Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American professional tennis player who is currently ranked World No. 1 in both singles and doubles. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her World No. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She regained this ranking for the fifth time on November 2, 2009. She became the World No. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002.

Williams is the reigning champion in both singles and women's doubles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon and in women's doubles at the French Open and the US Open. Her 26 Grand Slam titles places her ninth on the all-time list: 12 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. Her 12 Grand Slam singles titles ties her with Billie Jean King for sixth on the all-time list. Williams ranks fourth in Grand Slam women's singles titles won during the open era, behind Steffi Graf with 22 titles and Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova with 18 titles each. She has won more Grand Slam titles in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles than any other active female player.

Williams has won two Olympic gold medals in women's doubles.

Williams has won more career prize money than any other female athlete in history.

Williams is the younger sister of former World No. 1 Venus Williams. They have played each other in 23 professional matches since 1998, with Serena winning 13 of these matches as of October 2009. As of July 2009, they have met in eight Grand Slam finals, with Serena winning six times. Between the 2002 French Open and the 2003 Australian Open, they met in all four Grand Slam singles finals, 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

Williams was born in Saginaw, Michigan to Richard Williams and Oracene Price. She is of African American heritage and is the youngest of Oracene's five daughters: half-sisters Yetunde (died September 14, 2003), Lyndrea and Isha Price, and older sister Venus. Her mother raised her five daughters as members of the Jehovah's Witnesses religious group. When the children were young, the family moved to the Los Angeles suburb of Compton, where Serena started playing tennis at the age of four. Her father home-schooled Williams and her sister Venus. To this end, Williams was and remains coached by both her parents. Williams's family moved from Compton to West Palm Beach 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's 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, 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 groundstrokes from both her forehand and backhand swings. Her serve is technically very sound and has been hit as hard as 129 mph (206.5 km/h), the second-fastest (after her sister Venus) all-time among female players.

Williams's solid volleys—especially her drive volleys and powerful overheads—give her advantages at the net. She produces good drop volleys, a shot that not many players use.

Although Williams's forehand is among the most powerful shots in the women's game, her double-handed backhand is considered to be one of, if not the, best on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour. Williams can hit a winning backhand shot, from any position on the court, down the line or cross court, even when on the defensive or otherwise under pressure. Williams strikes her backhand groundstroke using an open stance, and uses the same open stance for her forehand.

Williams's aggressive style of play results in a relatively high number of unforced errors. This 'high risk' style is balanced in part by her serve, which combines great power and placement with very high consistency.

Although many think of Williams as only an offensive player, she also plays a strong defensive game.