SERENA WILLIAMS
Born: September 26, 1981 Height: 5' 9"
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player. Serena Williams was born in Saginaw, Michigan, to Richard Williams and Oracene Price and is the youngest of Price's five daughters. When the children were young, the family moved to Compton, California, where Serena started playing tennis at the age of four. Williams' first professional event was in September 1995, at the age of 14 to counteract the forthcoming changes to age-eligibility rules, at the Bell Challenge. She lost in the first round of qualifying to Anne Miller, winning just two games. Serena finished the year ranked world no. 20 in singles.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Williams holds the most Major singles, doubles, and mixed doubles titles combined amongst active players, male or female. She is the only player to have achieved a Career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles. Her record of 32 Grand Slam titles puts her seventh on the all-time list: 17 in singles, 13 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 ('02–'03) and only the fifth woman ever to do so. Her total of 17 Grand Slam singles titles is sixth on the all-time list, and fourth in the Open Era, behind Steffi Graf (22 titles) and Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova (18 titles each). She has won 13 Grand Slam doubles titles with her sister Venus Williams and the pair are unbeaten in Grand Slam finals. Serena Williams is also a four-time winner of the WTA Tour Championships. Williams is only one of five tennis players all-time to win a multiple slam set in two disciplines, matching Margaret Court, Roy Emerson, Martina Navratilova and Frank Sedgman. The arrival of Venus and Serena Williams has been credited with launching a new era of power and athleticism in women's tennis. Williams was once known for her unusual and colorful outfits on court.
Williams has appeared on television and also provided voice work on animated shows: in a 2001 episode of
The Simpsons Serena. joined the animation along with sister Venus, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. She has also provided guest voice work in
Higglytown Heroes and
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 2005, MTV announced a reality show around the lives of Serena and Venus, which aired on ABC Family. Williams has appeared twice on MTV's
Punk'd and, appeared in the ABC reality television series
Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race. she played oN
My Wife and Kids, and she has also guest-starred during episodes of
The Bernie Mac Show,
ER, and
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
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