Serena Williams
Serena Williams and her sister Venus became stars of women’s tennis in the late 1990s and have dominated the pro tour for many of the years since. [1]
- Charitable work includes donating $10,000 to Clarendon (South Carolina) School District 1 (where Althea Gibson was born) - $8,000 for computer laptops and $2,000 for the Serena Williams Scholarship; participated in Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign in October 2003 issues of Vogue, Essence, Lucky and Self; designing shoe for Stuart Weisman charity auction; and co-founding the Serena Williams Secondary School in Kenya (opened in November 2008). [...] JULY - Won 38th WTA title at Stanford (d. [...] JUNE - In first event since last year’s Wimbledon, reached 2r at Eastbourne (as WC, d. [...] Henin in final; first player in Open Era to win five Australian Opens) and Wimbledon (d. [2]
Williams made her debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open, where she defeated sixth seeded Irina Sp?rlea in the first round before losing to sister Venus in the second round, in the sisters’ first professional match. [3]
Serena went on to eclipse Venus as the dominant women’s tennis player of the early 2000s; in 2002-03 she won the “Serena Slam” by holding all four grand slam titles at once: the 2002 French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles, and the 2003 Australian Open. [...] Serena is a year younger than Venus and (at 5′10″) about three inches shorter, but she became the first sister to win a major tournament by claiming the singles title at the 1999 U.S. Open. [...] She rose to the very top of her game achieving the No. 1 ranking among female tennis players in the world in 2002 and winning seven Grand Slam events by 2005. [1]
Williams won her first professional title in doubles in Oklahoma City with Venus, becoming the third pair of sisters to win a WTA title. [3]
Serena won two career U.S. Open titles (1999 and 2009), two French Opens (1999 and 2010), four Wimbledon championships (2000, 2002, 2008, and 2009), and four Australian Opens (2001, 2003, 2009, and 2010). [1]
1999 - First Top 10 season, highlighted by first Grand Slam title; won first two WTA titles at Paris [Indoors] (d. [...] MAY - Withdrew from Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros w/right foot injury & PE. [2]
She began to play in doubles play and won two other doubles titles that year with Venus in Oklahoma City and Zurich. [1]
As a qualifier ranked World No. 96, she defeated World No. 3 Davenport in the quarterfinals before losing to Arantxa S?nchez Vicario in the semifinals. [3]
Sources:
[1] Serena Williams: Biography from Answers.com
[2] WTA | Players | Info | Serena Williams
[3] Serena Williams - Wikipedia