Serena Williams

Birthdate:September 26, 1981
Birthplace:Saginaw, Michigan, USA
Residence:Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA
Height:5'9" (1.75 m)
Weight:135 lbs (61 kg)
Plays:Right-handed

Serena Williams Biography

Serena Jameka Williams is a professional women's tennis player, who is a former World No. 1 of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). She is the younger sister of another female tennis champion, Venus Williams. She currently resides in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, United States. Serena Williams was born in Saginaw, Michigan. When she and her four sisters were young, their parents, Richard and Oracene (also called Brandy), lived in the poor and violent Los Angeles suburb of Compton. Her father dreamed of making at least one of his daughters a tennis superstar, hoping that involvement in sports would give them a way out of that neighborhood. When Serena was four and a half, she won her first tournament, and she entered 49 tournaments before the age of 10, winning 46 of them. At one point, she replaced her sister Venus as the number one ranked tennis player aged 12 or under in California. At the 2005 U.S. Open, Serena made it through the first three rounds, but was defeated by her sister Venus in the 4th round, 7-6, 6-2. This was the earliest that the two sisters had met in a grand slam since the 1999 Australian Open, due to their low seeds. Serena then was forced to take a break for the rest of 2005 because of ankle and knee injuries. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine put her in 17th place in its list of 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era. Serena was granted a wildcard into the US Open: her ranking prevented her from gaining direct entry into the tournament, having only played three tournaments between the US Open 2005 and returning to the tour in Cincinnati due to a chronic knee injury. She was ranked 79th in the main draw, and was unseeded in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 1998. Williams eventually lost to Amelie Mauresmo in the fourth round of the open 4-6, 6-0, 2-6.