Serena Williams

Serena Jameka Williams was born on 26 September 1981 in Saginaw, Michigan, the youngest of five daughters. Her father Richard Williams — who had no tennis background — watched a female tennis player win a cheque on television and decided his daughters would become tennis champions. He taught himself tennis from a book and began coaching Serena and her sister Venus on the public courts of Compton, California.

Serena turned professional at 14 and by 1999 had won her first Grand Slam title at the US Open, aged just 17. She would go on to win 23 Grand Slam singles titles — the most by any player in the Open Era — across all four major tournaments. Her combination of power, athleticism and competitive ferocity was unlike anything the sport had seen.

Serena's career was marked not only by extraordinary achievement but by extraordinary adversity. She battled racial discrimination — she and Venus were subjected to racist abuse at Indian Wells in 2001 and boycotted the tournament for 14 years. She survived a life-threatening pulmonary embolism in 2011. She gave birth to her daughter Olympia in 2017 and nearly died from complications — an experience that highlighted the disproportionate mortality rates of Black women in childbirth.

Beyond tennis, Serena became a global icon, a fashion entrepreneur, a venture capitalist and an advocate for equality. She has spoken powerfully about the discrimination Black women face in sport and in healthcare. She was named Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year in 2015 — only the second woman to receive the award solo.

Serena Williams retired from professional tennis in 2022, having won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, 14 Grand Slam doubles titles with Venus, four Olympic gold medals and having transformed the sport forever. She is widely regarded as the greatest tennis player — male or female — of her generation.