American tennis player. Born Serena Jameka Williams on September 26, 1981, in Saginaw, Michigan. The youngest of Richard and Oracene Williams' five daughters, Serena Williams, along with her sister Venus, has at various times throughout her career dominated the sport, capturing 11 Grand Slam singles titles and 10 doubles championships.
Serena's father—a former sharecropper from Louisiana determined to see his two youngest girls succeed—used what he'd gleaned from tennis books and videos to instruct Serena and Venus on how to play the game. At the age of three, practicing on a court not far from the family's new Compton, California, home, Serena withstood the rigors of daily two-hour practices from her father.
The fact that the family had relocated to Compton was no accident. With its high rate of gang activity, Richard Williams wanted to expose his daughters to the ugly possibilities of life "if they did not work hard and get an education." In this setting, on courts that were riddled with potholes and sometimes missing nets, Serena and Venus cut their teeth on the game of tennis and the requirements for persevering in a tough climate.
By 1991, Serena was 46-3 on the junior United States Tennis Association tour, and ranked first in the 10-and-under division. Sensing his girls needed better instruction to become successful professionals, he moved his family again—this time to Florida. There, Richard let go of some of his coaching responsibilities, but not the management of Serena and Venus' career. Wary of his daughters burning out too quickly, he scaled back their junior tournament schedule
Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Williams
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