Serena Williams is a multi-time world champion professional tennis player with a 250 million dollar net worth. Many see her as one of the greatest female tennis players of all time. She is by far the highest-paid female player.
Serena has made between $30 and $40 million in previous years through on-court revenue and endorsements. Serena earned $35 million between June 2019 and June 2020, with around $20 million coming from endorsements.
Childhood
Serena Jameka Williams was born in Saginaw, Michigan on September 26, 1981, but spent a portion of her youth in Compton, California. At a young age, she and her sister, Venus Williams, were encouraged to pursue tennis. Both sisters were homeschooled to maximize practising time. Richard Williams, her father, and Oracene Price, her mother, served as her official coaches.
Other mentors, including Richard Williams, who would go on to develop The Venus and Serena Williams Tennis/Tutorial Academy, assisted her in learning the game at a young age. Serena and her family went to West Palm Beach, Florida when Serena was nine years old to attend Rick Macci’s tennis academy. In 1995, their father withdrew the daughters from Macci’s program and reclaimed the position of official coach.
Private Life
Williams married Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in November 2017 in New Orleans. Among their wedding guests were Beyonce and Kim Kardashian West. Williams mistakenly exposed her pregnancy in April 2017 in a Snapchat snap she intended to preserve for her records. In 2017, she had a daughter through C-section due to a pulmonary embolism during labor. She was unable to train for six weeks following her birth due to a second pulmonary embolism. In August 2018, she revealed that she was suffering from postpartum depression.
| Name | Venus Ebony Starr Williams |
| Net Worth | $95 million |
| Prize Money | $42,173,992 |
| Age | 41 years (born on June 17, 1980) |
| Residence | Florida, United States |
| Marital Status | Unmarried |
| Source of Wealth | Tennis prize money, endorsements and business ventures |
| Endorsements | Wilson, Tide, Kraft, Electronic Arts, Ralph Lauren and Lacoste |
| Endorsement Earnings | $11 million (2021) |
| Philanthropy | Yetunde Price Resource Center |
Career
Serena Williams has been named world number one eight times and has won more money than any other female tennis player in history. Williams has collected moreover $90 million in career prize money as of this writing. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles and fourteen Grand Slam doubles win alongside her sister Venus Williams. She also won gold medals at the Olympics in Sydney, Beijing, and London.
At the age of 14, Williams competed in her first professional competition. Williams, ranked No. 304, made quite an impression at the 1997 Ameritech Cup, upsetting No. 7 and No. 4 ranked players before losing in the semifinals. The victories catapulted her career, and she finished 1997 at No. 99.
The following year witnessed a slew of high-profile victories, including several doubles titles at Grand Slam tournaments such as Wimbledon and the US Open. However, her first singles crown eluded her. Williams established her early supremacy in 1999, defeating a slew of elite opponents and capturing her first Grand Slam singles title, the US Open.
Serena Williams maintained her domination throughout the early 2000s, eventually attaining the No. 1 position in 2002. That same year, she won three Grand Slam titles: the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open, all of which she won by defeating her sister, Venus, in the finals. She won her fourth Grand Slam title, the Australian Open, in 2003. This gave her the title of holder of all four major Grand Slam tournaments concurrently, which she dubbed the “Serena Slam.” She repeated this achievement during the 2014-15 Grand Slam season.
She struggled with health and personal challenges during the next few years, including knee surgery and the death of her half-sister, Yetunde. While she continued to win tournaments, she dropped out of the top 10, leading many in the tennis industry to believe that she and her sister, Venus, were no longer the dominant forces they once were. By 2008, Williams had reclaimed the top spot, winning a streak of Grand Slam titles.
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2011 saw a resurgence of health problems. Doctors discovered a blood clot in one of her lungs that year. She underwent surgeries to correct this, prompting many to speculate about her future return to the sport. However, she won major titles the following year, including her first-ever women’s singles gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games.
She continued to win titles with victories at the 2012 US Open, the 2013 French, Australian, and the US Opens, as well as Wimbledon that year, Wimbledon in 2014 and 2015, and victories at the 2016 Australian Open and Wimbledon. Serena had a terrible year in 2018, losing two consecutive US Opens and Wimbledon.
Serena Williams has remained a formidable force in women’s tennis despite suffering injuries and taking time off to become a parent. She owns numerous records, the most notable of which is her 23 Grand Slam singles championships.
Additional Ventures
Williams has experimented in television and voice work off the court. She contributed voice work for a 2001 episode of The Simpsons and Playhouse Disney’s Higglytown Heroes in 2005. She has appeared as a guest star on episodes of The Bernie Mac Show, ER, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Serena appeared alongside Alicia Keys and Kanye West in Common’s 2007 music video for I Want You. Venus and Serena Williams collaborated on a book, Venus & Serena: Serving From the Hip: Ten Rules for Living, Loving, and Winning, in 2005.
Serena is the founder of the apparel business S by Serena, which she self-funds. She holds minority holdings in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the Miami Dolphins.
Philanthropy
Serena and Venus are well-known for their hospital visits and tennis matches to benefit the Ronald McDonald House charity. In 2004 and 2005, they devoted an entire ESPN program to their charity tour. Serena launched the Serena Williams Foundation, which awards scholarships to deserving students attending institutions. Additionally, the organisation contributed to the funding of the Serene Williams Secondary School in Mattoon, Kenya. Additionally, the charity partnered with Helping Hands Jamaica to construct the Salt Marsh Primary School in Trelawny Parish for children in Jamaica.
Serena has partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles and has served as a worldwide UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2011. Serena and Venus work together on the Williams Sisters Fund and other charitable endeavours. In memory of their late sister, they collaborated to establish the Yetunde Price Resource Center in Compton.
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The facility assists and serves families that have been impacted by neighborhood violence. Williams was named an Ambassador for the Allstate Foundation’s Purple Purse initiative in 2017. Additionally, she supports the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital of the National Health Service in London, the HollyRod Foundation, and the Eva Longoria Foundation, among others.
Activism
Williams uses social media to advocate for a variety of topics, most notably Black Lives Matter and the LGBT community. She is also a strong advocate for gender equality on and off the court and is candid about her hardships as a female tennis player. She has garnered numerous honors for her work, including the NAACP President’s Award.
Records
On the hardcourt, Williams has won a record 13 Grand Slam singles titles. She holds the Open Era record for the most women’s singles titles at the Australian Open and shares the Open Era record for the most US Open titles with Chris Evert. Additionally, she holds the records for the most women’s singles matches won at majors (365) and the most singles majors won since reaching the age of 30. She is the only tennis player, male or female, to have won at least six Grand Slams. She is also a five-time singles champion on the WTA Tour.
In doubles, the Williams sisters are third in the all-time list of women’s doubles Grand Slam champions, behind Natasha Zvereva’s 18 titles (14 with Gigi Fernández) and Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver’s record 20 titles. Serena and Venus are the only tennis players in history to have won four Olympic gold medals (three in women’s doubles and one in singles), as well as three gold medals in the same event.
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They are the only women tennis players in the Open Era to have won Olympic gold in both singles and doubles. Serena Williams became only the third player to win Olympic gold medals in both singles and doubles at the same Olympic Games, following Helen Wills Moody in 1924 and Venus in 2000. Williams is the only player, male or female, to have achieved both the singles and doubles Career Golden Slams.