Serena Williams and Her Dominance in Women’s Tennis

Having won 21 grand slams, Serena is chasing the tennis history.

In US gambling news, Serena Williams just won her sixth Wimbledon title against Garbine Muguruza. Three out of her seven matches were won in straight sets with her most impressive win being the defeat of her rival Maria Sharapova who is ranked two in the world. She has won a total of 21 grand slam titles and is on pace to beat Steffi Graf’s record of 22 grand slam titles. Six of her grand slams were won after the age of 30.

• 68 WTA and 22 doubles titles
• The first woman to win $10M+ in a season
• Six grand slam titles after the age of 30

It is clearly evident that Serena is not only the most prolific athlete on the women’s tour but also in women’s sport. Serena has won 68 Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) titles, 22 doubles titles and has made USD 72,675,694 million in career earnings. Also involving herself in social issues, Serena is an Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and has started secondary schools in Kenya, Lagos and South Africa.

Serena’s early years in tennis

Serena Williams was born in Saginaw, Michigan but moved to Compton, California at a young age. Despite the rough Los Angeles inner city, Serena started learning tennis alongside her older sister Venus when she was three years old. Finding promise in her career, her father Richard moved the family to West Palm Beach, Florida where they attended Rick Macci Tennis Academy.

Although the sisters entered the Junior tour, where Serena was ranked first in Florida for under 10 players, Richard quickly “pulled them off” because of their education and the racial prejudice they experienced on the tour. Although Serena played her first professional match in 1995, she wouldn’t enter a tournament until 1996. That year she was able to defeat top ten players Mary Pierce and Monica Seles and moved from 304th to 99th in the world.

In 1999, ranked ninth, Serena entered the U.S. Open where she defeated powerhouses Kim Clijsters, Conchita Martines, Monica Seles, Linsday Davenport and world number one Martina Hinges to win the title. Serena made
gambling news and tennis history by becoming the second Africa-American woman after Althea Gibson to win a grand slam tournament. She would also win the U.S. Open doubles title.

In 2001, Serena and her sister Venus became the first doubles pair to win all four grand slam titles during their career. That year they would win a gold medal in double at the Sydney Olympics. Unfortunately Serena also would experience losses by Lindsey Davenport, Anastasia Myskina and Sharapova. By 2004, Serena had not won a grand slam title since 2001. Serena’s, as well as her sisters, careers were experiencing a slump and critics questioned their potency they once possessed in tennis.

Serena experiences setback before resurrecting her career

Although she would win the Australian Open, Serena suffered a series of setback plagued by ankle injury that would have her missing two out of the four majors and dropping her ranking to number 11. In 2006, Serena credited her loss of the Australian Open to a knee injury and a lack of fitness. Also experiencing a bout with depression, Serena distanced herself from the sport and undertook therapy.

Playing briefly in 2006, Serena went from 139th in the world to 95th. On her return in 2007, former Men’s Wimbledon Champion Pat Cash labeled Serena as “out of shape.” Serena received a “veiled threat” from Nike warning her that she might lose her endorsement deal if she didn’t play at her normal level. That warning and other negative criticism inspired Serena to succeed as an unseeded player and win the Australian open over the overall favorite Sharapova.

Having to withdraw from tournament and not progressing due to past injuries, Serena was very successful for the rest of 2007. Serena had to miss three tournaments due to dental surgery and withdrew from Rome due to back injury. Despite this she defeated Jelena Jankovic to win the U.S. Open which ended 2008 with a return to the number one ranking. In 2009, Serena made Australian gambling news, when she won her 10th grand slam at the Australian Open defeating Dinara Safina in 59 minutes.

With ankle and quadracep injuries, Serena went into another slump losing several matches in the Sony Ericsson Open, Barcelona, Rome and Madrid, but eventually won Wimbledon. That year she was able to finish the year at number one for the first time in her career. Although Serena won the Australian Open, Wimbledon in 2010, she missed the rest of the year due to a hematoma and a pulmonary embolism which resulted from stepping on broken glass in a restaurant nine months before.

Serena’s dominance after 30

2011 became a turnaround year as Serena feel to 169th in the world due to other injuries. She was able to secure her 15th grand slam at the U.S. Open. Serena was also able to be undefeated on the clay surface for that year. In 2013, Serena captured her 17th grand slam title against Victoria Azarenka at the U.S. Open. At the end of 2013, Serena became the first woman to win more than USD 10 million in a single season.

In 2014, Serena had some early exits due to back injury, but held a 19 out 20 game winning streak which included the U.S. Open making her tied with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for the most Open titles. For the first time since Steffi Graf in 1996, Serena held the number one ranking for an entire year. Serena was able to secure all four grand slam titles in 2015 for the second time in her career. This achievement also placed her grand slam title count to 21. Serena, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal became the only active players to have won 700 or more singles matches.