Portal:Tennis/Selected biography/13

Serena Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American professional tennis player and current world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on six separate occasions. She regained this ranking for the sixth time on February 18, 2013. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002. She is considered to be one of the greatest women's tennis players of all-time in a career hampered by several injuries.

Her 36 Grand Slam titles places her fifth on the all-time list: 21 in singles, 13 in women's doubles, and 2 in mixed doubles. She is the most recent player, male or female, to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously and only the fifth woman in history to do so. Her 21 Grand Slam singles titles is third on the all-time list behind Margaret Court and Steffi Graf. She has won more Grand Slam titles in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles than any other active female player.

Williams has won two Olympic gold medals in women's doubles. She has won more career prize money than any other female athlete in history. Serena has played older sister Venus in 27 professional matches since 1998, with Serena winning 16 of these matches. They have met in eight Grand Slam finals, with Serena winning six times. Beginning with the 2002 French Open, they played each other in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, which was the first time in the open era that the same two players had contested four consecutive Grand Slam finals. The pair have won 12 Grand Slam doubles titles together.