SerenaWilliams.com

Country United States
Residence Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA
Date of birth September 26, 1981 (age 25)
Place of birth Saginaw, Michigan, USA
Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight 180 lbs (82 kg)
Turned Pro 1995
Plays Right; Two-handed backhand
Career Prize Money US$17,790,522

Serena was born in Saginaw, Michigan. When she and her four sisters were young, their parents, Richard and Oracene (also called Brandy), lived in the Los Angeles suburb of Compton.

She was born in Saginaw, Michigan. to Richard Williams and Oracene Price. Williams is the youngest of five sisters: Lyndrea, Isha, Yetunde (died September 14, 2003), and Venus. Oracene raised their children as Jehovah?s Witnesses. When the children were young, the family moved to the Los Angeles suburb of Compton, where Williams started playing tennis at the age of four. Richard, who home-schooled his children, hoped that involvement in sports would give them an opportunity for a better life, and dreamed of making at least one of his daughters a tennis superstar. To this end, Williams was and remains coached by both her parents.

The Williams family moved from Compton to West Palm Beach when Serena was nine, to attend the tennis academy of Rick Macci, who would provide additional coaching. Macci spotted the exceptional talents of the sisters, and although he did not always agree with Richard?s unorthodox approches, he respected him for allowing his daugthers to grow up like regular kids. Richard stopped sending his daughters to national junior tennis tournaments when Serena was 10, since he wanted them to take it slow and focus on school work. Another motivation was racial, as he had heard parents of white players talk about the Williams sisters in a derogatory manner during tournaments. At that time, Serena 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, 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, Serena responded: Everyone does different things. I think for Venus and I, we just tried a different road, and it worked for us.

SerenaWilliams.com

Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked World No. 1 by the Women’s Tennis Association on four separate occasions; as of April 20, 2009, she was ranked World No. 2. She is the reigning US Open and Australian Open singles champion and has won 20 Grand Slam titles: 10 in singles, 8 in doubles, and 2 in mixed doubles.

Serena_Williams has won two Olympic gold medals in women’s doubles. She is the most recent player, male or female, to hold all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously. She is also the only active female player to have won all four Grand Slam tournaments during her career (one French Open, two Wimbledon, four Australian and three US Opens). She also has won more Grand Slams than any active player. Additionally, Williams has won more career prize money than any other female athlete in history. In 2005, Tennis Magazine ranked her as the 17th-best player in 40 years.

She is the younger sister of former World No. 1 professional female tennis player Venus Williams; the sisters have played each other in 20 professional matches dating back to 1998, with matches played between them tied at 10–10 as of May 2009. They are the only women during the open era to have played each other in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals.

Williams’ off-court interests include fashion, acting, and charity.

SerenaWilliams.comPersonal life

From 2004 to 2005, Williams dated Brett Ratner. She was linked in 2007 to Miami Heat Forward Udonis Haslem and actor Jackie Long and in 2008 to rapper Common. She resides at Ballen Isles in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

SerenaWilliams.com Fashion

Williams is known for her unusual and colorful outfits on court. In 2002, there was much talk when she wore a black lycra catsuit 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.

SerenaWilliams.com Entertainment

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 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 Johnson 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.

SerenaWilliams.com 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).