Serena Williams

Serena Williams is one of the most successful African American tennis players in the open era. Along with her sister Venus, she ruled women's tennis in the late 1990s to early 2000, blowing the competition off the court with her power. She held all four Grand Slam titles between 2002 and 2003, beginning with the French Open and ending with the Australian Open.

Serena was a tennis prodigy winning her first tournament at age four and a half. By the time she was ten she had entered a total of 49 tournaments losing only 3. By then a rivalry was born between her and her sister Venus, who was a year older.

Serena turned professional at the age of fourteen but was not allowed to play on the WTA tour because of her age. By 1998 she had broken into the World top 20 for the first time. A year later she and Venus made their debut in the World top 10 rankings and her career was on a roll. She won her first Grand Slam event at the US Open that year beating the world's number one ranked player in doing so.

To date Serena has won 9 singles titles, 7 doubles titles, 2 mixed doubles titles for a total of 18 Grand Slam titles. She has 32 career titles along with the 2 doubles gold medals she won at the Olympics in 2000 and 2008. She is a three time winner of both the Australian and US Open Singles Championships.

Injuries have played large part in her career and have caused a slip in her world ranking. Serena was able to reclaim the number one spot on the world ranking with a win in the US Open this year.