Serena Williams - American tennis player, four-time Olympic champion, the owner of a non-calendar Grand Slam and a career Golden Slam. The younger sister of the world champion.
Serena was born in September 1981 in the US state of Michigan. But in the town of Saginaw, only the first years of the girl's life passed. Later, the family changed their place of residence more than once, moving either to California or Florida. It must be said that Serena and Venus were the youngest of 5 daughters. Three older sisters - Yetunda, Isha and Lindreya - are mother-in-law.
World tennis legend Serena Jameka Williams has been preparing to climb the sports Olympus since early childhood. For this, the younger daughters - Serena and Venus - were prepared by father Richard Williams. He brought his daughters to the court when they were 3 and 4 years old. First of all, the girls learned how to hit the ball. Richard did not make indulgences at a young age, but immediately gave his daughters rackets for adults. Since then, the father has constantly controlled the girls' training process, even when the athletes officially had other mentors. He did not stop coaching girls even when he divorced his wife in 1999.
After the family moved to Compton, California, Serena and her sister entered the McKee Tennis Academy. From early childhood, Serena showed a stubborn fighting character. Secretly from her father, at the age of 8, the girl signed up for the tournament with Venus, where she took only second place, while her older sister won the prize cup. In order not to upset Serena, Venus exchanged awards with her, stating that she had always loved silver more than gold. Serena still remembers the noble deed of her older sister.
Tennis
The teachers of the academy from the very first days noted the prospects of the young tennis player. The girl has already developed her own style of play - swift, assertive and unpredictable. During matches, Serena Williams literally swept opponents off the court.
The girl took an active part in various competitions for juniors. Even then, the countdown of her triumphant victories began. The athlete confidently moved into adult tennis.
At the age of 14, the girl was among the professional players. At this point, Serena left the academy. Only the father was involved in the preparation. What happened next was like a real miracle.
In 1997, when Serena Williams occupied only 304th place in the ranking of rackets of the world, the girl managed to beat the strongest tennis player of that time, Monica Seles. Another incredible victory soon followed - over athlete Marie Pierce. This allowed Serena to get into the top hundred of the world's strongest tennis players. From that moment on, the athlete became a regular participant in WTA tournaments.
The following year, an African American appeared at the Grand Slam tournament. After several rapid victories, Williams, whose height is 175 cm and weight - 70 kg, took the 20th step in the world ranking of the tennis association. A few months later, the star managed to win the Grand Slam tournament. Serena managed to accomplish this in Wimbledon, at the tournament mixed doubles. The girl played in tandem with Belarusian Maxim Mirny. With him, he pulled out a victory at the US Open.
In singles, Serena Williams managed to score an impressive victory in 1999, leaving behind the strongest rivals Lindsay Davenport and Martin Hingis. As a result of this brilliant victory tennis player raises the cup over her head Open Championship United States of America.
From that moment on, Serena's leadership at the highest level tournaments has become a common practice. Williams has won 32 Grand Slams. Together with her sister, she achieved Olympic gold three times. Managed to win in a single competition.
Serena Williams is the only athlete who managed to regain her former positions after a long break in sports biography. In 2003, the tennis player experienced a huge shock due to the death of her half-sister. For 8 months, the girl could not return to the court. And when she came out and began to return the lost positions, she received an unfortunate injury. And again, a season-long pass.
But Serena is not called a legend for nothing. Williams found the strength to fully recover and again took first place in the WTA world rankings.
The Williams sisters expected to take part in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Unexpectedly for the fans, they lost in the first round of the tournament to a pair of Lucia Shafarzhova and Barbora Strytsova. IN singles tournament Serena was also disappointed, the athlete lost.
In 2016, a doping scandal erupted over the exposure of the activities of the WADA association by the Fancy Bears hacker group. The documents provided showed that the Williams sisters had used illegal drugs for a long time. WADA regularly issued doping licenses to tennis players.
According to the data provided by the hackers, since 2010, Serena Williams has been taking oxycodone, hydromorphone, prednisolone and others, which were recommended to the girl for medical reasons. Serena Williams herself did not deny this fact, arguing that the drugs were taken by the presence of chronic diseases. At the same time, she was disqualified for 2 years for the use of mildronate.
Personal life
Serena Williams managed to achieve success not only in sports. The girl also succeeded as a designer of the sportswear brand Aneres. The world tennis star enters into lucrative contracts with renowned companies Reebok, Puma and Nike.
The athlete is also known as an actress. A cinematic biography of Serena Williams is more than 10 titles of feature films and documentaries. The first racket of the world was also involved as a voice actress. The voice of the athlete is spoken by the cartoon characters Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.
Serena Williams' personal life is also rich. The girl had affairs with several well-known representatives of American show business and athletes. There is a connection with the famous football player Bryant McKinney. After breaking up with him, Serena dated actor Jackie Long.
At one time, according to media reports, the name Williams was closely associated with the owner of the tennis academy and businessman Patrick Muratoglu. It is noteworthy that earlier an African-American woman stated that she could not imagine herself next to a man whose skin color would be lighter than hers. But Patrick turned out to be an ethnic Greek.
In 2017, public attention was again focused on the private life of Serena Williams. The athlete did not hide her pregnancy, as evidenced by the photo of Serena in her " Instagram". The creator of the tennis player became the chosen one social network Reddit Alexis Ohanian, Armenian by origin. Daughter Alexis Olympia September 1, 2017. Serena Williams scheduled to enter the court at the end of 2017. But the loss to Elena Ostapenko at the tournament in Abu Dhabi showed that Serena is not yet in the shape to compete. The athlete decided to miss the Australian Open. But already in March 2018, she performed at the WTA - BNP Paribas Open tournament in Indian Wells.
Before the competition, Serena Williams' husband gave his wife a surprise. On the way to the stadium, the businessman placed billboards with photos of Serena and her newborn daughter. Each shield was signed " best mom of all time." Alexis' confession touched Serena, and the athlete even managed to beat Zarina Diyas from Kazakhstan and Kiki Bertens from the Netherlands in two matches. But on the third round, Serena's rival was sister Venus, who won the set.
Now Serena Williams continues to participate in tennis competitions. At the tournament in Miami, the tennis player was again disappointed: the American failed to overcome the first round, in which she lost to an athlete from Japan.
Awards
- 2000 – Golden medal on Olympic Games ah in sydney
- 2008 - gold medal at the Beijing Olympics
- 2012 - two gold medals at the London Olympics
Serena Williams, whose height, weight and biography will be presented in this article, is a real legend tennis. Playing style the athletes are distinguished by assertiveness, sharpness and power, which is characteristic not only for the stunning presentation of the girl, but also for her inner spirit. It is for this reason that Serena is considered the best tennis player on the planet, leading the world rankings. Let's find out the details of the life of this outstanding athlete.
Childhood
Serena Williams (height, weight see below) was born in Saganow (Michigan) in 1981 and became the youngest of the sisters. The first three girls remained with their mother from their first marriage. Then she met Richard Williams and gave birth to him Venus and Serena. Subsequently, Richard played a significant role in the lives of girls.
When Serena was nine, her parents separated, and the girl, along with big family moved to Compton, California. Here, together with Venus, she went to the McKee Tennis Academy. This was the beginning of the girl's path to the top of the tennis Olympus.
Start of the Star Trek
From the very first lessons, Serena made serious progress. Thanks to her stamina, she also became a very uncomfortable opponent for her rivals. This brought Williams many victories in junior competitions. The athlete played with inspiration and strength, and therefore nothing could stop her - neither circumstances nor rivals.
At the age of 14, Serena Williams, whose height, weight and parameters are known to all her fans, became a professional. She left the academy and began to study under the supervision of her father. Subsequently, the girl changed many coaches, but her father was always there and provided support. Perhaps it was the help of a loved one that helped the girl achieve such impressive results.
Sports achivments
In 1997, at number 304 in the world rankings, Serena beat Monica Seles, one of the most strong athletes that time. After that, the girl also brilliantly beat Marie Pierce and entered the top 100 best tennis players in the WTA.
In 1998, she already shone at the Grand Slam competitions. As a result of this tournament, Serena rose to the twentieth line of the world ranking. This allowed her to move from the category of rising stars to the top athletes of the time. A few months later, Williams won her 1st It Happened in the English Wimbledon in the mixed doubles competition. Then the girl played with the Belarusian. Some time later, she won the US Open with him.
In 1999, Serena Williams, whose biography is known to all her fans, achieved impressive success in singles. At the US Open Cup, she beat herself. After that, winning competitions at such a high level became a habit for the athlete. In total, the girl won as many as 32 times at the Grand Slam tournaments. IN this moment she is on the first line of the ranking of the strongest tennis players in the world.
Other achievements
Serena Williams, whose biography is a role model for tennis players, has managed to prove herself in other areas. She took part in the development sportswear"Aneres". Subsequently, Serena advertised this brand as a model. In addition, Williams has signed advertising contracts with Puma, Reebok and Nike.
Also, the girl showed herself well as an actress. Her filmography includes 12 feature films and several documentaries. And the tennis player had the experience of voicing the cartoon "Avatar".
Serena Williams: height, weight and parameters
Various figures have been published on this score in numerous sources. To clarify, let's cite data from an interview given by Serena Williams herself. The parameters of the tennis player’s figure, in her own words, are as follows: waist - 71 cm, hips - 112 cm, chest - 96 cm. As for the weight of the athlete, it ranges from 77 to 83 kilograms, depending on the training loads. Serena's height is 175 centimeters.
Personal life
This area has always been of interest to the numerous fans of the girl. Serena Williams, who has always been in the public domain, has met with many representatives of the US elite over the years. Her chosen ones were Common musician, actor Jackie Long and athlete Bryant McKinney.
At the moment, the tennis player is in a relationship with Patrick Moratoglu, the director of the tennis academy. It is noteworthy that earlier Williams declared her desire to connect her own life exclusively with a black guy. It turns out that Patrick, who is an ethnic Greek, still managed to convince the athlete.
The famous tennis player Serena Williams was born in the USA in the small town of Saginaw, in 1981. Of the five daughters in the large Williams family, Serena was the youngest. The girl's love for tennis was born from childhood, at the age of four she began her training. By the end of 91 of the last century, the name of the young tennis player occupied the top line in the ranking among girls under ten years old.
Serena Williams' fast-paced, professional career began in 1995. For three years, she was able to enter the top twenty tennis players in the WTA rankings. In 1998, the American tennis player won the first Grand Slam tournament, followed by Wimbledon. Over the next year, the novice tennis player successfully performed at the open championship in Paris, at tournaments in Los Angeles and Indian Wells, and at the end of the year she ranked fourth in the WTA rankings.
From 2001 to 2004, Serena William became successful in terms of career. During these years, she won tournaments in Tokyo, three times in Indian Wells, in women's pairs she became the owner of the Golden Slam. The victory in Australia at the Open Championship in 2003 brought Serena the championship title in all four Grand Slam tournaments. Before her, only Margaret Smith-Court, Maureen Connolly and Steffi Graft achieved this.
The following years were filled with ups and downs. Due to health problems, 2001-2004 were not the most successful years in Williams' career. A tendon rupture, surgeries overshadowed 2011 as well. Nevertheless, Serena Williams was able to overcome all difficulties and in 2012 regained the title of one of the best tennis players in the world, winning seven tournaments in singles, winning Wimbledon and the US Championship, having won in London for the third time. Olympic gold V doubles. In 2012 and 2013, Serena Williams won the WTA Finals twice.
Serena Jameka Williams. She was born on September 26, 1981 in Saginaw, Michigan, USA. American professional tennis player, younger sister of Venus Williams.
Serena Williams was born September 26, 1981 in Michigan to Richard Williams and Oracin Price and grew up in California and Florida.
From early childhood, the father prepared Serena and her older sister Venus for a career in professional tennis, and as a result, both sisters took turns becoming the first rackets of the world. Serena also holds two records associated with this title: between the first two periods of her tenure on the first line of the WTA ranking in singles, the longest period of time passed, and later she became the oldest tennis player to ever lead this ranking.
Serena Williams - four-time Olympic champion in singles and women's doubles and the holder of a non-calendar Grand Slam in singles and doubles, as well as the only one among both men and women to hold a career Golden Slam (including victories in all four tournaments Grand Slam and at the Olympic Games) in singles and doubles.
In total, she has 38 Grand Slam victories, and in the number of titles in these tournaments in singles (23), she ranks second in the history of women's tennis after Margaret Smith-Court.
Serena Williams is also a five-time WTA Finals Champion and the Women's Pro Tour record holder in prize money earned. Off the court, Williams is a successful business, earning an average of $12 million a year from advertising contracts and owning his own sportswear firm, Aneres Designs. Williams is actively involved in charitable projects: several schools in Africa have been built with her money, and scholarships are paid to college students in the United States.
Serena Williams is the second and youngest common daughter of Richard Williams and Oracin Price. Orasin had three daughters from his first marriage - Yetunda, Isha and Lindreya, Richard also had children from his first wife, Betty, but they, unlike Orasin's daughters, did not live in his second family. First common child Venus became Richard and Oracin - in the future, like Serena, the first racket of the world, with whom she repeatedly won Grand Slam tournaments and the Olympic Games). In early childhood, Serena moved with her family to Compton (California), where she began to play tennis, and at the age of nine - to West Palm Beach (Florida).
According to Serena's memoirs, the family did not live well at that time: her mother worked as a nurse, and her father had his own small security company (Richard Williams himself writes that the security business allowed him to save more than 800 thousand dollars to a bank account by the beginning of the 80s, and he cannot consider his family poor).
Serena, who was called in the family "Mika" (Meeka is a pet name derived from her middle name Jameka) and her four sisters shared a room with two bunk beds. As a result, Serena, as the youngest of the girls, spent every night in bed with one of the older sisters, however, considering this not as an inconvenience, but as an opportunity for intimacy with her sisters.
Nevertheless, according to Serena’s recollections, until a certain age she had the mentality of a “princess” - she, as the youngest, was forgiven for any tricks and the whole family spoiled her in every possible way. She herself especially loved her oldest sister, Yetunda, and Venus, who had been a role model for her from early childhood. The entire family was quite religious: Oracin, a staunch Jehovah's Witness, instilled the same faith in her daughters, and all of them visited local Kingdom Halls three times a week, both in California and later in Florida. Serena Williams remains true to this belief to this day.
Although religious, Richard and Oracin divorced in 1999 (although Serena does not mention this in her autobiography, John J. Sullivan of the New York Times points out that Richard beat his wife and broke several of her ribs). In 2009, Richard Williams began dating Lakeisha Graham, who at the time was 29 years old - just a year older than Venus and two older than Serena. He later married Lakeisha and she bore him a son, Dylan.
Richard Williams tried to train all of his daughters. If Yetunda turned out to be little suited for sports, then Isha had good inclinations, which were prevented from being realized by a sore back, and Lindreya managed to break into the college team. But the main success came to two younger daughters Williams.
Serena Williams' autobiography recounts a family legend that Venus's tennis career and her own were planned before they were even born. Once Richard Williams heard by chance that the winner of the French Open, Virginia Ruzici, received forty thousand dollars for winning the tournament - more than he earned in the whole year.
After that, he told his wife: "We should give birth to two more children and make tennis stars out of them." From that moment on, he and Oracin began to intensively master tennis technique in order to be able to pass on the skills to children in the future. In March 1983, when Venus was less than three years old and Serena was one and a half, Richard moved the family from prosperous Long Beach, where he paid over a thousand dollars a month on a mortgage loan for a huge house, to the slums of Compton (Los Angeles County). One of the reasons was the fact that the monthly payment for a house in Compton was almost ten times less, which left more money for training, but the main factor was Richard's belief that only black ghettoes grow up to be the real fighters he wanted his children to be.
Serena started playing tennis at the age of three, when her family was already living in Compton, following Venus, who was 15 months older. In her autobiography, she writes that her father gave her a standard size racket (there was no money for children's rackets) and began throwing balls over the net until she started hitting them. In the future, Serena began to regularly participate in family training. Training took place on public courts, which, as Richard Williams, who became the first coach of his daughters, recalls, were in a disgusting state - with rotten and torn nets, which were later replaced with steel ones. Even for such courts, he had to endure a battle with local drug dealers who chose this area for their business. Gradually, Venus and Serena's training became more intense until they began to take place daily, including weekends, for three to four hours, and sometimes twice a day - early in the morning before school, and after school until dark.
Richard Williams wanted his daughters to learn from the very beginning. the best craftsmen. Serena recalls that when she was seven, her father managed to arrange for him and Venus personal training with the leading black tennis players of the time - Zina Garrison and Laurie McNeil, and on another occasion signed them up for the Youth vs. Experience tournament, where Venus was able to play against the 1938 Australian champion Dodo Cheney.
As both Serena herself and her older sister recall, in childhood, the external difference between them was striking. If Venus "always was Venus" - tall, powerful, aggressive on the court - then Serena was small and thin, but tried her best to keep up with her athletic development.
At the age of eight, she independently, without the knowledge of her father, signed up to participate in children's tournament in which Venus participated. Girls under the age of ten participated in the tournament, and Serena was almost the youngest among the players, but nevertheless managed to reach the finals, where Venus unconditionally lost. Although, as Serena admits in her autobiography, she objectively played worse than her sister at that time, her grief at the defeat was so great that Venus suggested that she trade prizes, saying that she always liked silver more than gold.
Williams Jr. still keeps the cup she exchanged with her sister on her bedside table. In the future, the father, so that the daughters do not intersect with each other in official competitions, recorded Venus in age group up to 12 years old, and Serena - one age category younger. When Venus was 10 and Serena was 9, Richard sent letters to the tennis schools USA, inviting coaches to come and see his daughters. The only one who responded to the offer was Rick Macci - the head of the tennis academy from Florida. Macci was impressed enough to agree to tutor the girls for free, and the Williamses moved to Florida.
In 1991, Serena ranked first in the national rankings among girls under the age of 10 with a balance of wins and losses of 46-3, but after that she did not participate in junior competitions until the beginning professional career. Richard stopped the participation of his daughters in youth tournaments, because he was afraid of the development of star disease in them and at the same time did not want professionalization too early, due to which the girls would be deprived of their usual childhood (the decision was agreed with Rick Macci, who at that time was studying Venus and Serena). He followed this same “family first” approach when Venus and Serena were put under the care of coach Dave Reineberg, who worked with them in the 90s: if Richard felt that his daughters were overworking themselves, he would take a break in workouts for a day, and sometimes for a week. At the same time, however, at other times he behaved as harshly as possible during training: Reineberg recalled that when Richard served as a linesman in Serena's training matches, he deliberately urged her opponent to "harden" her, and sometimes such training ended in tantrums with throwing a racket.
Williams Jr. played her first match in a professional tournament at the age of 14, in November 1995 in Quebec.
Unlike Venus, in her debut tournament the year before, not only passed into the second round, but also almost defeated the second racket of the world Arancha Sanchez-Vicario in it, for Serena the first game at the professional level ended in a rout, which showed that she not yet ready for such competitions. However, this single match provided her with the opportunity to continue to play in professional tournaments in the next two years, since new rules came into force from 1996. age restrictions, according to which participation in a professional tour became possible only from the age of 16. Now Serena could continue to train and wait for her time. After the defeat in Quebec, she did not compete for more than a year, continuing to train hard with Reineberg, in whose classes she and her sister joined. former tennis player from the top ten in the ranking of Katie Rinaldi-Stankel.
Finally, Serena re-joined the professional WTA Tour in 1997, and already in March her father made a statement to the press, predicting that she would be a more dangerous opponent for other tennis players than her older sister, as she is more aggressive and more versatile. . Serena began to quickly move up in the tennis hierarchy. By the end of her first season, she had gone from 453rd to 99th in the rankings. At the WTA tournament in Chicago, ranked 304th Serena reached the semi-finals after defeating two rivals from the top ten in the world - Marie Pierce and Monica Seles.
These victories made her the lowest ranked player in history to beat two Top-10 opponents in the same tournament (a record broken 12 years later by Kim Clijsters, who returned to professional tennis).
In early 1998, Serena won several more victories over strong rivals, including one of the world's leading tennis players Lindsay Davenport at a tournament in Sydney, although soon after she lost to her older sister in the second round of her first Grand Slam tournament - the Australian Open. These results boosted her self-esteem enormously, and she announced that she was capable of playing in the men's pro tour and beating opponents below the 200th number in the rankings.
Her challenge was accepted by the 30-year-old German tennis player Karsten Brasch - the 226th racket of the world. Brush crushed the younger Williams in a one-set friendly match 6-1, smoking cigarettes between games; Dave Reineberg mentions that Reineberg also played a round of golf and had a few beers the morning before the match. The defeat did not bother the Williams sisters, who were left with the opinion that they could compete with professional men. In a certain sense, this statement turned out to be true: for the rest of the season, Serena won two Grand Slam tournaments in mixed doubles - Wimbledon and the US Open, both with Belarusian athlete Maxim Mirny, and the other two Grand Slams this season were won by Venus and Justin Gimelstob.
Together with Venus, Serena also won her first WTA titles in her career - thus they became the third pair of sisters in history to win tournaments at this level.
Although Serena's success in singles could not be compared with her achievements in doubles, she set new record, having beaten her fifth opponent from the top ten in her sixteenth match at the professional level (the previous record was held by Lindsay Davenport, who achieved this indicator in her 33rd match), and in June she became one of the 20 best tennis players in the world. At the end of the season, she was voted "Rookie of the Year" by both the Women's Tennis Association and Tennis Magazine.
In the first half of 1999, 17-year-old Serena won the French Open in women's doubles with Venus, her third Grand Slam title in her career. She was seeded seventh at the US Open in August, but over the course of the tournament she defeated Monica Seles in the quarterfinals, defending champion Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals, and recently topped the WTA rating Martina Hingis in the final, becoming the champion.
Thus, on the way to victory, Serena beat three of the four strongest tennis players in the world - with the exception of her own older sister Venus, who ranked third in the ranking. Her name became the third in the short list of black tennis players who won Grand Slam tournaments in singles (after Altea Gibson and Arthur Ashe). Venus will only join his younger sister on this list next year at Wimbledon.
The triumph at the US Open was not Serena's only success in singles for the year - she won five victories in total, in particular, defeating Steffi Graf at the prestigious Indian Wells tournament, who had previously won twenty finals in a row. Williams Jr ends individual season with Grand Slam title- a tournament of tennis players who showed the best results in the Grand Slam tournaments of the current year. Serena, who defeated Venus in the final, became the second after her older sister (last year's winner) and the last winner of this trophy among women - on next year The Grand Slam Cup was merged with final tournaments ATP and WTA tours.
Serena Williams has over 90 Grand Slam and WTA title victories.
Williams is the winner of 38 Grand Slam tournaments (23 singles, 13 doubles, 2 mixed doubles), as well as the final WTA championship in 2001, 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2014 and the Grand Slam Cup in 1999.
In 2002-2003, Serena Williams won the non-classical Grand Slam - consecutively all 4 Grand Slam tournaments (but not in one calendar year) in singles, in 2008-2009 she repeated this result in doubles with Venus Williams, and in 2014 -2015 won the second non-classical single Grand Slam.
Serena Williams is the 2012 Olympic champion in women's singles and three-time Olympic champion in doubles (2000, 2008 and 2012) - all three times paired with her older sister. Serena Williams is the only woman in history to hold a career Golden Slam (including victories in all four Grand Slams and the Olympics) in both singles and doubles.
After winning the 2008 US Open, Serena again topped the world rankings after more than five years (the last time was the first in August 2003).
In 2014, once again returning to first place in the rankings at the age of 31 years and 145 days, she became the oldest tennis player to top the WTA singles rankings.
Serena Williams is the 1999 Fed Cup winner with Team USA and two-time Hopman Cup winner (2003 with James Blake, 2008 with Mardy Fish).
In addition to tennis, Serena is engaged in the production of sportswear (brand Aneres Designs). She also collaborates with Nike and HSN, designing the latter's Serena Williams Signature Statement line of handbags and jewelry.
A significant part of Williams' income, which exceeds the money received from participation in tournaments, she receives from advertising contracts with sportswear and equipment companies, including different time were Puma, Reebok and Nike. Already at the age of 16, she signed her first contract with Puma. This happened before Puma launched its own line of tennis clothing, so at first Serena had a personalized fit, later even involving her herself in the design.
At different stages of her career, she repeatedly attracted attention not only with her game, but also with outfits on the court. Shape magazine cites Serena's three most memorable outfits as a black lycra catsuit from Puma, a formfitting jumpsuit from Puma that accentuated her form at the 2002 US Open, a denim skirt from Nike, and a hot pink skinny bodysuit she showed off in 2011.
Advertising contracts, which were the results of not only success on the court, but also natural charm, according to one of Serena's biographers John Sullivan, for some time (before appearing in tennis) made her the richest athlete in the world. Although she lost this title (according to Forbes, at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, Serena earned about 12 million a year from advertising contracts, while Sharapova earned 23, more than Rafael Nadal), Williams remains the record holder for women professional tennis in terms of the amount of prize money, according to this indicator, in turn, by the middle of 2014, almost twice ahead of Sharapova. In addition to sportswear firms, Serena has contracts with manufacturers sports equipment Wilson, Gatorade tonic drinks, and OPI nail polish. Williams is also invested in the NFL's Miami Dolphins and Sleep Sheets, an insomnia drug company.
Serena Williams' life is not entirely about tennis. “I wish I could be like Martina Navratilova,” she says of the former world No. 1, who never left the court at 50. - But I'm not like that. I need other things in life. I need balance." The search for balance includes not only modeling, but also simple entertainment, including going to movie theaters and watching TV (she says she is a fan of America's Next Top Model).
It was Serena's lazy lifestyle off the court that forced Venus to take up her education at the time. At the initiative of her older sister, who studied at the Fort Lauderdale Institute of Art, Serena also began taking courses at this college. She, like Venus, chose design as her main specialty. fashion clothes and, according to her, she learned a lot by attending courses, but, unlike her sister, who successfully graduated from the institute in 2007, she never officially received a degree. It is to the years of study at the Institute of Arts that the first ideas, later embodied in Aneres products, date back.
In 2011, Serena became a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, studied as part of the University Without Walls program.
Serena Williams is actively involved in charity work. Her projects include two high schools in Kenya (the first opened in 2008, the second in 2010), as well as a school in Senegal, the opening of which she sponsored after her first charity trip to Africa in late 2006. In the US, Williams provides scholarships to college students. In particular, the Yetunda Price scholarship for nursing education is paid by the Serena Williams Foundation, which receives proceeds from a hygienic lipstick developed jointly with Mission Skin Care.
Serena Williams Height: 175 centimeters.
Serena Williams Personal Life:
Serena has never been married, although there were periods of romantic relationships with men in her life. Gossip columns, in particular, connected her name with the Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov, who later met with Maria Sharapova. This caused tension between Serena, who said that Sharapova contacted a "man with a black heart", and Maria, in turn, accused Williams of divorcing her coach Patrick Muratoglu, with whom Serena had not only professional relations in the past.
The athlete was credited with lovers of such persons as film director Brett Ratner, Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Kishon Johnson and Washington Redskins Lavar Arrington, rapper Common.
In 2012, the athlete announced that she was no longer dating anyone and would only marry a Jehovah's Witness.
In 2015, Serena was constantly seen in the company of rapper Drake. There were rumors about the imminent wedding of the couple, but it did not come to that.
At the end of 2016, Serena's relationship with Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian became known. Before New Year .
Alexis Ohanian is an American with Armenian roots, known as the founder of the social network Reddit. Closely acquainted with the founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg. Has risen to the top in its field since the site was founded 11 years ago. He co-founded the site with his college roommate, Steve Huffman. The site became the Reddit network. In 2013, he wrote a book about the power of the internet called Without Their Permission.
Serena Williams (full name Serena Jameka Williams) is a woman who has become a real legend in the world of tennis. Her playing style is distinguished by sharpness, assertiveness and all-destroying power, which lies not only in the stunning serve, but also in the inner spirit of the tennis player. That is why Serena is currently the best tennis player on our planet. The first number of the world ranking, the owner of a huge number of awards - all this is she, the youngest of the Williams sisters. But what else can we tell about this extraordinary athlete? We have collected all the most interesting episodes and facts from the biography of our today's heroine in this article.
Early years, childhood and the family of Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams was born on September 26, 1981 in the town of Saganow, Michigan and became the youngest of five Williams sisters. The first three girls were her mother's daughters from her first marriage. Two younger daughters- Venus and Serena - were born from a man named Richard Williams, who later played a huge role in the lives of two tennis players.
When our today's heroine was only nine years old, her parents divorced, and subsequently the whole huge family moved to the California town of Compton. Here, together with her sister, Serena began to study at the McKee Tennis Academy. In this place, she began her long journey into the world of tennis.
It is worth noting that our today's heroine made serious progress on the court from the very first days of classes. Due to her strength and endurance, she has always been an uncomfortable opponent for all her opponents. At some point, she began to often win at various junior competitions. She played strongly and with inspiration, and therefore nothing could stop her - neither rivals, nor circumstances.
Serena Williams could be suspended by TBN
At the age of fourteen, Serena Williams made her way into the ranks of professionals. During this period, she left the former academy and began to study under the guidance of her father. Subsequently, she had different coaches, but her father always remained by her side, helping and supporting in all circumstances.
Perhaps it was his support that helped our today's heroine achieve such impressive career heights. After all, the subsequent results of Serena often looked like a real miracle.
Star Trek tennis player Serena Williams, big sport
In 1997, being in the status of 304 (!) racket of the world, Serena Williams beat one of the strongest tennis players of that time, Monica Seles. This was followed by another impressive victory - over Marie Pierce. After these successes, Serena managed to break into the TOP-100 of the strongest tennis players in the world and became a permanent participant in all tournaments held under the auspices of the WTA.In 1998, the talented African American first appeared at the Grand Slam tournament. According to the results of that championship, the athlete rose to the twentieth line in the ranking of the World Tennis Association. After that, Serena Williams smoothly migrated from the category of rising stars to the cohort of the best tennis players of her time.
Just a few months later, our today's heroine won her first tournament in her career grand slam. It happened at the mixed doubles tournament in English Wimbledon. As part of this competition, Serena performed with the Belarusian tennis player Maxim Mirny. Subsequently, with him, the American also won the US Open.
Serena Williams - bikini beach
In 1999, Serena Williams was able to achieve impressive results in singles as well. Beating Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis en route to victory, Serena got the opportunity to head the US Open for the first time in her career. After that, tournament victories the highest level became a common practice for Serena. In total, Serena Williams won 32 Grand Slams.
In addition, together with her sister Venus Williams, our today's heroine won the gold of the Olympic Games three times, and also won once in such competitions and in singles. It is noteworthy that Serena is the only tennis player in the world who managed to return to the first line of the world ranking after a long break. The beginning of a long series of upheavals was the death of her half-sister Yetunda, which happened in 2003.
After that, the athlete could not recover for eight months and gain former form. Only in 2004, Serena was able to play and win again. However, at the moment when everything was just beginning to get better, the African American had a serious injury. Because of this, the youngest of the Williams sisters had to miss an entire season.
The tennis player dropped to the 95th (!) line of the world ranking, and therefore, after returning, she was forced to start some competitions from the selection stage. However, despite this, Serena managed to show everyone that she had not lost her former skills. Triumphantly returning to the court, she won several prestigious tournaments at once, and subsequently again reached the first line of the WTA rating.
Serena is currently the strongest tennis player on the planet.
Other achievements of Serena Williams
During her career, our today's heroine has managed to prove herself in a variety of industries. As a designer, she participated in the creation of the sportswear line of the Aneres brand, which she subsequently advertised as a model as well. Serena has also signed advertising contracts with Reebok, Puma and Nike. 
Among other things, during her career, Serena Williams managed to prove herself as an actress as well. In her filmography there are twelve feature films (where she, however, plays very small roles), as well as several documentaries. In addition, Serena also works as a voice artist. Her voice can be heard in the original cartoon versions of The Legend of Korra and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Serena Williams personal life
Over the years, Serena Williams met with various representatives of the American beau monde. Her boyfriends were musician Common, American football star Bryant McKinney and actor Jackie Long.Currently, the tennis player is in a love relationship with the owner of the tennis academy, Patrick Moratoglu. It is noteworthy that Serena previously stated that she was ready to connect her life only with a black guy. However, Patrick, who is an ethnic Greek, seems to have managed to convince the athlete to change her views.
