Serena Williams: The American Powerhouse – Part 1
Serena Williams was born to Richard Williams and Oracene Price on the 26th of September, 1981 in Saginaw, Michigan. She began playing tennis at the age of four when her family moved to Compton, California, which was
even before she reached crèche. After Serena and her family reallocated to West Palm Beach in Florida, she became one of the most prevailing figures in junior tennis at the age of nine. Subsequently, honing her nous in tennis, she became a professional tennis
player in 1995.
The African-American was a one-off a kind in pro tennis and was soon to climb the ladder of success. Her first top 20 season was achieved in 1998, when she was a semi finalist at Sydney and became the fastest player ever to accomplish
five top ten wins. In 1999, she entered the lime light by capturing her first two WTA titles; one in Paris and the other was at Indian Wells after she defeated the reigning Steffi Graf in the final. Moreover, she became the second coloured grand slam winner
after Althea Gibson in 1956.
During 2000 and 2001 she penetrated the top ten and by 2002, she became ‘numero uno’ after defeating; then world number 3 Martina Hingis in the quarter final, her sister Venus Williams (who was at the time world number two) during
the semi finals to an en-route victory by outfoxing the short lived former world number one Jennifer Marie-Capriati and therefore, by defeating all three of them in the same event, she became the only women after Graf to have achieved such a feat.
In addition, from 2002-03 the 29 year-old won the "Serena Slam" by clasping all four grand slam titles: the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open titles in 2002, and finally the 2003 Australian Open.
Although, due to Serena’s first injury in 2003, she was unable to play, with an eight month layoff, she ultimately returned to achieve her fourth top 10 finish in 2004.
However, 2005-06 saw a sharp decline as an injury-plagued season resulted in her first non-top 10 finish and in due course she fell below the top 100 and was not able to qualify for the WTA championships for the first time since
1998.
In 2007 – Although, she was ranked at world number 81 for the Australian Open and was un-seeded, she still won the final against Maria Sharapova in straight sets of 6-1, 6-2, winning her eighth Grand Slam title. She was the lowest
ranked player to defeat the world top two players during the same event; at Miami when she outfoxed then world number 2 Maria Sharapova and former world number 1 Justine Henin. However, she then had to leave all the summer hard court events that year with
a left thumb sprain.
After having not played most of 2007 in 2008 she finished at world number 2, starting the year off with the Australian Open where she was a quarter-finalist. She then moved on to Bangalore, Miami and Charleston where she won the
titles of all these events. Even though, she had an early round exit at the French Open at Wimbledon, she lost to her compatriot and own sister Venus Williams in the final. With such a strong performance throughout the year, and being America’s top favourite,
she went on to take part in the US Open, where she was able to conquer all and took the crown.
A look at Serena's career continues in the second part.
Tags: