When you hear about tennis it’s always the sister Williams, Vanessa Williams, and Serena Williams. They revolutionalized the sport and even competed with each other professionally. playing as partners and also as opponents .
In 2022 Serena Williams announced that she is retiring as a professional tennis player. Because she had a family to take care of especially her daughter Olympia.
But who is Serena Williams?
Early life
Serena Jameka Williams was born on September 26, 1981, in Saginaw Michigan. When still young her parents moved to Compton California where she started playing tennis at 4 years alongside her sister Venus Williams.
At nine years her parents moved to West palm beach in Florida where she could attend the tennis school of Rick Macci. Her parents are Oracene Price and Richard Williams who were her coaches.
Family life
Serena Williams is married to Alexis Kerry Ohanian. They got married in 2017 and have a Daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.She is five years old. Ohanian is an Internet entrepreneur and investor.
Her achievements
Ranked world number 1
Serena is ranked the world’s number one in singles by the Women’s Tennis Association for 319 weeks including a joint record 186 consecutive weeks.
She also finished as the year-end No .1five times.
Grand Slam titles
She has 23 Grand Slam singles title winnings to her name which is the most by any player in. the Open Era. Williams is also the second most of all time after Margaret Courts.
Awards
The NAACP honored Williams with the president’s award at their annual image awards.
Listed among the 35 most remarkable and beautiful women in the world by Essence magazine
Several awards for her activism but those mainly directed toward black communities.
An Actress
Serena Williams has a talent for acting and has been featured in many films as a person and also as her voice.
She made her first debut on the screen in 2001. She was featured in the Simpsons, Law, and Order; special victims unit, and Being Serena the documentary and other shows.
Multilingual
English is Serena William’s native language but she has taken language lessons and can easily speak other languages like french.
She fluently talked to her interviewers at the French Open. She can also converse in Spanish and Italian.
Great activist
Championed and promoted the black lives matter hashtag on her Facebook .where she expressed her fears that her nephew might not be safe because of his black skin.
She stood up for the LGBTQ community when Tenny Sandgrens tweeted a tweet that was insensitive. He even described Serena’s on-court behavior as disgusting.
Serena wrote a letter to Porters magazine where she talked about gender Equality and her personal struggles as a woman playing tennis.
She also addressed the issue of payment for women tennis players where men are favored.
Investments
Soccer
Serena was announced as part of a nearly all-women investors group that was awarded a new franchise in the National Women’s Soccer League.
The new team starts to play in 2022. It’s a league described as the top level of women’s sports in the USA.
Writing
Williams together with her sister Venus ventured into writing with the help of their author Hillary Beard. She also said that she was writing a script for a tv show. Serena has her solo autobiography with a title on the line.
Conclusion
Serena is an embodiment of success, and talent and a beautiful black woman. She is a winner a mother and a wife. Retirement on your terms is the best thing one can achieve.