Tennis Star Serena Williams and her tennis career
American tennis diva Serena Jameka Williams has at various times throughout her career dominated the sport by capturing 11 Grand Slam singles titles and 10 doubles championships. She is a professional tennis player who has been ranked as the number one female tennis player by the Women's Tennis Association on five different occasions.
Currently, Serena has won more Grand Slam titles than any other player who is active on the tennis circuit. Additionally, the tennis player from America has won more prize money than any other female athlete up till now. Due to her powerful ground strokes and consistent serves, she likes to take quick control of rallies and is mostly a baseline player. Her serve, which is technically very sound, has made her the second fastest server amongst all female players, with a top speed of 128 mph.
Born in Saginaw, Michigan to Richard Williams and Oracene, she is of African American heritage that started playing tennis at the age of four. When Williams was 10 years old, her father stopped sending her to the National Junior Tennis Tournaments since he wanted her to focus on school. At that time, Williams was ranked as the number one amongst the under ten players in Florida with a 46–3 record in the United States Tennis Association circuit.
William’s first professional event was at the Bell Challenge in Quebec City in September 1995. She lost in less than an hour of play against Annie Miller in the qualifying round. She won her first main draw match at the Ameritech Cup Chicago in November. By recording her first career win over a top 10 player, she upset world number four, Monica Seles and world number seven, Mary Pierce. She finished the year 1997 with a world ranking of 99 after having lost in the semi-finals to world number five, Lindsay Davenport.
Her world ranking rose as high as number 21 in the following year. At the MediBank International Sydney in 1998, she defeated world number three, Davenport in the quarterfinals however she lost to Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the semi-finals of the tournament. Williams defeated sixth seeded Irina Spirlea in her debut in the main draw of the Australian Open. In spite of reaching six other quarter finals during the same years, Serena couldn’t manage to win a single title.
During the final of the Open Gaz de France in Paris, William won her first professional singles title after defeating Australian Open’s runner-up Amélie Mauresmo. Her sister Venus also won the IGA Super Thrift Classic in Oklahoma City that day and thus became the first ever pair of sisters to win professional tournaments in the same week. Serena, after a month later, won her first Tier I singles title at the Evert Cup at the Indian Wells in California by defeating world number seven Steffi Graf in the final.
William made her first performance as a top ten player on the 5th April, 1999. She also reached the top ten of the Women's Tennis Association world rankings for the first time in the same year. At the age of just 17, she won the U.S. Open, which is a grand slam event. She became the world number one for the first time in July, 2002 after having won five of the six Grand Slam events during the year of 2002 and 2003.
The American Tennis player in the middle of 2003 went through a surgery in order to repair a partial tear of her knee tendon. Her results after a come back in 2004 were not as consistent as they used to be.
Williams won her first Grand Slam title in just 18 months at the Australian Open in the early part of 2005. However, her rankings decreased all the way to as low as the world number 140 in July, 2006 due to a string of injuries. At that time, many fans believed that Serena’s career was over. However, after winning the Grand Slam Final in 2007, she became the world number one for the fifth time in September, 2008. She was also named the female athlete of the year 2009 by the Associated Press.
Serena, with a very solid volleying skill, produces a rare shot these days which is the drop volley. Her backhand is considered the best in women's tennis. She is also known for her unusual and colourful outfits on court. Apart from tennis, Williams released her first published work; an autobiography entitled “On the Line”, following the 2009 US Open. She has also expanded her very own brand to the domain of film, television and fashion. She has been called as one of the country's 50 most inspiring African-Americans by Essence magazine. Serena has also lent her voice to shows such as “The Simpsons”. Most critics agree that whether she continues to dominate in the world of tennis or heads in a different field, she will definitely succeed in whatever Serena wants to do in her life.
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