in Moscow but now resides in Khimki, Russia. In 2006, she privately amended the presentation of her surname so as to be more English language friendly, adopting Dushevina in place of Douchevina which is a...
in the longest match of her career, 3 hours, 26 minutes, 6–7, 7–6, 7–6. Williams saved a match point at 6–5 in the second set, then injured her upper leg early in the third set. She then fell to 16th seeded Nadia Petrova
Nadia Petrova
Nadezhda Viktorovna Petrova is a Russian professional tennis player.Overall, she has won 28 WTA Titles, ten in singles and eighteen in doubles. In singles, Petrova has reached a career high ranking of World No. 3 in May 2006 and has reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2003 and 2005...
, 6-4, 2-6, 3-6. Williams won only two of her eighteen opportunities to break Petrova's serve. She teamed with Venus to win the doubles title.
At the French Open
2010 French Open
The 2010 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 109th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year...
, she lost to Samantha Stosur
Samantha Stosur
Samantha "Sam" Jane Stosur is an Australian professional tennis player. She won the 2011 US Open singles title and was a finalist at the 2010 French Open. Stosur is ranked World No. 6 and her career high in singles is World No. 4, achieved on 21 February 2011. She is a former world No...
in the quarterfinals, 3-6, 7-6, 6-8. Williams made 46 unforced errors and squandered a match point at 5–4 in the final set. It was the first Grand Slam tournament that Williams had not won or been defeated by the eventual champion since the 2008 French Open
2008 French Open
The 2008 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 107th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from May 25 through June 8, 2008....
. Williams had not advanced past the quarterfinals at this event since 2003. She also played doubles with Venus as the top seeds. Their defeat of Huber and Anabel Medina Garrigues
Anabel Medina Garrigues
Ana Isabel Medina Garrigues , better known as Anabel Medina, is a Spanish female tennis player. She reached a career high WTA Tour ranking of No. 16 on 4 May 2009, and has won 11 singles titles and 14 doubles titles, including the 2008 French Open and 2009 French Open with Virginia Ruano Pascual...
in the semifinals improved their doubles ranking to world no. 1. They then defeated 12th seeds Květa Peschke
Kveta Peschke
Květoslava Peschke, also known as Květa Peschkeová is a professional female tennis player from the Czech Republic. She plays mostly on the baseline, with her best shot being the forehand. Her favourite surfaces are hard court and carpet...
and Katarina Srebotnik
Katarina Srebotnik
Katarina Srebotnik is a Slovenian professional tennis player. Srebotnik is right-handed, 1.80 m, weighs 65 kg and lives in Dubai. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 20 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour on August 7, 2006.Srebotnik won 4 singles titles on the WTA-tour and was a steady top 30...
in the final, 6–2, 6–3, to win their fourth consecutive Grand Slam women's doubles title.
Her next tournament was Wimbledon, where she defeated Russian Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva is a professional tennis player from Russia. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. Her career high is World No. 2 by the WTA, and she is currently ranked as the World No. 7. Zvonarёva has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles and reached the...
in the final, 6–3, 6–2, without facing a break point and breaking the serve of Zvonareva three times. She did not lose a set in the tournament. After the match, Martina Navratilova said that Williams is in the top 5 of all the women's tennis players in all of history, which she said that "it's not just about how many Slams you win or how many tournaments you win—it's just your game overall. And she’s definitely got all the goods." Serena was the defending champion in doubles with her sister Venus, winning the last two years. They lost in the quarterfinals to Elena Vesnina
Elena Vesnina
Elena Sergeevna Vesnina is a professional female tennis player from Russia. Her career high rank was #22, achieved on 12 October 2009...
and Zvonareva, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6.
In Munich on July 7, Williams stepped on broken glass while in a restaurant. She received 18 stitches, but the following day she lost an exhibition match to Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 7 November 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 13 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles....
, 3-6, 2-6, in Brussels before a world-record crowd for a tennis match, 35,681 at the King Baudouin Stadium
King Baudouin Stadium
The King Baudouin Stadium is a sports ground in north-west Brussels, Belgium. It was inaugurated on 23 August 1930 as the Stade du Jubilé or Jubelstadion in the presence of Prince Leopold. It was built to embellish the Heysel plateau in view of the Brussels International Exposition...
. The cut foot turned out to be a serious injury, requiring surgery and preventing her from playing for the remainder of 2010. As a result, she lost the world no. 1 ranking to Dane Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki is a Danish professional tennis player. She is the current world no. 1 on the WTA Tour. As of 7 November 2011, she has held this position for 56 weeks...
on October 11, 2010 and ended the year ranked no. 4 in singles, despite having played only six tournaments, and no. 11 in doubles after four tournaments.
2011: Comeback after medical complications
Because of her continuing rehabilitation for her foot injury, Serena withdrew from the 2011 Hopman Cup2011 Hopman Cup
-Serbia vs. Kazakhstan: -Belgium vs. Kazakhstan: -Serbia vs. Australia: -Australia vs. Kazakhstan: -Serbia vs. Belgium: -Standings:...
and the 2011 Australian Open
2011 Australian Open
The 2011 Australian Open was a tennis tournament featuring six different competitions, and part of the 2011 ATP World Tour, the 2011 WTA Tour, ITF Junior Tour and the NEC Tour, as tournaments for professional, junior and wheelchair players were held...
. As a result, she dropped to world no. 12 in the WTA rankings, her lowest ranking since March 2007. However, she stayed in the top 20, despite not having played for 11 months. On March 2, 2011, she confirmed that she had suffered a hematoma
Hematoma
A hematoma, or haematoma, is a localized collection of blood outside the blood vessels, usually in liquid form within the tissue. This distinguishes it from an ecchymosis, which is the spread of blood under the skin in a thin layer, commonly called a bruise...
and a pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism is a blockage of the main artery of the lung or one of its branches by a substance that has travelled from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream . Usually this is due to embolism of a thrombus from the deep veins in the legs, a process termed venous thromboembolism...
.
She made her first appearance on the WTA tour in almost a year at the 2011 AEGON International
2011 AEGON International
The 2011 AEGON International was a combined men's and women's tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts. It was the 36th edition of the event for the women and the 3rd edition for the men. It was classified as a WTA Premier tournament on the 2011 WTA Tour and as an ATP World Tour 250 series...
in Eastbourne, winning her first match since Wimbledon, against Tsvetana Pironkova
Tsvetana Pironkova
Tsvetana Kirilova Pironkova is a female Bulgarian tennis player. She was born and lives in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Pironkova is right-handed and plays with a two-handed backhand....
, 1–6, 6–3, 6–4, but lost to top-seeded world no. 3 Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva is a professional tennis player from Russia. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. Her career high is World No. 2 by the WTA, and she is currently ranked as the World No. 7. Zvonarёva has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles and reached the...
in the second round, 6–3, 6–7, 5–7, in a match that lasted over three hours.
Her next tournament was Wimbledon
2011 Wimbledon Championships
The 2011 Wimbledon Championships took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, England, from 20 June to 3 July 2011. It was the 125th edition of the championships, and the third Grand Slam tournament of the year. It was played on grass courts and was part of the...
, where she was the defending champion. Despite being ranked no. 26, she was seeded seventh. In her first round match, she faced French no. 2, Aravane Rezai
Aravane Rezaï
Aravane Rezaï is an Iranian-French tennis player born in Saint-Étienne, France to Iranian parents. She is the current French No. 5 in women's tennis. Rezaï took up tennis after a childhood stint as her older brother's ball girl...
and won, 6–3, 3–6, 6–1. With this victory, at the Majors
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
she currently holds a 44–0 record in first-round matches. She then won her second round match against Simona Halep
Simona Halep
Simona Halep is a world top-50 tennis player playing on the ITF Women's Circuit and the WTA Tour, and is currently the number-two ranked women's tennis player in Romania.-Career:...
, 3–6, 6–2, 6–1, and her third round against Maria Kirilenko
Maria Kirilenko
Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko is a Russian professional tennis player. Kirilenko won her first WTA Tour title in 2005, defeating Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the China Open. Kirilenko reached no. 18, her career-high singles ranking, on the WTA tour in July 2008. She won the junior event at the 2002 Canadian...
, 6–3, 6–2. She lost to ninth seed, Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli is a French professional tennis player and the current French no. 1. She has won seven Women's Tennis Association singles titles and three doubles titles. She was also a runner-up at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships....
in the round of 16, 3–6, 6–7. Bartoli described beating Williams as the greatest win of her life. As a result of this loss, Williams' ranking dropped to world no. 175.
Williams then played in Stanford
2011 Bank of the West Classic
The 2011 Bank of the West Classic was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 40th edition of the Bank of the West Classic, and was a part of the WTA Premier tournaments of the 2011 WTA Tour. It took place at the Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, California, United States, from...
as an unseeded player. She won her opening-round match against Anastasia Rodionova, 6–0, 6–0. In her second-round match, she took out Maria Kirilenko
Maria Kirilenko
Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko is a Russian professional tennis player. Kirilenko won her first WTA Tour title in 2005, defeating Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the China Open. Kirilenko reached no. 18, her career-high singles ranking, on the WTA tour in July 2008. She won the junior event at the 2002 Canadian...
in three sets, 6–2, 3–6, 6–2, to set up a meeting with Wimbledon finalist, Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open...
. Sharapova stated previously in the week that she was excited at the thought of playing Williams, and Serena easily dispatched the Russian in straight sets, 6–1, 6–3. This was Serena's sixth consecutive win against Maria. In the semifinals, Serena took on Wimbledon semifinalist, Sabine Lisicki
Sabine Lisicki
Sabine Lisicki is a German professional tennis player of Polish background.Lisicki has won three WTA singles tournaments in her career and one doubles tournament . She reached the semifinals of the 2011 Wimbledon Championships and also reached the quarterfinals of the 2009 Wimbledon Championships...
and defeated her 6–1, 6–2. Serena powered through to her first final of the season, where she would took on Wimbledon quarterfinalist Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli is a French professional tennis player and the current French no. 1. She has won seven Women's Tennis Association singles titles and three doubles titles. She was also a runner-up at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships....
, who had defeated her at Wimbledon. Serena won her 38th career WTA singles title when she defeated Marion in straight sets in the final, 7–5, 6–1, also making it her first title in 2011 after three attempts and her first title since winning Wimbledon in 2010.
In her next tournament, Williams won the Rogers Cup
2011 Rogers Cup
The 2011 Canada Masters was a tennis tournament to be played on outdoor hard courts in Canada. It was the 122nd edition of the Canada Masters, and was part of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 of the 2011 ATP World Tour, and of the Premier Series of the 2011 WTA Tour...
, Serena started off strongly by beating Alona Bondarenko, 6–0, 6–3. In her second-round match, she beat Julia Goerges in straight sets, as well. After back-to-back three-setters against Jie Zheng and Lucie Safarova
Lucie Šafárová
Lucie Šafářová is a professional Czech tennis player. She was born in Brno.Šafářová has won four WTA tour singles titles and reached the quarterfinals of the 2007 Australian Open, upsetting defending champion Amélie Mauresmo en-route...
, the semifinals matched Serana against one of the most consistent players of the year, Viktoria Azarenka. Serena beat her handily, 6–3, 6–3, to advance to her second consecutive final. In the final, Serena defeated Samantha Stosur
Samantha Stosur
Samantha "Sam" Jane Stosur is an Australian professional tennis player. She won the 2011 US Open singles title and was a finalist at the 2010 French Open. Stosur is ranked World No. 6 and her career high in singles is World No. 4, achieved on 21 February 2011. She is a former world No...
, 6–4, 6–2, to win her second consecutive title and her 39th career title overall. Her ranking jumped to world no. 31.
At the Cincinnati
2011 Western & Southern Open
The 2011 Cincinnati Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, near Cincinnati, United States. The tournament was a joint men's and women's event, with six new courts being built for the tournament...
Open, Serena defeated Lucie Hradecka
Lucie Hradecká
Lucie Hradecká is a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. In her career, Hradecká has won ten WTA doubles titles. This total includes the 2011 French Open, in which she won her first Grand Slam title.-Career:...
, 6–3, 7–5. The next day, she withdrew from the tournament citing a right toe injury.
Next on her schedule was the US Open
2011 US Open (tennis)
The 2011 US Open was a tennis tournament played on the outdoor hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, of Queens, New York City, United States...
, in which she entered using her protected ranking of no. 1. She was seeded 28th and faced Bojana Jovanovski
Bojana Jovanovski
Bojana Jovanovski is a Serbian tennis player. As of 24 October 2011, Jovanovski is ranked World No. 56 and is the third highest ranked Serbian player, after World No. 14 Jelena Janković and No. 26 Ana Ivanović...
in the first round, winning the match easily, 6–1, 6–1, improving her record in Major first-round matches to 45–0. She next faced Michaëlla Krajicek
Michaëlla Krajicek
Michaëlla Krajicek is a Dutch professional tennis player. Her highest WTA ranking was number 30 on 11 February 2008. She currently is the second best ranked player from the Netherlands behind Arantxa Rus.-Personal life:...
, whom she beat, 6–0, 6–1, to set up a meeting against fourth seed Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Her career high and current ranking is world no. 3, which she first achieved on 12 September 2011. She became the highest-ranked Belarusian player ever, surpassing Natasha Zvereva by two spots....
. She defeated Azarenka, 6–1, 7–6, to advance to the fourth round. In her fourth-round match, Williams defeated former world no.1 Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanović is a former world no. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of November 7, 2011, she is ranked 22th on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open...
, 6–3, 6–4. She then beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Sergeyevna Pavlyuchenkova is a Russian professional tennis player and a multiple junior Grand Slam champion. Her career-high rank of World No. 13 was achieved on 4 July 2011. From July 2007 to September 2009 she was coached at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in France...
in the quarterfinals, 7–5, 6–1, and defeated world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki is a Danish professional tennis player. She is the current world no. 1 on the WTA Tour. As of 7 November 2011, she has held this position for 56 weeks...
, 6–2, 6–4 in the semifinals. She lost the final, 2-6, 3-6, to Samantha Stosur
Samantha Stosur
Samantha "Sam" Jane Stosur is an Australian professional tennis player. She won the 2011 US Open singles title and was a finalist at the 2010 French Open. Stosur is ranked World No. 6 and her career high in singles is World No. 4, achieved on 21 February 2011. She is a former world No...
, during a match which featured her verbally abusing the chair umpire. The US Open final turned out to be Williams' last match in 2011, and she will end the year ranked world no. 12 with 2 titles and with a 22–3 record for the season. She only participated in six tournaments throughout the season.
2012
Williams is scheduled to participate at Brisbane International2012 Brisbane International
The 2012 Brisbane International is a joint ATP and WTA tennis tournament, played on outdoor hard courts. Because of its ongoing success, the WTA decided in 2011 to upgrade the event to a Premier event. It will be the 4th edition of the tournament and will take place at the Queensland Tennis Centre...
as her preparation for the Australian Open
2012 Australian Open
The 2012 Australian Open is a tennis tournament that will take place in Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia from January 16 to January 29, 2012...
.
Grand Slam Performance Timeline
| Tournament | 1998 1998 WTA Tour The WTA Tour is the elite tour for professional women's tennis organised by the Women's Tennis Association . The WTA Tour includes the four Grand Slam tournaments, the WTA Tour Championships and the WTA Tier I, Tier II, Tier III and Tier IV events... | 1999 1999 WTA Tour The WTA Tour is the elite tour for professional women's tennis organised by the Women's Tennis Association . The WTA Tour includes the four Grand Slam tournaments, the WTA Tour Championships and the WTA Tier I, Tier II, Tier III and Tier IV events... | 2000 2000 WTA Tour The 2000 Sanex WTA Tour was the 28th season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on January 3, 2000, and concluded on November 13, 2000, after 58 events. For this season, a new event was added: the State Farm Classic in Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S... | 2001 2001 WTA Tour The WTA Tour is the elite tour for professional women's tennis organised by the Women's Tennis Association . The WTA Tour includes the four Grand Slam tournaments, the WTA Tour Championships and the WTA Tier I, Tier II, Tier III, Tier IV and Tier V events... | 2002 2002 WTA Tour The 2002 Sanex WTA Tour was the 30th season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on December 31, 2001, and concluded on November 11, 2002, after 64 events.... | 2003 2003 WTA Tour The WTA Tour is the elite tour for professional women's tennis organised by the Women's Tennis Association . The WTA Tour includes the four Grand Slam tournaments, the WTA Tour Championships and the WTA Tier I, Tier II, Tier III, Tier IV and Tier V events... | 2004 2004 WTA Tour The 2004 WTA Tour was the 32nd season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on January 5, 2004, and concluded on November 13, 2004, after 60 events.... | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 2007 WTA Tour The 2007 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour was the 35th season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on January 1, 2007, and concluded on November 11, 2007 after 61 events. Two new events were added to the schedule for the 2007 season: the Barcelona KIA and Gastein Ladies. It also... | 2008 2008 WTA Tour The 2008 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour was the 36th season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on December 31, 2007, and concluded on November 9, 2008 after 59 events.The season was characterised by its frequent changes in the No... | 2009 2009 WTA Tour The 2009 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour was the 37th season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on January 5, 2009, and concluded on November 8, 2009 after 56 events.... | 2010 2010 WTA Tour The Women's Tennis Association Tour is the elite professional tennis circuit organized by the WTA. The 2010 WTA Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments , the WTA Premier tournaments , the WTA International tournaments, the Fed Cup , and the year-end... | 2011 2011 WTA Tour The WTA Tour is the elite tour for women's professional tennis organized by the Women's Tennis Association . The 2011 WTA Tour includes the Grand Slam tournaments , the WTA Premier tournaments, the WTA International tournaments, the Fed Cup , the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions, and the WTA... | Career SR | Career W-L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open Australian Open The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court... |
2R | 3R | 4R | QF | A | W | A | W | 3R | W | QF | W | W | A | 5 / 11 | 51–6 |
| French Open | 4R | 3R | A | QF | W | SF | QF | A | A | QF | 3R | QF | QF | A | 1 / 10 | 39–9 |
| Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors... |
3R | A | SF | QF | W | W | F | 3R | A | QF | F | W | W | 4R | 4 / 11 | 58–7 |
| US Open | 3R | W | QF | F | W | A | QF | 4R | 4R | QF | W | SF | A | F | 3 / 11 | 52–8 |
| Grand Slam W–L | 8–4 | 11–2 | 12–3 | 18–4 | 21–0 | 19–1 | 14–3 | 12–2 | 5–2 | 19–3 | 19–3 | 23–2 | 18–1 | 9–2 | 13 / 44 | 202–31 |
Singles: 17 (13 titles, 4 runner-ups)
| Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| Winner | 1999 1999 US Open - Women's Singles Lindsay Davenport was the defending champion, but she was defeated in the semifinals by Serena Williams. Williams then went on to win in the final, defeating World No. 1 Martina Hingis... |
US Open | Hard |  Martina HingisMartina Hingis Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles... |
6–3, 7–6(7–4) |
| Runner-up | 2001 2001 US Open - Women's Singles Venus Williams was the defending champion, and successfully defended her title defeating her sister Serena Williams in the final. The all-Williams final drew a larger audience drew a larger television audience than the Notre Dame-Nebraska college football game being broadcast at the same... |
US Open | Hard |  Venus WilliamsVenus Williams Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate... |
2–6, 4–6 |
| Winner | 2002 2002 French Open - Women's Singles Jennifer Capriati was the defending champion, but she lost to Serena Williams in the semifinals, in what was a rematch of a match from last year's French Open.Williams then defeated her sister, Venus, to win her first and so far only French Open title... |
French Open | Clay | United States Venus Williams |
7–5, 6–3 |
| Winner | 2002 2002 Wimbledon Championships - Women's Singles Serena Williams defeated Venus Williams 7-6 6-3 in the final to win the Ladies' Singles title at the 2002 Wimbledon Championships.See also:-Seeds:... |
Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors... |
Grass | United States Venus Williams |
7–6(7–4), 6–3 |
| Winner | 2002 2002 US Open - Women's Singles Venus Williams was the defending champion, but she was defeated by her sister Serena in the final, 6–4, 6–2. This was Serena's third consecutive Grand Slam title.-Seeds:# Serena Williams # Venus Williams ... |
US Open (2) | Hard | Venus Williams |
6–4, 6–3 |
| Winner | 2003 2003 Australian Open - Women's Singles Serena Williams defeated Venus Williams 7–6 3–6 6–4 in the final to win the Women's Singles title at the 2003 Australian Open.See also:-Seeds:# Serena Williams # Venus Williams # Jennifer Capriati ... |
Australian Open Australian Open The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court... |
Hard | United States Venus Williams |
7–6(7–4), 3–6, 6–4 |
| Winner | 2003 2003 Wimbledon Championships - Women's Singles Serena Williams defeated Venus Williams 4-6 6-4 6-2 in the final to win the Ladies' Singles title at the 2003 Wimbledon Championships.See also:-Seeds:... |
Wimbledon (2) | Grass | United States Venus Williams |
4–6, 6–4, 6–2 |
| Runner-up | 2004 2004 Wimbledon Championships - Women's Singles Serena Williams was the two-time defending champion, but she was defeated by 17-year-old Maria Sharapova in the final, 6–1, 6–4. This victory was hailed by the media as "the most stunning upset in memory". With this win, Sharapova, who would later became a future World No. 1, entered the Top Ten... |
Wimbledon | Grass |  Russia Maria SharapovaMaria Sharapova Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open... |
1–6, 4–6 |
| Winner | 2005 2005 Australian Open - Women's Singles Defending champion Justine Henin was not competing, and thus did not defend her title. Instead, seventh-seeded Serena Williams of the United States defeated top-seeded Lindsay Davenport, also of the United States, 2–6, 6–3, 6–0, to win the Women's Singles title at the 2005 Australian... |
Australian Open (2) | Hard | United States Lindsay Davenport Lindsay Davenport Lindsay Ann Davenport is a former World No. 1 American professional tennis player. She has won three Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her as the 29th-best player of the preceding forty years... |
2–6, 6–3, 6–0 |
| Winner | 2007 2007 Australian Open - Women's Singles -Seeds:# Maria Sharapova # Amélie Mauresmo # Svetlana Kuznetsova # Kim Clijsters # Nadia Petrova # Martina Hingis # Elena Dementieva ... |
Australian Open (3) | Hard | Russia Maria Sharapova |
6–1, 6–2 |
| Runner-up | 2008 2008 Wimbledon Championships - Women's Singles Venus Williams was the defending champion, and won in the final 7–5, 6–4, against her sister Serena Williams.-Seeds:# Ana Ivanović # Jelena Janković # Maria Sharapova ... |
Wimbledon (2) | Grass | United States Venus Williams |
5–7, 4–6 |
| Winner | 2008 | US Open (3) | Hard |  Jelena JankovićJelena Janković Jelena Janković is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from Serbia. She reached the final of the 2008 US Open and won the 2007 Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title. Janković is ranked world no... |
6–4, 7–5 |
| Winner | 2009 2009 Australian Open - Women's Singles Maria Sharapova was the defending champion, but chose not to participate this year, due to a shoulder injury.Serena Williams won in the final 6–0, 6–3, against Dinara Safina.-Seeds:# Jelena Janković ... |
Australian Open (4) | Hard | Russia Dinara Safina Dinara Safina Dinara Mikhailovna Safina , born April 27, 1986 in Moscow, is a Russian professional tennis player of Tatar background. Safina's career high ranking is World No. 1.... |
6–0, 6–3 |
| Winner | 2009 | Wimbledon (3) | Grass | United States Venus Williams |
7–6(7–3), 6–2 |
| Winner | 2010 | Australian Open (5) | Hard |  Belgium Justine Henin |
6–4, 3–6, 6–2 |
| Winner | 2010 | Wimbledon (4) | Grass | Russia Vera Zvonareva Vera Zvonareva Vera Zvonareva is a professional tennis player from Russia. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. Her career high is World No. 2 by the WTA, and she is currently ranked as the World No. 7. Zvonarёva has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles and reached the... |
6–3, 6–2 |
| Runner-up | 2011 2011 US Open – Women's Singles Kim Clijsters was the two-time defending champion, but withdrew due to an abdominal injury.Ninth seed Samantha Stosur won her first Grand Slam championship, defeating the favourite Serena Williams, a three-time US Open champion and the 28th seed, 6–2, 6–3 in the final... |
US Open (4) | Hard |  Samantha StosurSamantha Stosur Samantha "Sam" Jane Stosur is an Australian professional tennis player. She won the 2011 US Open singles title and was a finalist at the 2010 French Open. Stosur is ranked World No. 6 and her career high in singles is World No. 4, achieved on 21 February 2011. She is a former world No... |
2–6, 3–6 |
Rivalry with Venus Williams
Williams has played her sister VenusVenus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...
12 times in Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
singles tournaments and 11 times in other tournaments (including 11 finals). She has a three match lead in the head-to-head series, 13–10 (including the last 4 in a row). They are the only women during the open era to have played each other in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals.
Currently Venus has 43 career tennis titles, while Serena has 39.
2004 US Open
In her 2004 U.S. Open quarterfinal match against Jennifer CapriatiJennifer Capriati
Jennifer Marie Capriati is a former world number one ranked professional tennis player, and the winner of three women's singles championships in Grand Slam tournaments. Capriati made her professional debut in 1990 at the age of 14 when she reached the finals of the hard court tournament in Boca...
, several calls were made in Capriati's favor, even though later video review showed the calls to be clearly in error. Williams attempted at times to argue some calls, but was not successful. Capriati won the match, but tournament officials dismissed the match's umpire from the tournament. The controversy contributed to the adoption of MacCam
MacCAM
MacCAM is a system of slow-motion cameras developed by FastCAM Replay LLC and DEL Imaging Systems LLC used during Tennis matches to replay close or controversial line calls. The system is named after John McEnroe, who was infamous for contesting umpire calls...
and Hawk-Eye
Hawk-Eye
Hawk-Eye is a complex computer system used in cricket, tennis and other sports to visually track the trajectory of the ball and display a record of its most statistically likely path as a moving image. In cricket and tennis, it is now part of the adjudication process. It was developed by engineers...
systems.
2009 US Open
In 2009, Williams again was involved in a controversial U.S. Open2009 US Open (tennis)
The 2009 US Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts, held from August 31 to September 14, 2009 in the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, New York City, United States. Originally, it was scheduled to end with the mens' singles final match on Sunday,...
match, this time against Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 7 November 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 13 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles....
in the semifinal round. The drama began at the end of the first set, when Williams slammed her racquet on the court in frustration over losing the set. She was given a warning, with a potential second violation carrying a one-point penalty. While trailing 4–6, 5–6, 15–30, Williams's second serve was called a foot fault, resulting in two match points for Clijsters. Williams gestured with her racquet to the lineswoman who had made the call and yelled at her, including profanities. During the subsequent on-court conference between the head judge, the lineswoman, US Open officials, and Williams, a television microphone picked up Williams saying to the lineswoman, "I didn't say I would kill you. Are you serious?" The incident resulted in Williams being penalized a point for unsportsmanlike conduct — necessitated by the earlier warning for racquet abuse — meaning Clijsters won the match 6–4, 7–5. The following day, Williams was issued the maximum permissible on-site fine of $10,000 (plus $500 for racquet abuse). After further investigation, the Grand Slam Committee in November 2009 fined her $175,000 in lieu of suspending her from the 2010 US Open or other Grand Slam events. They also placed her on a two year probation, so if Williams commits another offense in the next two years at a Grand Slam tournament, she will be suspended from participating in the following US Open. If she commits no offenses in the next two years, her fine will be reduced to $82,500. Williams initially refused to apologize for her outburst, both in her post-match press conference and in an official statement released the following day. She eventually apologized to the lineswoman in a statement two days following the incident.
2011 US Open
In the final of the 2011 U.S. Open2011 US Open (tennis)
The 2011 US Open was a tennis tournament played on the outdoor hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, of Queens, New York City, United States...
against Samantha Stosur
Samantha Stosur
Samantha "Sam" Jane Stosur is an Australian professional tennis player. She won the 2011 US Open singles title and was a finalist at the 2010 French Open. Stosur is ranked World No. 6 and her career high in singles is World No. 4, achieved on 21 February 2011. She is a former world No...
, Williams again generated controversy. After shouting "Come on!" as the Australian attempted to return a forehand
Forehand
The forehand in tennis and other racket sports such as table tennis, squash and badminton is a shot made by swinging the racquet across one's body in the direction of where the player wants to place the shot...
Williams believed to be a winner, chair umpire Eva Asderaki
Eva Asderaki
Eva Asderaki is a Greek tennis chair umpire and one of only a few women to hold a Gold certification from the International Tennis Federation; others are Mariana Alves and Allison Lang....
awarded the point to Stosur based on the USTA
United States Tennis Association
The United States Tennis Association is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass-roots to the professional levels...
's deliberate hindrance rule, which states, "If a player commits any act which hinders his opponent in making a stroke, then, if this is deliberate, he shall lose the point or if involuntary, the point shall be replayed." As the point was 30–40 on Williams's serve, the penalty gave the break of serve to Stosur. Williams became angry with the chair umpire and made several gestures and unflattering comments toward her during the next several changeovers, warning her, "Don't look at me," and telling her that if Asderaki ever saw Williams coming toward her, she should "look the other way". She told the umpire that she was "a loser", "a hater" and "unattractive, on the inside". Williams initially gained momentum in the set following the penalty, breaking back in the next game, but eventually flagged and lost the match, 6–2, 6–3. At the end of the match, she declined to offer the customary handshake to Asderaki. Williams mentioned the incident in her post-match speech as the tournament runner-up, claiming, "I hit a winner, but I guess it didn't count," but added, "It wouldn't have mattered in the end. Sam played really well." A writer for ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
suggested that Williams could avoid being found to have violated the terms of the "probation" on which she was placed following her 2009 outburst, as she did not appear to have used profanity
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
in addressing Asderaki during the match. In the end, Williams was fined $2,000 and was not barred from competing in the 2012 US Open because "...Williams's conduct, while verbally abusive, [did] not rise to the level of a major offence under the grand slam code of conduct."
Fashion
Williams was once known for her unusual and colorful outfits on court. In 2002, there was much talk when she wore a black lycra catsuitCatsuit
A catsuit is a close-fitting one-piece garment that covers the torso and the legs, and frequently the arms. They are usually made from stretchable material, such as lycra, chiffon, spandex , leather, latex, PVC, or velour, and frequently close using a zipper at the front or back.Catsuits, which...
at the US Open. At the 2004 US Open, Williams wore denim skirts and knee-high boots—tournament officials, however, did not allow her to wear the boots during matches. At Wimbledon in 2008, the white trench coat
Trench coat
A trench coat or trenchcoat is a raincoat made of waterproof heavy-duty cotton drill or poplin, wool gabardine, or leather. It generally has a removable insulated lining; and it is usually knee-length.-History:...
she wore during warm-up for her opening match was the subject of much discussion since it was worn despite the sunny weather. Off-court, Williams has also presented new designs. In November 2004, at the London premiere of After the Sunset
After the Sunset
After the Sunset is a 2004 action comedy film starring Pierce Brosnan as Max Burdett, a master thief caught in a cat-and-mouse game with FBI agent Stan Lloyd played by Woody Harrelson...
she wore a red gown that had a near-topless effect.
Williams formerly had a special line with Puma
PUMA AG
Puma SE, officially branded as PUMA, is a major German multinational company that produces high-end athletic shoes, lifestyle footwear and other sportswear. Formed in 1924 as Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik by Adolf and Rudolf Dassler, relationships between the two brothers deteriorated until the two...
and currently has a line with Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
. The deal with Nike is worth US$40 million and was signed in April 2004. Since 2004, she has also been running her own line of designer apparel called "Aneres"—her first name spelled backward. In 2009 she launched a signature collection of handbags and jewelry. The collection, called Signature Statement, is sold mainly on the Home Shopping Network (HSN).
In early 2010, Williams became a certified nail technician in preparation for her upcoming nail collection with a company called HairTech.
Entertainment
Williams has appeared on television and also provided voice work on animated shows: in a 2001 episode of The SimpsonsThe Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
Serena joined the animation along with sister Venus, Pete Sampras
Pete Sampras
Pete Sampras is a retired American tennis player and former world no. 1. During his 15-year tour career, he won 14 Grand Slam singles titles and became recognized as one of the greatest tennis players of all time....
and Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi is a retired American professional tennis player and former world no. 1. Generally considered by critics and fellow players to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Agassi has been called the best service returner in the history of the game...
. She has also provided guest voice work in a 2005 episode of Playhouse Disney's animated kids show Higglytown Heroes
Higglytown Heroes
Higglytown Heroes is a children's television series currently airing on the Disney Junior portion of the Disney Channel, or, on some cable networks, the Playhouse Disney channel...
and a 2007 episode of the Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American animated television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. The series was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who served as executive producers along with Aaron Ehasz...
, which she has described as her "favorite show".
Williams has posed for the 2003 and 2004 editions of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is published annually by Sports Illustrated. It features fashion models wearing swimwear in exotic locales. According to some, the magazine is the arbiter of supermodel succession. In addition, the issue is a media nexus that in 2005 carried in advertising....
. In April 2005, MTV announced plans to broadcast a reality show around the lives of Serena and Venus, which was eventually aired on ABC Family
ABC Family
ABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...
. Williams has appeared twice on MTV's Punk'd
Punk'd
Punk'd is an American hidden camera/practical joke reality television series that first aired on MTV in 2003 and was created by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg, produced and hosted by Ashton Kutcher. It bore a resemblance to both the classic hidden camera show Candid Camera and to TV's Bloopers...
and in 2007, appeared in the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
reality television series Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race
Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race
Fast Cars & Superstars: Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race was an ABC reality television series featuring twelve celebrities in a stock car auto racing competition...
. In 2002, she played Miss Wiggins in the season 3 episode "Crouching Mother, Hidden Father" of My Wife and Kids
My Wife and Kids
My Wife and Kids is an American television family sitcom that ran on ABC from March 28, 2001 until May 17, 2005. Produced by Touchstone Television , it starred Damon Wayans and Tisha Campbell-Martin, and centers on the character of Michael Kyle, a loving husband and modern-day patriarch who rules...
; she has also guest-starred during episodes of ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...
. In 2007 Williams appeared in the music video of "I Want You" by the American rapper Common, alongside performers Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook , better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano...
and Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
.
In late 2009, Williams became the first active female professional athlete to appear in a feminine hygiene
Feminine hygiene
Feminine hygiene is a general euphemism used to describe personal care products used by women during menstruation, vaginal discharge, and other bodily functions related to the vulva...
product advertising campaign. A series of online videos and print advertisements for Tampax
Tampax
Tampax is a brand of tampon from Procter & Gamble. It was originally both the name of an independent company for over 50 years, based in Palmer, Massachusetts , and the product itself. Renamed Tambrands, Inc. in 1984, P&G purchased it in 1997...
Pearl tampon
Tampon
A tampon is a mass of cotton or rayon or a mixture of the two inserted into a body cavity or wound to absorb bodilyfluid. The most common type in daily use is designed to be inserted into the vagina during menstruation to absorb the flow of menstrual fluid...
s showed her hitting balls at Mother Nature
Mother Nature
Mother Nature is a common personification of nature that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature by embodying it in the form of the mother. Images of women representing mother earth, and mother nature, are timeless...
, played by Catherine Lloyd Burns
Catherine Lloyd Burns
Catherine Lloyd Burns is an actress and writer, living in Brooklyn with her family.-Acting:She has appeared in multiple television shows, and was a regular on Partners and LateLine. She played Caroline Miller, Malcolm's "overly earnest" teacher, in Malcolm in the Middle...
, to prevent Mother Nature giving her a red-wrapped gift, representing her menstrual period. In the online videos, the two have dueling press conferences over the "bad blood" between them. "A lot of celebrities are not open to working with our brand, and we're thrilled that Serena is", said a brand manager for Tampax at Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
.
Serena and sister Venus were mentioned in a couple of songs namely in Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band that lean towards psychedelic rock and electronic experimentation. Since their formation in Cardiff, Wales in 1993, the band has consisted of Gruff Rhys , Huw Bunford , Guto Pryce , Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band...
studio album Phantom Power
Phantom Power (Super Furry Animals album)
Phantom Power is the sixth album by Welsh indie rock band Super Furry Animals, released on 21 July 2003 by Epic Records in the United Kingdom....
in a track entitle "Venus and Serena", in a single by Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...
Signs and Ludacris
Ludacris
Christopher Brian Bridges , better known by his stage name Ludacris, is an American rapper and actor. Along with his manager, Chaka Zulu, Ludacris is the co-founder of Disturbing tha Peace, an imprint distributed by Def Jam Recordings...
' single My Chick Bad
My Chick Bad
"My Chick Bad" is a song by American rapper Ludacris. The song features American recording artist Nicki Minaj, who co-wrote the song with Ludacris, Samuel Lindley and Derrelle Davidson. The track was produced by The Legendary Traxster. "My Chick Bad" serves as the second single from Ludacris'...
.
Miami Dolphins venture
In August 2009, Serena and Venus Williams became part-owners of the Miami DolphinsMiami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
. The formal announcement was made during a press conference overlooking the practice field. The Williams are the first African-American females to obtain ownership in an NFL franchise. Other prominent owners include: Jimmy Buffett, Gloria and Emilio Estefan (the first Cuban-American owners), and Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
. Stephan Ross, the majority owner of the Dolphins, said "We are thrilled to have Venus and Serena join the Dolphins as limited partners. They are among the most admired athletes in the world and have become global ambassadors for the game of tennis. Their addition to our ownership group further reflects our commitment to connect with aggressively and embrace the great diversity that makes South Florida a multicultural gem."
Charity work
In 2008 Williams helped to fund the construction of the Serena Williams Secondary School in Matooni, Kenya. She received a Celebrity Role Model Award from Avon Foundation in 2003 for work in breast cancer. Williams has also been involved in a number of clinics at schools and community centers, particularly those which have programs focusing on at-risk youth. She has also won the "Young Heroes Award" from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater L.A. and Inland (2003) and the "Family Circle and Prudential Financial Player Who Makes a Difference Award" (2004). In response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake2010 Haiti earthquake
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks...
, Williams, along with other ATP and WTA stars decided to forego their final day of preparation for the 2010 Australian Open
2010 Australian Open
The 2010 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place in Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 18 to 31 January. It was the 98th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year....
to form a charity event in which all proceeds will go to the Haiti earthquake victims.
Writing
Serena has published along with her sister Venus Williams and renowned author Hilary Beard a book titled Venus & Serena: Serving From The Hip: 10 Rules For Living, Loving and Winning by Boston: Houghton Mifflin in 2005.During the 2009 Wimbledon Championships
2009 Wimbledon Championships
The 2009 Wimbledon Championships took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, from Monday 22 June through to Sunday 5 July 2009...
, Williams said that she is in the process of writing a TV show storyline, which will be converted into script form by her agency. She stated that the show will represent subject matter from a mix of popular American television shows such as Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
, Sex and the City
Sex and the City
Sex and the City is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes...
, and Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
.
Serena released her first solo published work, an autobiography entitled On the Line, following the 2009 US Open.
Security
Williams has been the target of an alleged stalker, who was arrested at the gate to her Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., neighborhood on Monday, May 2, 2011. Police report that Patenema Ouedraogo, identified as an African who attended college in Texas, is barred from being near Serena by a preliminary injunction. Police say Ouedraogo was able to track Serena's whereabouts using the social networking site Twitter, and got her address from the letter her attorney sent telling him to stay away from her. Police say Ouedraogo once made it all the way to Serena's dressing room when she made an appearance on the Home Shopping Network at their studios in Tampa, Fla., on April 13, 2011.Other records and achievements
| Tournament Name | Years | Record accomplished | Player tied |
| Hopman Cup Hopman Cup The Hopman Cup is an annual international team tennis tournament held in Perth, Western Australia in early January each year, which plays mixed teams on a country by country basis... |
2003–2008 | Two Hopman Cup Titles won | Dominik Hrbatý Dominik Hrbatý Dominik Hrbatý is a retired professional tennis player from Slovakia.-Personal life:Hrbatý was born on 4 January 1978 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. His father was an architecture engineer and his younger brother is an umpire... Tommy Robredo Tommy Robredo Tommy Robredo Garcés is a Spanish professional tennis player. On 8 May 2006, he broke into the world's top ten for the first time. His highest singles ranking to date is No... James Blake James Blake James Riley Blake is an American professional tennis player. Blake is known for his speed and powerful, flat forehand. As of August 2011, Blake is ranked no. 63 among active male players with 24 career finals appearances... Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Aránzazu 'Arantxa' Isabel Maria Sánchez Vicario is a Spanish former professional tennis player... |
| Australian Open | 2003–2010 | 5 singles titles during the open era | Stands alone |
| Australian Open | 2007 | Unseeded winner of singles title | Chris O'Neil Chris O'Neil (tennis) Christine "Chris" O'Neil is a former professional female tennis player from Australia.O'Neil is best-remembered for her victory at the 1978 Australian Open, the last Australian female to do so. She also became the first unseeded woman to win the Australian title in the open era. This feat would go... (1978) |
| 1999 French Open 1999 French Open -Men's Singles:* Men's SinglesList of the 1999 French Open champions:-Men's singles: Andre Agassi def. Andrei Medvedev, 1–6, 2–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–4... – 2010 French Open 2010 French Open The 2010 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 109th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year... |
1999–2010 | Highest streak of consecutive initial Grand Slam Grand Slam (tennis) The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and... finals won (doubles) (12) |
Venus Williams Venus Williams Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate... |
| Grand Slam tournaments | 2002 | Won two Grand Slam singles tournaments in the same calendar year in straight sets | Billie Jean King Billie Jean King Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society... Martina Navratilova Steffi Graf Steffi Graf Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24... Martina Hingis Martina Hingis Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles... Justine Henin |
| Grand Slam tournaments | 2000–present | Won 4 Grand Slam singles tournaments in straight sets | Evonne Goolagong Evonne Goolagong Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley, AO, MBE is a former World No. 1 Australian female tennis player. She was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s, when she won 14 Grand Slam titles: seven in singles , six in women's doubles, and one in mixed doubles.-Early life:Goolagong is the... |
| Sony Ericsson Open Miami Masters The Miami Masters is an annual tennis tournament for men and women held in Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida. It is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the men's tour and a Premier Mandatory event on the women's tour and is played on hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park... (Key Biscayne) |
2002–2008 | 5 singles titles overall | Steffi Graf Steffi Graf Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24... |
| 2009 WTA Tour 2009 WTA Tour The 2009 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour was the 37th season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on January 5, 2009, and concluded on November 8, 2009 after 56 events.... |
2009 | Highest single year earnings at $6,545,586 (2009) | Stands alone |
| 1995–present | Highest prize money career earnings by a female athlete at US$31,151,042 | Stands alone | |
| 2010 Wimbledon | 2010 | Most aces served by a female at a Grand Slam (89) | Stands alone |
| 2011 Bank of the West Classic 2011 Bank of the West Classic The 2011 Bank of the West Classic was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 40th edition of the Bank of the West Classic, and was a part of the WTA Premier tournaments of the 2011 WTA Tour. It took place at the Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, California, United States, from... |
2011 | Lowest ranked player to win a WTA title (169th) | Stands alone |
- At the 1998 Lipton International Players Championships in Key Biscayne, she recorded her fifth singles victory over a player ranked in the top 10, which was the fastest (16 matches) that any woman in professional tennis history had done this.
- At the 2002 French Open2002 French OpenThe 2002 French Open was the second Grand Slam event of 2002 and the 101st edition of the French Open. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from late May through early June, 2002.-Men's singles:...
, she became the first younger sister to defeat her older sister in a Grand Slam tournament. - On June 10, 2002, she and her sister Venus became the first siblings ever to hold the top two women's singles rankings simultaneously.
- By winning the 2003 Australian Open, she became the first African-American woman to win the singles title at this tournament.
- On September 8, 2008, she regained the World No. 1 ranking for the first time in 5 years, 1 month. That gap is the biggest in professional tennis history.
- She was named one of the Top 10 Most Superstitious Athletes by Men's FitnessMen's FitnessMen's Fitness is a men's magazine published by American Media, Inc and founded in the United States in 1987. The premier issue featured Michael Pare from the television series The Greatest American Hero....
.
Awards
1998- WTA Newcomer of the Year
- Tennis Magazine/Rolex Rookie of the Year
1999
- WTA Most Improved Player of the Year
- Tennis Magazine Player of the Year
2000
- WTA Doubles Team of the Year Award (with Venus Williams)
- Teen Choice Awards – Extraordinary Achievement Award
- Forbes The Celebrity 100 (No.68)
- Women's Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year for team sports (with Venus Williams)
2001
- Forbes The Celebrity 100 (No.71)
2002
- Associated Press Female Athlete of the YearAssociated Press Athlete of the YearThe first Athlete of the Year award in the United States was initiated by the Associated Press in 1931. At a time when women in sports were never given the same recognition as men, the AP offered a male and a female athlete of the year award to either a professional or amateur athlete...
- WTA Player of the Year
- ITF Women's Singles World Champion
- Forbes The Celebrity 100 (No.72)
2003
- 34th NAACP Image Awards President's Award
- Best Female Athlete ESPY Award
- Best Female Tennis Player ESPY Award
- Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year
- Avon Foundation Celebrity Role Model Award
- BET Award for Female Athlete of the YearBET Award for Athlete of the YearBelow are the nominees and winners for the BET Award for Best Female Athlete & Male Athlete. Serena Williams holds the record for most wins in the Female Athlete category with 5 wins, she also holds the record for the most nominations, being nominated every year since the awards inception. LeBron...
- Forbes The Celebrity 100 (No.60)
2004
- WTA Comeback Player of the Year
- Family Circle/Prudential Financial Player Who Makes a Difference Award
- Best Female Tennis Player ESPY Award
- BET Award for Female Athlete of the Year
- Forbes The Celebrity 100 (No.63)
- Harris Poll Top 10 Favorite Female Sports Star (No.2)
2005
- BET Award for Female Athlete of the Year
- Forbes The Celebrity 100 (No.62)
- Harris Poll Top 10 Favorite Female Sports Star (No.2)
2006
- Forbes The Celebrity 100 (No.87)
- Harris Poll Top 10 Favorite Female Sports Star (No.2)
2007
- BET Award for Female Athlete of the Year
- Laureus World Comeback of the Year
- Harris Poll Top 10 Favorite Female Sports Star (No.1)
- Forbes The Celebrity 100 (No.69)
2008
- WTA Player of the Year
- Forbes The Celebrity 100 (No.69)
- Harris Poll Top 10 Favorite Female Sports Star (No.2)
2009
- AP Female Athlete of The Year Award
- SI.com Best Female Athlete of the Decade
- Glamour Magazine Women of the Year Award
- BET Award for Female Athlete of the Year
- Harris Poll Top 10 Favorite Female Sports Star (No.1)
- Best Female Tennis Player ESPY Award
- ITF Women's Singles World Champion
- ITF Women's Doubles World Champion (with Venus Williams)
- Named Second Best Tennis Player of the Decade by ESPN (with Roger Federer at Number 1)
- WTA Player of the Year
- WTA Doubles Team of the Year Award (with Venus Williams)
- WTA Fan Favorite Doubles Team of the Year Award (with Venus Williams)
- Doha 21st Century Leaders Awards – Outstanding Leadership
- Forbes The Celebrity 100 (No.67)
2010
- Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year
- TIME Magazine The World's 100 Most Influential People
- Forbes The Celebrity 100 (No.61)
- BET Award for Female Athlete of the Year
- Best Female Tennis Player ESPY Award
- Harris Poll Top 10 Favorite Female Sports Star (No.1)
- WTA Fan Favorite Doubles Team of the Year Award (with Venus Williams)
- Forbes 30 Utterly Inspiring Role Models
- Teen Choice Awards – Female Athlete Award
- Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women in the World (No.55)
2011
- BET Award for Female Athlete of the Year
- Forbes The Celebrity 100 (No.84)
- TIME Magazine 30 Legends of Women's Tennis
- Best Female Tennis Player ESPY Award
- Forbes Most Powerful Black Women In The U.S. (No.10)
- The Root 100 2011: Influencers and Iconoclasts (No.41)
Recognition
In 2005, Tennis Magazine ranked her as the 17th-best player in 40 years.In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
.
See also
- List of Grand Slam Women's Singles champions
- List of Grand Slam Women's Doubles champions
- List of Grand Slam Mixed Doubles champions
- Williams sisters rivalryWilliams Sisters rivalryVenus Williams and Serena Williams are professional tennis players and sisters who have played numerous times in Grand Slam finals. The current head to head record between the two is 13-10, in Serena's favor...
- Dementieva – S. Williams rivalryDementieva – S. Williams rivalrySerena Williams and Elena Dementieva are two tennis players who formed a spirited rivalry on the WTA Tour. The two have played numerous matches that have been described as instant classics. Williams is a 13 time Grand Slam champion, while Dementieva was the 2008 Olympic Champion...
- Henin – S. Williams rivalry
- Hingis – S. Williams rivalry