Serena Williams first rose to fame as a nine year old following her father's prediction that she would become a better tennis player than her older
(and at that time more popular) sister Venus Williams who herself was already a famous tennis prodigy by age eleven. After very early success
in junior tennis tournaments, Williams' father Richard Williams moved the Williams sisters
from Los Angeles, California to Florida to train and practice without any further junior tennis tournament competitions.Possessing her
trademark toughness and drive even at an very young age, Williams reportedly played the game of tag around this time with a closed fist.
Then in Chicago in 1997 at age 16 in one of her first professional tennis tournaments, Williams shocked the tennis world with her toned muscular appearance
as well as with stunning victories over two of women's tennis' hardest hitters ever, Mary Pierce of France and Monica Seles of the USA.
Around two years later at the 1999 US Open, a 17 year old Williams executed a breathtaking serve and powerful groundstrokes
to win her first singles grand slam title.
After having won a total of 23 career singles grand slam titles inclucing seven singles Wimbledon titles, Williams is considered by
many to be the greatest female tennis player ever.
Williams has the ability to win four or five games in a row at any point in a tennis
match and is oftentimes feared by her opponents for both her physical and mental strength.
Since the late 1990s Serena along with her
sister Venus have transformed the level of power and athleticism in women's professional tennis with Serena becoming very wealthy in
the process with an estimated net worth of $240 million.
profile by Thurston Soros | as of Wednesday, November 10, 2021
