Serena Jameka Williams entered the world on September 26, 1981, in Saginaw, Michigan, to parents Oracene Price and Richard Williams. She is Price’s youngest daughter, after her half-sisters Yetunde, Lyndrea, and Isha Price, as well as her full sister Venus. She has at least seven half-siblings from her father’s side.

Richard moved the family to Compton, California when Serena and Venus were young, despite his wife’s concerns. Richard’s research into sports success stories led him to think that growing up in the challenging environment of Compton would help toughen Serena and Venus for their future tennis careers.

Serena Williams Education

Richard took on the role of homeschooling Serena and Venus, and by the age of four, Serena had started playing tennis. While Serena’s parents have been her formal coaches, she has also had mentors, including Richard Williams, a man from Compton who shares her father’s name and started The Venus and Serena Williams Tennis Tutorial Academy.

At the age of nine, the family moved from Compton to West Palm Beach, Florida, so Serena and Venus could train at Rick Macci’s tennis academy, where she received more coaching.

In ninth grade, Williams’ father removed his children from Macci’s program and decided to handle all coaching at home himself.

Career

Serena Williams went pro in 1995, just a year after her sister. They gained fame in no time for their fierce serves and ground strokes, along with their remarkable athleticism. Although the expectations were high for Venus to be the first Williams sister to win a Grand Slam singles championship, Serena achieved this milestone first in 1999 at the US Open.

The sisters clinched the doubles event at that tournament, and together they amassed 14 Grand Slam doubles titles over their careers.

At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Serena and Venus Williams achieved gold medal status in doubles. In 2002, Serena Williams made a powerful statement by winning the French Open, Wimbledon, and the United States Open, with victories over Venus Williams in the finals of all three events.

At the latter tournament, Serena Williams made headlines by sporting a catsuit. With a long-standing passion for fashion, Williams became a prominent figure for her bold outfits that not only highlighted her formidable physique but also defied the traditional—and often conservative—dress codes of the sport.

In 2003, Williams clinched the Australian Open with her usual tenacity, achieving a career Grand Slam by winning all four component tournaments. She clinched the Wimbledon title later that year; both of her Grand Slam wins in 2003 came after she beat her sister in the final.

In 2005, Williams clinched her Australian Open title once again. She clinched her third Australian Open title in 2007 after missing the previous year because of injuries. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Serena and Venus Williams secured their second gold medal in doubles tennis. Later that year, Serena Williams clinched her third United States Open title.

She clinched her 10th Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open in 2009. She clinched her third Wimbledon singles title later that year by beating her sister. In 2010, Williams defended her titles at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon successfully.

After that, she faced a range of health issues that kept her off the court for almost a year. In 2012, Williams secured her fifth Wimbledon singles title. Just a month later at the London Olympics, she clinched a gold medal in the singles tournament, making her the second woman (after Steffi Graf) to achieve a career Golden Slam.

Moreover, she and her sister clinched victory in the doubles event. Later in the year, Williams clinched her 15th Grand Slam singles title at the United States Open. In 2013, she clinched her second French Open singles title and her fifth US Open singles title.

By successfully defending her U.S. Open title in 2014, Williams achieved a total of 18 Grand Slam victories, which ties her with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for the second most women’s singles wins in the open era.

The year after, she clinched her sixth Australian Open title. In 2015, Williams clinched the French Open, marking her 20th Grand Slam singles title. She added to her impressive Wimbledon winning streak by clinching her sixth Wimbledon singles title with a straight-set victory in the final.

By winning Wimbledon again in 2016, Williams added to her tally of Grand Slam singles titles, bringing it to 22 and tying her with Graf for the most Slams in the open era for both men and women.

At the 2017 Australian Open, Williams broke Graf’s record by defeating her sister in the final. (In 2023, Novak Djokovic achieved his 24th major victory, marking a record for men in the open era).

In April 2017, Williams announced her pregnancy (she had proposed to Alexis Ohanian, cofounder of Reddit, in December 2016) and confirmed that she would miss the remainder of the 2017 season.

She had a daughter in September and tied the knot with Ohanian two months later. Williams made her return to tennis in March 2018. Although she didn’t win any tournaments that year, she made it to the finals at both Wimbledon and the United States Open.

That loss was controversial because Williams was penalized a game for arguing with the chair umpire over a code violation. In 2019, she lost in the finals of both Wimbledon and the United States Open. Williams clinched her first singles title in nearly three years at the 2020 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.

In the 2021 Australian Open, Williams reached the semifinals but was defeated by Naomi Osaka. She had to withdraw from both Wimbledon and the United States later that year.

Available because of injury. Williams, who missed the first half of the 2022 season, competed at Wimbledon but was knocked out in the first round. In a later conversation with Vogue, she mentioned that she would retire after the upcoming US Open.

Later in her career, Williams, who was already famous for her bold and unique outfits on the tennis court, ventured into new fashion territories. In 2012, she made history as the first Black female athlete to grace the cover of Vogue magazine.

She was the host of the Met Gala in 2019, and the year after that, she started S by Serena, a fashion line that was discontinued four years later. She launched WYN Beauty, a makeup brand, in 2024. In addition to her work in fashion, she operates the venture capital firm Serena Ventures, which she established in 2014.

In 2011, Williams took on the role of UNICEF goodwill ambassador. In 2018, Serena and Venus Williams founded the Yetunde Price Resource Center in Compton to provide mental health support and various services to crime victims and the community.

They named the center after their half-sister, who was murdered in 2003. Serena Williams’ autobiography, On the Line (which she co-wrote with Daniel Paisner), came out in 2009.

Serena Williams Husband

Williams is wed to Alexis Ohanian, who is one of the co-founders of Reddit. He popped the question on December 10, 2016, and they tied the knot on November 16, 2017, in New Orleans.

The wedding ceremony was graced by celebrities like Beyoncé, Anna Wintour, Kelly Rowland, and Kim Kardashian.

Williams welcomed her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., on September 1, 2017. The child, nicknamed “Olympia,” was delivered via emergency caesarean section after her heart rate dropped during labor.

The couple welcomed two daughters: Alexis Olympia Ohanian (born in 2017) and Adira River Ohanian (born in 2023).

Serena Williams Net Worth

Serena Williams is projected to have a net worth of $340 million. She has amassed her wealth primarily from her illustrious tennis career, which has earned her around $95 million in prize money, along with lucrative endorsement deals and business ventures.

Social Media

Instagram: @serenawilliams