Serena Williams facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Serena Williams
	Williams at the 2020 US Open
Full name	Serena Jameka Williams
Country	United States
Residence	Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, U.S.
Born	September 26, 1981 (age 40); Saginaw, Michigan, U.S.
Height	5 ft 9 in
Turned pro	October 1995
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$ 93,634,967 1st in all-time rankings;
Singles
Career record	843–147 (85.15%)
Career titles	73 (5th in overall rankings)
Highest ranking	No. 1 (July 8, 2002)
Current ranking	No. 11 (November 16, 2020)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	W (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2017)
French Open	W (2002, 2013, 2015)
Wimbledon	W (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016)
US Open	W (1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014)
	Other tournaments
Championships	W (2001, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014)
Olympic Games	W (2012)
Doubles
Career record	190–34 (84.82%)
Career titles	23
Highest ranking	No. 1 (June 21, 2010)
Current ranking	No. 397 (November 16, 2020)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (2001, 2003, 2009, 2010)
French Open	W (1999, 2010)
Wimbledon	W (2000, 2002, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2016)
US Open	W (1999, 2009)
	Other Doubles tournaments
Championships	SF (2009)
Mixed Doubles
Career record	27–4 (87.1%)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	F (1999)
French Open	F (1998)
Wimbledon	W (1998)
US Open	W (1998)
Team Competitions
Fed Cup	W (1999), record 17–3
Hopman Cup	W (2003, 2008)
Competitor for United States
Olympic Games
	Last updated on: November 16, 2020.

Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American professional tennis player and former world No. 1 in women's single tennis. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time behind Margaret Court (24). The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranked her world No. 1 in singles on eight separate occasions between 2002 and 2017. She reached the No. 1 ranking for the first time on July 8, 2002. On her sixth occasion, she held the ranking for 186 consecutive weeks, tying the record set by Steffi Graf. In total, she has been No. 1 for 319 weeks, which ranks third in the Open Era among female players behind Graf and Martina Navratilova.

Williams holds the most Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles combined among active players. Her 39 Grand Slam titles put her joint-third on the all-time list and second in the Open Era: 23 in singles, 14 in women's doubles, and two in mixed doubles. She is the most recent female player to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously (2002–03 and 2014–15) and the third player to achieve this twice, after Rod Laver and Graf. She is also the most recent player to have won a Grand Slam title on each surface (hard, clay and grass) in one calendar year (2015). She is also, together with her older sister Venus, the most recent player to have held all four Grand Slam women's doubles titles simultaneously (2009–10).

Williams has won a record of 13 Grand Slam singles titles on hard court. Williams holds the Open Era record for most titles won at the Australian Open (7) and shares the Open Era record for most titles won at the US Open with Chris Evert (6). She also holds the records for the most women's singles matches won at majors with 357 matches and most singles majors won since turning 30-years-old (10).

Williams has won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, all with her sister Venus, and the pair are unbeaten in Grand Slam doubles finals. As a team, she and Venus have the third most women's doubles Grand Slam titles, behind the 18 titles of Natasha Zvereva (14 with Gigi Fernández) and the record 20 titles won by Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver. Williams is also a five-time winner of the WTA Tour Championships in the singles division. She has also won four Olympic gold medals, one in women's singles and three in women's doubles—an all-time record shared with her sister, Venus. The arrival of the Williams sisters has been credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on the women's professional tennis tour. She is ranked at No. 10 in the world by the WTA as of October 12, 2020.

Earning almost $29 million in prize money and endorsements, Williams was the highest paid female athlete in 2016. She repeated this feat in 2017 when she was the only woman on Forbes' list of the 100 highest paid athletes with $27 million in prize money and endorsements. She has won the 'Laureus Sportswoman of the Year' award four times (2003, 2010, 2016, 2018), and in December 2015, she was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine. In 2019, she was ranked 63rd in Forbes' World's Highest-Paid Athletes list.

Personal life

Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian in 2018

Williams is married to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Ohanian proposed to Williams on December 10, 2016 in Rome. On December 30, 2016, Williams announced her engagement to Ohanian in a Reddit post. They were married on November 16, 2017, in New Orleans. Guests at the wedding included Beyoncé, Anna Wintour, Kelly Rowland and Kim Kardashian West. She planned to move to San Francisco with Ohanian after the wedding.

In September 2017, Williams gave birth to a daughter. Williams gave her daughter a doll, Qai Qai, that has become famous on social media.

Williams was raised a Jehovah's Witness, but says she has "never really practiced it." She often thanks Jehovah after winning matches. Williams confirmed that she follows some practices: "Olympia doesn't celebrate birthdays. We're Jehovah's Witnesses, so we don't do that."

Career statistics

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

**Key**
W	F	SF	QF	#R	RR	Q#	A	NH

(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Tournament	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	SR	W–L	Win %
Australian Open	2R	3R	4R	QF	A	W	A	W	3R	W	QF	W	W	A	4R	QF	4R	W	F	W	A	QF	3R	7 / 19	87–12	88%
French Open	4R	3R	A	QF	W	SF	QF	A	A	QF	3R	QF	QF	A	1R	W	2R	W	F	A	4R	3R	2R	3 / 18	66–13	84%
Wimbledon	3R	A	SF	QF	W	W	F	3R	A	QF	F	W	W	4R	W	4R	3R	W	W	A	F	F	NH	7 / 19	98–12	89%
US Open	3R	W	QF	F	W	A	QF	4R	4R	QF	W	SF	A	F	W	W	W	SF	SF	A	F	F	SF	6 / 20	106–14	88%
Win–Loss	8–4	11–2	12–3	18–4	21–0	19–1	14–3	12–2	5–2	19–3	19–3	23–2	18–1	9–2	17–2	21–2	13–3	26–1	24–3	7–0	15–2	18–4	8–2	23 / 76	357–51	88%

Note: Williams withdrew from the 2018 French Open before her fourth round match and the 2020 French Open before her second round match, both of which do not officially count as losses.

Grand Slam tournament finals

Singles: 33 (23–10)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponents	Score
Win	1999	US Open	Hard	Martina Hingis	6–3, 7–6^(7–4)
Loss	2001	US Open	Hard	Venus Williams	2–6, 4–6
Win	2002	French Open	Clay	Venus Williams	7–5, 6–3
Win	2002	Wimbledon	Grass	Venus Williams	7–6^(7–4), 6–3
Win	2002	US Open (2)	Hard	Venus Williams	6–4, 6–3
Win	2003	Australian Open	Hard	Venus Williams	7–6^(7–4), 3–6, 6–4
Win	2003	Wimbledon (2)	Grass	Venus Williams	4–6, 6–4, 6–2
Loss	2004	Wimbledon	Grass	Maria Sharapova	1–6, 4–6
Win	2005	Australian Open (2)	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	2–6, 6–3, 6–0
Win	2007	Australian Open (3)	Hard	Maria Sharapova	6–1, 6–2
Loss	2008	Wimbledon	Grass	Venus Williams	5–7, 4–6
Win	2008	US Open (3)	Hard	Jelena Janković	6–4, 7–5
Win	2009	Australian Open (4)	Hard	Dinara Safina	6–0, 6–3
Win	2009	Wimbledon (3)	Grass	Venus Williams	7–6^(7–3), 6–2
Win	2010	Australian Open (5)	Hard	Justine Henin	6–4, 3–6, 6–2
Win	2010	Wimbledon (4)	Grass	Vera Zvonareva	6–3, 6–2
Loss	2011	US Open	Hard	Samantha Stosur	2–6, 3–6
Win	2012	Wimbledon (5)	Grass	Agnieszka Radwańska	6–1, 5–7, 6–2
Win	2012	US Open (4)	Hard	Victoria Azarenka	6–2, 2–6, 7–5
Win	2013	French Open (2)	Clay	Maria Sharapova	6–4, 6–4
Win	2013	US Open (5)	Hard	Victoria Azarenka	7–5, 6–7^(6–8), 6–1
Win	2014	US Open (6)	Hard	Caroline Wozniacki	6–3, 6–3
Win	2015	Australian Open (6)	Hard	Maria Sharapova	6–3, 7–6^(7–5)
Win	2015	French Open (3)	Clay	Lucie Šafářová	6–3, 6–7^(2–7), 6–2
Win	2015	Wimbledon (6)	Grass	Garbiñe Muguruza	6–4, 6–4
Loss	2016	Australian Open	Hard	Angelique Kerber	4–6, 6–3, 4–6
Loss	2016	French Open	Clay	Garbiñe Muguruza	5–7, 4–6
Win	2016	Wimbledon (7)	Grass	Angelique Kerber	7–5, 6–3
Win	2017	Australian Open (7)	Hard	Venus Williams	6–4, 6–4
Loss	2018	Wimbledon	Grass	Angelique Kerber	3–6, 3–6
Loss	2018	US Open	Hard	Naomi Osaka	2–6, 4–6
Loss	2019	Wimbledon	Grass	Simona Halep	2–6, 2–6
Loss	2019	US Open	Hard	Bianca Andreescu	3–6, 5–7

Women's doubles: 14 (14–0)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1999	French Open	Clay	Venus Williams	Martina Hingis Anna Kournikova	6–3, 6–7^(2–7), 8–6
Win	1999	US Open	Hard	Venus Williams	Chanda Rubin Sandrine Testud	4–6, 6–1, 6–4
Win	2000	Wimbledon	Grass	Venus Williams	Julie Halard-Decugis Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 6–2
Win	2001	Australian Open	Hard	Venus Williams	Lindsay Davenport Corina Morariu	6–2, 2–6, 6–4
Win	2002	Wimbledon (2)	Grass	Venus Williams	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	6–2, 7–5
Win	2003	Australian Open (2)	Hard	Venus Williams	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	4–6, 6–4, 6–3
Win	2008	Wimbledon (3)	Grass	Venus Williams	Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur	6–2, 6–2
Win	2009	Australian Open (3)	Hard	Venus Williams	Daniela Hantuchová Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 6–3
Win	2009	Wimbledon (4)	Grass	Venus Williams	Samantha Stosur Rennae Stubbs	7–6^(7–4), 6–4
Win	2009	US Open (2)	Hard	Venus Williams	Cara Black Liezel Huber	6–2, 6–2
Win	2010	Australian Open (4)	Hard	Venus Williams	Cara Black Liezel Huber	6–4, 6–3
Win	2010	French Open (2)	Clay	Venus Williams	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	6–2, 6–3
Win	2012	Wimbledon (5)	Grass	Venus Williams	Andrea Hlaváčková Lucie Hradecká	7–5, 6–4
Win	2016	Wimbledon (6)	Grass	Venus Williams	Tímea Babos Yaroslava Shvedova	6–3, 6–4

Mixed doubles: 4 (2–2)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1998	French Open	Clay	Luis Lobo	Justin Gimelstob Venus Williams	4–6, 4–6
Win	1998	Wimbledon	Grass	Max Mirnyi	Mahesh Bhupathi Mirjana Lučić	6–4, 6–4
Win	1998	US Open	Hard	Max Mirnyi	Patrick Galbraith Lisa Raymond	6–2, 6–2
Loss	1999	Australian Open	Hard	Max Mirnyi	David Adams Mariaan de Swardt	4–6, 6–4, 6–7^(5–7)

Records

Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.
Records in italics are currently active streaks.

Time span	Selected Grand Slam tournament records	Players matched
1999 US Open — 2003 Australian Open	Career Grand Slam in singles	Doris Hart Maureen Connolly Shirley Fry Margaret Court Billie Jean King Chris Evert Martina Navratilova Steffi Graf Maria Sharapova
2012 Wimbledon — 2015 Australian Open	Career Grand Slam in singles after age 30	Stands alone
2012 Wimbledon — 2017 Australian Open	Double Career Grand Slam in singles after age 30	Stands alone
1999 US Open — 2012 Olympics	Career Golden Slam in singles	Steffi Graf
2012 Wimbledon — 2015 Australian Open	Career Golden Slam in singles after age 30	Stands alone
1999 French Open — 2003 Australian Open	Career Grand Slam in both singles and doubles	Doris Hart Shirley Fry Margaret Court Martina Navratilova
1999 French Open — 2012 Olympics	Career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles	Stands alone
2012 Wimbledon — 2017 Australian Open	Ten Grand Slam singles titles after age 30	Stands alone
2002 Wimbledon — 2017 Australian Open	6 titles won without losing a set	Martina Navratilova
2002 Wimbledon — 2017 Australian Open	3 different Grand Slam titles won without losing a set	Chris Evert Steffi Graf Lindsay Davenport
2002 Wimbledon — 2002 US Open	2 titles won without losing a set in the same calendar year	Billie Jean King Martina Navratilova Steffi Graf Martina Hingis Justine Henin
1999 US Open — 2017 Australian Open	Thirteen hardcourt Grand Slam singles titles	Stands alone
2012 Olympics — 2015 Wimbledon	Simultaneous holder of Olympic singles gold and all four Grand Slams in singles	Steffi Graf
2008 Olympics — 2010 French Open	Simultaneous holder of Olympic doubles gold and all four Grand Slams in doubles (with Venus Williams)	Venus Williams
2008 Olympics — 2015 Wimbledon	Simultaneous holder of Olympic gold and all four Grand Slams in both singles and doubles	Stands alone
1999 French Open — 2012 Olympics	Double Career Golden Slam (2+ titles at all four Grand Slams & Olympic golds) in doubles (with Venus Williams)	Venus Williams
2002 French Open — 2002 US Open	100% (21–0) match winning percentage in 1 season	Helen Wills Maureen Connolly Shirley Fry Margaret Court Billie Jean King Chris Evert Steffi Graf Monica Seles
2002 French Open — 2003 Australian Open	Winner of non-calendar year Grand Slam	Maureen Connolly Margaret Court Martina Navratilova Steffi Graf
2002 French Open — 2015 Wimbledon	Winner of two non-calendar year Grand Slams	Steffi Graf
2002 French Open — 2010 French Open	Winner of non-calendar year Grand Slams in both singles and doubles	Martina Navratilova
2002 French Open — 2016 Wimbledon	Winner of 10+ Grand Slam singles titles in two separate decades (10 from 2000 to 2009 and 12 from 2010 to 2017)	Stands alone
2002 French Open — 2013 French Open	Winner of all four Grand Slam singles titles in two separate decades	Margaret Court Steffi Graf
1999 US Open — 2013 French Open	Winner of Grand Slam singles titles in three decades	Blanche Bingley Martina Navratilova
1999 French Open — 2016 Wimbledon	First 14 Grand Slam doubles finals won (with Venus Williams)	Venus Williams
1999 US Open — 2015 French Open	Triple Career Grand Slam (3+ titles at all four Grand Slams) in singles	Margaret Court Steffi Graf
1999 US Open — 2013 French Open	Double Career Grand Slam in both singles and doubles	Margaret Court Martina Navratilova
1999 US Open — 2015 Wimbledon	6+ titles at three different Grand Slams (Australian Open, Wimbledon, and US Open)	Stands alone
2002 Wimbledon — 2017 Australian Open	7 titles at two different Grand Slams (Australian Open and Wimbledon)	Stands alone
1998 Australian Open — 2020 French Open	66+ wins at all four Grand Slams	Stands alone
2012 Australian Open— 2017 Australian Open	3 finals at each of the four Grand Slams since turning 30	Stands alone
2017 Australian Open	Oldest women's singles winner (35 years 4 months)	Stands alone
2019 US Open	Oldest women's singles finalist (37 years 11 months)	Stands alone

Grand Slam tournaments	Time span	Records at each Grand Slam tournament	Players matched
Australian Open	2007	Unseeded winner of singles title	Chris O'Neil
Australian Open	2003–2017	7 women's singles titles (Open Era record)	Stands alone
Australian Open	2003–2017	8 finals overall	Stands alone
Australian Open	2003–2017	14 years between first and last title	Stands alone
Australian Open	2003–2017	14 years between first and last final	Chris Evert Venus Williams
Australian Open	1998–2020	87 match wins	Stands alone
French Open	2002–2015	13 years between first and last title	Stands alone
French Open	2002–2016	14 years between first and last final	Stands alone
French Open—Wimbledon	2002, 2015	Accomplished a "Channel Slam": Winning both tournaments in the same year	Margaret Court Billie Jean King Chris Evert Martina Navratilova Steffi Graf
Wimbledon	2012–2016	3 women's singles titles after age 30	Stands alone
Wimbledon	2002–2016	14 years between first and last title	Stands alone
Wimbledon	2002–2019	17 years between first and last final	Venus Williams
US Open	1999–2012	Winner of singles titles in three decades	Stands alone
US Open	1999–2014	6 women's singles titles (Open Era record)	Chris Evert
US Open	2002, 2008, 2014	3 titles won without losing a set	Chris Evert
US Open	1998–2020	106 match wins	Stands alone
US Open	1999–2014	15 years between first and last title	Stands alone
US Open	1999–2019	20 years between first and last final	Stands alone
US Open	2011, 2013–2014	Won as US Open Series Champion multiple times	Stands alone
US Open	2012–2014	3 women's singles titles after age 30	Stands alone

Time span	Other selected records	Players matched
1999–2016	23 Tier I / Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 singles titles overall	Stands alone
1999–2019	33 Tier I / Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 singles finals overall	Stands alone
1998–2020	265 Tier I / Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 singles match wins overall	Stands alone
1999–2015	16 hardcourt Tier I / Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 singles titles	Stands alone
1999–2019	24 hardcourt Tier I / Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 singles finals	Stands alone
2001	Won WTA Tour Championships on debut	Maria Sharapova Petra Kvitová Dominika Cibulková Ashleigh Barty
2010	Ranked No. 1 in singles and doubles simultaneously	Martina Navratilova Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Martina Hingis Lindsay Davenport Kim Clijsters
2013–2016	186 consecutive weeks at No. 1	Steffi Graf
2003–2008	2 Hopman Cup titles	Dominik Hrbatý Tommy Robredo James Blake Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
2002–2015	8 Miami Masters singles titles overall	Stands alone
1999–2015	10 Miami Masters singles finals overall	Stands alone
2000–2012	4 Olympic Gold Medals overall	Venus Williams
2000–2012	3 Olympic gold medals in Doubles (with Venus Williams)	Venus Williams
2000–2016	93.75% (15–1) Olympic match winning record in doubles (with Venus Williams)	Venus Williams
2001, 2012	Two Year-End Championships won without losing a set	Martina Navratilova
2001–2015	Winning percentage of 82.86% at Year-End Championships	Stands alone
1999–2004, 2008–2017, 2019	17 years with winning percentage 80%+	Martina Navratilova
1999–2020	47 career hardcourt titles	Stands alone
1998–2020	527 career hardcourt match wins	Stands alone
1990s, 2000s, 2010s & 2020s	The first player in the Open Era to win singles titles across four decades	Stands alone
1995–2020	$93,634,967 prize money overall	Stands alone

Images for kids

Playing Amélie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals of the tournament in Sydney in 2002
Williams in 2006
At the 2009 Australian Open
Williams won the singles gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games.
Williams winning her fifth US Open title
Williams celebrating her third French Open title
Serena at the 2016 Wimbledon, winning her 22nd Grand Slam
Serena Williams and Venus Williams, Australian Open 2009