Serena Williams
Posted on Nov 25, 2007 under Sports Stars |Name : Serena Williams
Profession : Tennis Player
Date of Birth : September 26, 1981
Place of Birth : Saginaw, Michigan, USA
Height : 5′9′
Weight : 130 lbs.
Plays : Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
WTA Tour singles titles : 20
WTA Tour doubles titles : 11 (includes one Olympic title)
Grand Slam titles : 5 singles, 6 doubles, 2 mixed doubles
Biography
CAREER IN REVIEW:
1995 - Aged 14 years, 1 month, played first professional match as a wildcard in Quebec City qualifying, l. to A. Miller 61 61
1996 - Did not play
1997 - After failing to qualify for Indian Wells, Los Angeles and Zurich, made Tour main draw debut as a qualifier at Moscow, where she lost to world No. 22 Po; in just second career main draw at Chicago as a wildcard ranked No. 304, staged stunning upsets to d. world No. 7 Pierce 63 76(3) in 2r and No. 4 Seles 46 61 61 in QF before losing to Davenport in SF; became lowest-ranked player to defeat a Top 5 player since unranked Rehe d. world No. 3 Sabatini at 1990 Los Angeles, and lowest-ranked player to defeat two Top 10 players in one tournament; ranking vaulted from No. 304 to No. 102 and finished first full season ranked No. 99
1998 - Began the year in Sydney, as a qualifier ranked No. 96, reached SF with 16 75 75 win over No. 3 Davenport in QF (after trailing 61 52 and saving mp), improving to No. 53; at Australian Open, d. world No. 9 Spirlea in 1r before falling to sister Venus; at Miami, d. No. 10 Spirlea again en route to first six other QF of season, where she held mp on No. 1 Hingis before falling 63 16 76(4); her Miami win over Spirlea came in only her 16th career Tour main draw singles match, the fastest ever in women?s tennis history to record five Top 10 victories, breaking previous record set by Seles in 1989 who achieved it in her 33rd match; at Italian Open, d. world No. 12 Tauziat and No. 8 (former four-time champion) Martinez before losing to sister Venus in QF; at Roland Garros, held 64 5-2 lead on eventual champion Sanchez-Vicario in 4r before falling; also reached QF at Eastbourne, Los Angeles and Filderstadt; won mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon and US Open w/Mirnyi, completing a Williams family 1998 mixed doubles Grand Slam, as sister Venus won Australian Open and Roland Garros titles w/Gimelstob; won first pro title in doubles at Oklahoma City w/V. Williams, becoming third pair of sisters to win a Tour doubles title (also won Zurich w/V. Williams); earned $2,605,102, her first $1- million-plus season; first Top 20 season-finish
1999 - Finished at No. 4 in only third full season, winning first five titles of career, including first Grand Slam; career-first singles title came at Paris Indoors, d. Mauresmo in 76 third set in final, the same day sister Venus won Oklahoma City, marking first time in professional tennis history two sisters won titles in same week; won Indian Wells, the second of five unseeded Tier I champions; ranked No. 21, d. world No. 2 Davenport in 2r, No. 8 Pierce in QF and No. 7 Graf in final in 3s; in March, Venus halted her 16-match win streak in Miami final in 3s, the first all-sister Tour singles final in Open Era; Serena d. world No. 3 Seles, No. 9 Coetzer and No. 1 Hingis in straight sets en route to final; a week after Miami (April 5), entered Top 10 at No. 9 for first time; her sister, Venus, was No. 6 the same week, marking first time two sisters appeared in Top 10 simultaneously since April 22, 1991 (Manuela and Katerina Maleeva); at Los Angeles, d. No. 8 Sanchez-Vicario for first time in five career meetings, No. 1 Hingis in SF and Halard-Decugis in final; at US Open, d. world No. 4 Seles, No. 2 Davenport and No. 1 Hingis to become lowest seed, at No. 7, to win the title and second African-American woman ever to win a Grand Slam title after Althea Gibson won five (her last coming at the 1958 US Championships); compiled second 16-match win streak of the season by winning Grand Slam Cup (d. Venus in final for first pro win over her); streak stopped with 2r loss (1r bye) to Testud at Filderstadt; won Roland Garros and US Open doubles w/V. Williams; withdrew from Hilton Head with right knee patella tendonitis and during QF at German Open vs. Sanchez-Vicario with a strained right elbow; withdrew from Wimbledon with severe influenza and from season-ending Championships (first time to qualify) with a back injury sustained in practice
2000 - Winner of three Tier II titles and runner-up in two other events; best result was defending Los Angeles title with consecutive wins over world No. 6 C. Martinez, No. 1 Hingis and No. 2 Davenport (saving mp at 5-4 on Davenport?s serve), the same three players she defeated en route to 1999 US Open title; also won titles at Hannover (d. Chladkova in final) and Tokyo [Princess Cup] (d. Halard-Decugis in final); runner-up at Paris Indoors (l. to Tauziat 75 62 after suffering a right knee ligament injury) and at Canadian Open, where she led No. 1 Hingis 60 20 before retiring in the third set with inflammation of small bone in base of left foot; same injury forced her withdrawals from US Open doubles SF and season-ending Championships; retired during 2r (1r bye) at Amelia Island in April with a meniscus tear in her left knee; did not play again until June at Wimbledon, where she lost just 13 games in five matches en route to SF, the least games lost since Evert dropped 10 in 1976; l. to V. Williams in SF, the first time at Wimbledon and eighth time at any Grand Slam in Open Era that sisters played each other in singles (the older one winning each time to that point); in doubles, won Wimbledon title and Olympic Gold Medal w/V. Williams
2001 - Third consecutive Top 10 finish, winning three titles and reaching first Grand Slam singles final in two years; l. to Hingis at start of season at both Sydney and Australian Open (where she led in third set 4-1 and 5-4, deuce); won doubles title w/V. Williams, completing a career Grand Slam together, only the fifth pair in tennis history to accomplish that feat after Navratilova/Shriver (four times), G. Fernandez/Zvereva (twice), K. Jordan/A. Smith and Court/Dalton (once each); withdrew from Paris Indoors (fatigue) and Scottsdale (flu); at Indian Wells, won second title there in three years, d. world No. 2 Davenport 61 62 in QF and Clijsters in final in 3s; at Miami, reached QF before left thigh strain hampered her in l. to Capriati; withdrew from Charleston, Italian Open and Madrid due to knee injury; reached first QF at Roland Garros and second at Wimbledon, l. to Capriati in 3s each time (at Wimbledon after leading 76 5-3); at Canadian Open, d. Majoli, Schett, Testud, world No. 8 Seles and No. 3 Capriati (snapping four-match losing streak to her) to win title (10th of her career); at US Open, d. world No. 6 Henin, No. 3 Davenport (75 third set) and No. 1 Hingis in consecutive matches before falling to V. Williams in final, marking second time ever and first since 1884 Wimbledon that sisters met in a Grand Slam singles final; withdrew from Tokyo [Princess Cup] and Leipzig due to September 11 terrorists attacks; first player to win season-ending Championships on debut, receiving a walkover in the final when Davenport withdrew with a knee injury; seeded No. 7, lowest seed to win the title (unseeded champions are Hanika-1982 and Sabatini-1994)
2002 - In Sydney twisted right ankle chasing a drop shot in fourth game of SF vs. Shaughnessy and was forced to retire at 4-5; withdrew from Australian Open; withdrew from Antwerp due to ankle injury; won Scottsdale, d. world No. 5 Hingis and No. 2 Capriati in 3s, preventing latter from returning to No. 1; ranked No. 9 and seeded No. 8, won Miami without dropping a set, d. world No. 3 Hingis, No. 2 V. Williams (ending her unbeaten 22-match run in Miami) and No. 1 Capriati (saving seven set points in second set) in last three matches, joining Graf (1999 Roland Garros) as only players in Open Era to defeat world?s Top 3 players in same tournament; win streak halted at 12 in Charleston QF by No. 30 Schnyder despite holding mp in third set; reached career-first clay final at German Open, l. 76 third set to world No. 8 Henin; captured Italian Open, d. world No. 2 Capriati in SF (after coming within a point of trailing 4-0 final set) and No. 8 Henin in final (avenging German Open loss), ranking improved to No. 3; won first Grand Slam singles title in nearly three years at Roland Garros, d. world No. 2 Capriati in SF after trailing 63 6-5 (fifth straight win over her) and older sister, No. 1 Venus in final; they were the first sisters to meet for a Roland Garros singles title and it marked first time in 10 Grand Slam matches in Open Era that a younger sister defeated an older sister; surpassed the $7-million mark in career prize money with the title; moved to No. 2 on June 10 behind sister Venus, the first time in tennis history two siblings were ranked world No. 1 and No. 2; won Wimbledon without dropping a set, d. world No. 1 and two-time defending champion V. Williams in first all-sister Wimbledon singles final since the first one in 1884 (when Maud Watson d. Lilian Watson); combined with Venus to win doubles title, their fifth Grand Slam title together; by virtue of her singles SF win over Mauresmo, claimed No. 1 ranking on July 8, becoming 11th woman to rank No. 1 since computer rankings began in November 1975; by winning Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year, joined a list of nine greats who accomplished the double: Graf, Navratilova, Evert, King, Goolagong, Court, Connolly, Wills-Moody and Lenglen; at Los Angeles, in first tournament since winning Wimbledon, stretched win-streak to 21 matches before being upset in QF by No. 21 Rubin 62 46 75 (after leading 4-1 final set), marking seventh straight year the world No. 1 failed to win Los Angeles; withdrew from Canadian Open (Montreal), where she was No. 1 seed and defending champion, with acute left knee tendonitis which she aggravated in practice before the tournament; d. sister Venus in a third straight Grand Slam final to win US Open; joins list of six women in tennis history to win three consecutive Grand Slam tournaments in the same year: Graf 1988/93/95/96, Navratilova 1983/84, King 1972, Court 1970, Connolly 1953 and Wills-Moody 1928/29; No. 1 ranking was on the line in final, only fourth Grand Slam final since 1975 and first since 1995 Roland Garros; led all women with 53 total aces in the tournament; in SF vs. Davenport came back from 5-2 down in second set and later saved three set points; second woman in Open Era after Navratilova (1983) to win Wimbledon and US Open without conceding a set in same year; her 15 straight set Grand Slam match-streak is the most dominant since Graf?s 20 in 1988; the win put her over the $3-million mark in 2002 prize money, the fastest a woman has reached the mark, and also moved her to 10th on the all-time prize money list with more than $9 million; won seventh title of the year at Tokyo [Princess Cup] (d. Clijsters in final in 3s); played doubles w/Navratilova, first time to play with someone other than sister Venus in 31 career doubles tournaments, but fell in QF to eventual champions Kuznetsova/Sanchez-Vicario; won Leipzig the following week for eighth title of 2002 (d. Henin and Myskina in last two rounds); won doubles w/Stevenson for only third singles-doubles sweep at an event (1999 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon); withdrew from Filderstadt, Zurich and Linz due to exhaustion; qualified for fourth consecutive season-ending Championships (but second time to play); as No. 1 seed and defending champion, reached final, d. Capriati in SF in 3s after trailing 3-1 third set; l. to Clijsters 75 63, only her fifth loss of the season and first straight sets loss since 2001 US Open final; it was only her fourth loss in 23 completed career finals (V. Williams - 1999 Miami and 2001 US Open; Tauziat - 2000 Paris Indoors); finished season ranked No. 1, 940 points ahead of No. 2 V. Williams
