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Serena Williams - Australian Open Women's Tennis Players

Defending champion, Serena Williams, is currently ranked no.7 in the WTA (Women's Tennis Association) World Rankings. Although she has yet to hit the highs of her earlier career, she is certainly on the comeback trail and a match-up between Serena and her archrival, Justine Henin, ranked no.1 in the World, is a mouth-watering possibility.

To date Henin and Williams have a lifetime record of 6-6.

Serena Williams of the USA looks on during her fourth round match against Jelena Jankovic of Serbia on day seven of the Australian Open 2007 In 1995, American Serena Williams started her tennis professional career at the age of 14. By 2002 she was ranked no.1 in the world, having taken the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. Her dominance of the game was unquestionable.

On the road to her no.1 ranking, Serena won her first Grand Slam in 1999, when she became US Open Champion. In early 2003 Williams beat her elder sister, Venus, to claim the crown of the Australian Open women's tennis players, her fourth Grand Slam singles title. Her "Serena Slam', as she called her 4 Slam victories, made her the fifth woman in history to win all 4 Grand Slams consecutively. She joins tennis champions Billie Jean King, Chrissie Evert, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf.

A terrible tragedy befell the Williams family in September 2003 with the murder of older sister, Yetunde Price. Serena seemed to lose her passion for the game and was plagued by injuries.

In 2005 she managed to defeat 3 of the top seeded tennis players at the Australian Open - Amelie Mauresmo, Maria Sharapova and Lindsay Davenport - to claim the title for the second time. It was the only notable victory for Serena since late 2003.

Her tennis career faltered even further and in 2006 she fell out of the Top 50 players in the world for the first time in many years, following her defeat at the Australian Open in the third round. The slide continued, and in the same year she fell out of the Top 100 for the first time in almost a decade.

At the Australian Open 2007 women's singles final, Williams crushed Russian opponent, Maria Sharapova, ranked no. 2, in two sets. At the time she was quoted as saying that she had "no doubt she would be world no. 1 again".

She reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon 2007, but was defeated by Henin. Her world ranking moved up to No. 7, the highest it has been since 2005. At the US Open, she again fell to Justine Henin in the quarterfinals.

Serena William's stats:

  • She is the last player in both the men's and women's tennis players tours to have held all 4 Grand Slams at the same time
  • In 1999 she became the second African-American woman to win a Grand Slam singles title, after Althea Gibson
  • In 2007, with wins over no. 1 Henin and no. 2 Sharapova, she became the lowest ranked player ever to defeat the top 2 players at the same event
  • She has won the French Open on 1 occasion, Wimbledon and the US Open on 2 occasions and the Australian Open on 3 occasions.

This could be Serena William's big comeback! Check out the latest tennis betting odds of the Australian Open women's singles players at William Hill.