Serena Williams Profile
American Serena Williams started her tennis professional career at the age of 14. By 2002 she was ranked number one 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 number one 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 her maiden Australian Open title. Her "Serena Slam", as she called her four grand slam victories, made her the fifth woman in history to win all of the Grand Slams consecutively.
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. Serena's fans had to wait until the 2005 Australian Open to see her emerge from the tennis doldrums, as she defeated Amelie Mauresmo, Maria Sharapova and Lindsay Davenport to claim the title for the second time.
Serena Williams' comeback faltered soon after her victory in Melbourne, and in 2006 she fell out of the WTA top 50 after exiting the Australian Open in the third round. Her slide continued unabated, and later that year she fell out of the Top 100 for the first time in her career.
The 2007 Australian Open women's singles final saw Williams bounce back to her best as she crushed Maria Sharapova in two sets. Williams went on to reach the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, but lost to Justine Henin. However, her performance was good enough to elevate her to seventh place in the WTA rankings, the highest it has been since 2005. At the US Open, she again fell to Justine Henin in the quarterfinals.
2008 was Serena Williams' comeback year. She reached the finals of Wimbledon, only to be defeated by older sister Venus. Her big moment came at that year's US Open, where she defeated Jelena Jankovic to claim the year-end Grand Slam. The following year saw Serena's grand slam successes continue as she claimed another crop of grand slam titles including her fourth Australian Open title.
