What makes serena williams famous

Coached by her father, Serena entered her first tennis tournament at age four and a half, and her father recalls that, over the next five years, she won forty-six of the next forty-nine tournaments she entered. She and Venus both excelled in the highly competitive preteen circuit in Southern California, both attaining a number-one ranking in their respective age groups. Before reaching their teen years, the sisters had begun attracting attention far beyond the borders of their home state.

They received offers for endorsement deals from sporting-goods companies and invitations to prestigious tennis camps. In Richard Williams withdrew the girls from junior tournaments, a decision that was widely criticized by tennis insiders. The junior circuit is accepted as the conventional path to tennis stardom, but Richard wanted to protect his daughters from the intense competition and from what he perceived as racial hostility from other players.

Richard invited teaching pro Rick Macci—who had earlier coached such tennis stars as Mary Pierce and Jennifer Capriati—to come to Compton and watch his daughters play tennis. Macci came, and he was impressed by the sisters' skill and athleticism. He invited them to study with him at his Florida academy, and soon after, the family relocated to the Sunshine State.

The proceeds from a clothing endorsement contract for Serena and Venus allowed the family to purchase a home in Palm Beach Gardens, not far from the tennis school. Below are listed her victories through the end of the season:. By the girls had left school, opting to continue their education at home and spend as much time as possible honing their tennis skills. Later they both returned to a school setting, enrolling at a small, private school called Driftwood Academy. Williams graduated from high school in In , at age fourteen, Williams turned pro, arousing controversy among many who felt athletes should be older before they become professionals.

She was quickly eliminated from that competition. Her introduction to professional play indicated that she needed additional training time, and Richard decided that his youngest daughter should take a break from competition for the remainder of that year and the following year as well. Williams began , her first year as a WTA competitor, in the shadow of her sister, who had shown herself to be a promising young player.

The Ameritech Cup in Chicago, however, made it clear that Serena Williams was more than just the little sister of Venus: she was a budding star in her own right. At that tournament, she shocked observers by defeating Mary Pierce, then ranked seventh in the world among women players, in the second round. Further defying expectations, Williams went on to defeat fourth-ranked Monica Seles in the quarterfinals before losing to Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals.

She completed the season ranked ninety-nine, an impressive debut year for a sixteen-year-old player. She continued to build her skills and confidence in , beating a number of players ranked far above her.

One such victory—beating ninth-ranked Irina Spirlea in the first round of the Australian Open—led her to a matchup against her sister in the next round. Venus won that match, a victory that aroused complex emotions for both sisters. Venus, accustomed to her role as big sister, wanted to take care of and protect her sister.

Serena had spent most of her life looking up to Venus and working to be just like her. Both sisters, however, also felt an intense drive to win, regardless of who is on the other side of the net.

The Williams sisters have since met many times as opponents. While the Rio Olympics weren't great for Serena, that doesn't make her earlier Olympics any less impressive: She's one of only three women to ever win both singles and doubles tennis in a single Olympics, and sister Venus and Kathleen McKane Godfree are the only tennis Olympians more decorated than her. When she won the U. Ever since then, Serena has made a point to talk about what it means to be a black woman in tennis.

She also welcomes the responsibility that comes with being a woman of color in tennis. And it really fits well with me. And out of Serena's 28 appearances in the finals of a Grand Slam, she's only lost six times. How many Grand Slam titles does male tennis phenom Roger Federer have? She has always known. At last the whiff of cordite.

After 78 minutes of serious ball-bashing, Serena won to depose her older sister as champion and become the first player since Steffi Graf in to complete the exacting double of capturing the French Open on clay and the Wimbledon title on grass in the space of a month. None of their eight previous meetings, three of them won by Serena, had convinced sceptics that the American siblings did not view their matches as glorified practice sessions.

More the whiff of damp squibs than cordite. Yesterday, Serena, who at 20 is 15 months younger than her sister, dropped her racket to the turf in her moment of victory and stood rooted to the spot for a few seconds. But both sisters now belong to the world, so dramatically have they changed their sport while making it better and more inclusive. Serena has won more titles than her sister has, though she unfailingly credits Venus with leading the way along the unlikely path that two quiet but eager youngsters to become majestic Grand Slam champions.

They automatically defied the norm by being black in a largely white sport. Serena also flouted the norm with a muscular physique that puts thunder into her serve. She won her last major at the Australian Open while she was in the early weeks of pregnancy with her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.

Nearly 50 years after Congress passed Title IX, female athletes are still scrambling for a fair shot in the male-dominated world of sport. In hockey, top Americans and Canadians train with their national teams part-time; the rest of the season, they have only a small pro league that offers twice-a-week practices, weekend games and thin salaries. She has long been a role model for women of color such as Naomi Osaka, Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys and phenom Coco Gauff, but Williams takes no credit for inspiring them.

Williams was ranked No. Olympia Ohanian was born Sept. She needed several surgeries and was bed-ridden for six weeks.