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Serena Williams (USA)

Serena Williams Profile:

Birthdate    September 26, 1981   (29 years old)
Birthplace    Saginaw, Michigan
Residence    Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Height    5'9'' (175 cm)
Weight    150 lbs (68 kg)
Plays    Right-handed
Turned Pro    1995 (17 yrs on tour)

Serena Williams Bio:
With the best serve in the women’s game, Serena Williams is currently seventh on the all-time Grand Slam singles titles list with 11, the most of any active player. Having learned to play tennis on public courts in Compton, Calif., alongside her older sister Venus, Serena became the first Williams sister to win a major singles title in 1999, when at age 17 she defeated No. 1 Martina Hingis in the U.S. Open final. Williams made it back to the U.S. Open final in 2001, losing to Venus in straight sets. From 2002 through 2003 she won four consecutive Grand Slam singles titles (2002 French Open, 2002 Wimbledon, 2002 U.S. Open, 2003 Australian Open), a feat that was dubbed the “Serena Slam.” Williams is the fifth woman, behind Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf, to hold all four major titles simultaneously. Serena defeated her sister in the finals of the four majors that comprised that run. With the victory in Melbourne in 2003, Serena became the ninth woman in history to achieve the career Grand Slam. She held the No. 1 ranking for 57 consecutive weeks from 2002 to 2003. She added a second career Wimbledon title in 2003, but then won just two majors (2005 and 2007 Australian Opens) in the five-year span that followed. In 2008, a resurgent Serena won her third career U.S. Open title and regained the No. 1 ranking for four weeks. She regained the No. 1 ranking twice in 2009, during which time she won the Australian Open for the fourth time and Wimbledon for the third time. She has a career record of 11-3 in Grand Slam singles finals. She also dominated the 2009 season-ending tour championship in Doha, winning that event for the second time in her career and the first since 2001. She has twice finished the season with the No. 1 ranking (2002, 2009). Serena has won 10 Grand Slam doubles titles (Australian Open in 2001, 2003, 2009; French Open in 1999; Wimbledon in 2000, 2002, 2008, 2009; U.S. Open in 1999, 2009) and two Olympic gold medals in doubles (2000, 2008) with sister Venus. Williams is the daughter of Oracene Price and Richard Williams. Her older half-sister, Yetunde, with whom Serena and Venus were extremely close, was shot to death in Compton in 2003. Serena described that ordeal in her 2009 autobiography On The Line. A pop culture icon with an interest in fashion, Serena runs a line of designer apparel called “Aneres” (her first name spelled backwards). Williams was fined $10,500 for her profane tirade against the line judge who called her for a foot fault during her 2009 U.S. Open semifinal match, which she lost to Kim Clijsters. Williams has won more than $28.5 million in career prize money, the most of any female athlete in any sport in history.
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