[41] When Williams was nine, she and her family moved from Compton to West Palm Beach, Florida,[37] so she could attend the tennis academy of Rick Macci, who provided her with additional coaching.

[48] In 1995, just after turning 14, Williams planned to make her professional debut as a wild-card entry in the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland, California, but was denied due to age-eligibility restrictions.

[66][67] In February 1999, Williams won her first professional singles title when she defeated Amélie Mauresmo in the final of the Open Gaz de France in Paris.

She defeated her older sister and became the sixth woman in the Open Era to complete a Career Grand Slam, alongside Graf, Navratilova, Margaret Court, Chris Evert and Billie Jean King.

[107] She defeated top seed Davenport to win the tournament, claiming her second Australian Open trophy and seventh Grand Slam singles title.

This win restored her No.1 ranking and made her the all-time career prize money leader in women's sports, a title previously held by golfer Annika Sörenstam.

After defeating Petra Kvitová in Doha, Williams returned to No.1 for the sixth time in her career, becoming the oldest woman in the Open Era to hold the ranking.

She reached the final and defeated Azarenka in three sets, capturing her 17th Grand Slam singles title and pushing her career prize winnings past $50 million.

She suffered the worst loss of her Grand Slam career in the second round of the French Open when Garbiñe Muguruza defeated her while losing just four games in two sets.

[234][235][236] As preparation for the clay-court season (and to ensure her eligibility for the 2016 Summer Olympics), Williams travelled to Brindisi, Italy, where she competed with that country's team for a place in the Fed Cup's World Group.

Williams and teammate Alison Riske lost the decisive doubles match to Errani and Flavia Pennetta, which meant the United States was relegated to World Group II.

[citation needed] In the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open, Williams suffered her first defeat of the season, ending a 50-match winning streak at Premier-Mandatory events.

The sisters suffered a shock exit in the first round of doubles, losing to the Czech duo of Šafářová and Barbora Strýcová, which ended their career record of 15–0 dating back to the 2000 Olympics.

[278] Days after the Olympics, Williams entered the Western & Southern Open to defend her crown, but then withdrew due to the same shoulder injury from earlier in the summer.

[295] Others argued that the All England Club, which does not base seedings on players' current world rankings—as other Grand Slam tournaments do—had sensibly considered Williams's excellent historic record at Wimbledon.

[301] Williams later revealed in an interview with Time that she checked Instagram prior to the match, and discovered that the man who had murdered her half-sister, Yetunde, in 2003 had been released on parole earlier in the year.

[306][307][308][309] Following the US Open final match, the Melbourne newspaper the Herald Sun published a cartoon by Mark Knight depicting Williams throwing a tantrum while the umpire asks her opponent to "just let her win".

After the match—which was attended by Eric Adams, Bill Clinton, Spike Lee, Mike Tyson, Vera Wang, Ruth Westheimer, and Tiger Woods—a tribute video narrated by Oprah Winfrey was played, and an interview was conducted by Gayle King.

[356] Shortly after that, Venus pulled out of her Indian Wells semifinal match against Serena at the last minute, claiming tendinitis; this led to much speculation in the press, and some spectators demanded their money back.

[31] For their first match in March 2019, the members of the United States women's national soccer team each wore a jersey with the name of a woman who inspired them on the back.

[396] American tennis player Christina McHale praised her composure in high-pressure moments, while Martina Navratilova called her mental strength "unbelievable".

Her ability to come back from set and break deficits in Grand Slam matches was described by McEnroe as "a gift", and he called her "the greatest" competitor in the history of women's tennis.

[408][409][410] During her career, Williams had endorsement deals with AbbVie, Anheuser-Busch InBev, AT&T, Audemars Piguet, Beats by Dre, Berlei Bras, Block Inc, Bumble, Chase Bank, Delta Air Lines, DirecTV, DoorDash, Ford Motor, Gatorade, Gucci, Hanes, IBM, Intel, Mission Athletecare, OnePiece, OPI Products, Pepsi, Subway, Tempur, Tonal and the Walt Disney Company.

[433] Williams made an appearance on stage during Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl LIX halftime show, doing a crip walk amongst other background dancers.

In 2016, the Serena Williams Fund partnered with Helping Hands Jamaica to build the Salt Marsh Primary School for Jamaican youth in Trelawny Parish.

[444][445][446][447] In 2004 and 2005, Serena and Venus visited hospitals and played several tennis matches in predominantly Black cities to raise funds for the local Ronald McDonald House charities.

[454] Williams's return to Indian Wells in 2015 (after a 14-year boycott) occurred in partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit organization that provides legal representation to people who may have been denied a fair trial.

"[468] Also in 2016, Williams wrote an open letter in Porter Magazine's feature "Incredible Women of 2016" in support of gender equality and to share her personal struggles as a woman in tennis.

[482] In 2005, the Williams sisters authored the book Venus & Serena: Serving From The Hip: 10 Rules For Living, Loving and Winning, which was written with Hilary Beard.

[488] Chris Evert (1975/1985 – 260 w) Evonne Goolagong (1976 – 2 w) Martina Navratilova (1978/1987 – 331 w) Tracy Austin (1980 – 22 w) Steffi Graf (1987/1997 – 377 w) // Monica Seles (1991/1996 – 178 w) Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (1995 – 12 w) Martina Hingis (1997/2001 – 209 w) Lindsay Davenport (1998/2006 – 98 w) Jennifer Capriati (2001/2002 – 17 w) Venus Williams (2002 – 11 w) Serena Williams (2002/2017 – 319 w) Kim Clijsters (2003/2011 – 20 w) Justine Henin (2003/2008 – 117 w) Amélie Mauresmo (2004/2006 – 39 w) Maria Sharapova (2005/2012 – 21 w) Ana Ivanovic (2008 – 12 w) Jelena Janković (2008/2009 – 18 w) Dinara Safina (2009 – 26 w) Caroline Wozniacki (2010/2018 – 71 w) Victoria Azarenka (2012/2013 – 51 w) Angelique Kerber (2016/2017 – 34 w) Karolína Plíšková (2017 – 8 w) Garbiñe Muguruza (2017 – 4 w) Simona Halep (2017/2019 – 64 w) Naomi Osaka (2019 – 25 w) Ashleigh Barty (2019/2022 – 121 w) Iga Świątek (2022/2024 – 125 w) Aryna Sabalenka (2023/2024 – 9 w)