The world of tennis has traditionally been more of a western sport, led by mostly those that followed protocol and propriety. While there have been exceptions to this rule, they were few and far between. Serena Williams, on the other hand slammed onto the court with a sense of style like no other and a personality that made everyone smile. As an African American woman, she changed the face of tennis and at the same time, elevated it to a sport that now had that ‘wow’ factor.
Serena’s parents moved their entire family to a suburb area of Los Angeles when she was very young. Her father was a tennis fan and envisioned his daughters to be tennis champions. He surrounded his five daughters with video tapes and books and even began teaching his wife and himself how to play, so that he could instruct his girls. Serena and Venus Williams demonstrated the most talent and Richard Williams had Serena entered into a competition when she was only four and a half years old. In the following five years she was entered into forty nine competitions, winning forty six of them.
By the time Serena and Venus had entered the teen years, they were becoming well known and were approached for product endorsements, received invitations from the best tennis camps and there were deals on the table from sporting-goods companies. Richard Williams removed his girls from the junior tournaments. While criticized for the move, it was mainly to protect the girls from the negative side of tennis competition which could also include racial situations by other players. Instead, Richard arranged for acceptance of the girls by tennis instructional professional Rick Macci, and the family relocated to the Florida academy.
By 1993 both Serena and Venus chose home school so that they could continue their tennis instruction without interruption and later attended a private academy. By 1995 Williams had become a professional tennis player, even though she was only 14. The WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) wouldn’t accept Serena until she was older. Her first pro match was in Quebec Canada and it reflected the main fact that she did indeed need more time to hone her abilities. Venus was doing well in the circuit and Serena became aware that she would be playing as Venus’ little sister.
1997 brought Serena her first WTA competition and she offered the ‘wow-factor’ when she won against the then ranked seventh best player in women’s tennis, Mary Pierce. She later won against the fourth-ranked player, Monica Seles. Competition continued until the one thing that both sisters feared, happened: they were pitted to compete against each other in the Australian Open. While Venus won, the situation was an emotional one for both sisters who were matched in their feelings of competing to win.
Serena experienced difficulties in the next couple of years. Injuries led her to lose a number of tournaments and to withdraw until the healing process was complete. The sisters picked up the pace in 2000 and 2001 when they were teamed together at both the Olympic Games and Wimbledon. They continued their winning streak in the 2001 Australian Open earning a win in four of the Grand Slams.
Serena’s winning streak led to the top tournaments with an unprecedented list of victories. In the NASDAQ-100 Open, Serena succeeded in setting a record by defeating the top three world’s tennis players, which, by the way included Venus Williams.
Serena Williams broke the boundaries of tennis on a number of important levels. One of the most notable was her selection of an outfit from her endorsing company, PUMA. The one piece black tennis outfit drew attention – but couldn’t take away from the fact that in 2002, she was one of only seven women in the history of tennis to win all three titles in Grand Slam in a year.