Sports Cafe: Serena Williams

Serena Williams is a world famous American tennis player. She is the younger sister of Venus Williams and one of the best female tennis players in the world. She and her sister are the best black women tennis players since Althea Gibson in the 1950s.Starting in 2002 she won four Grand Slams in a row. That was four years ago and no one, male or female, has been able to do that since.Serena also won an Olympic gold medal at the 2000 games in Sydney in women’s doubles with her sister.She hurt her knee in 2003. It kept her out of the Olympics in 2004. Only in 2007 does she seems to be getting back to her old form.Some have wondered if she is still serious about tennis: she has been getting into acting and fashion designing.She has a line of Puma and Nike shoes. She also has her own line of clothing called Aneres (“Serena” written backwards). She has a degree in fashion design, so it is more than just a passing interest for her.The story goes that before she was born her father was watching tennis on television. When he found out the how much money tennis players could win, he saw right then that it was his family’s road to riches.He had two daughters with his wife and trained them from an early age to play tennis. They lived in a rough part of Los Angeles, but he did not let that stop him. He was tireless and thorough and supported his daughters all the way. In time they became the best tennis players aged ten and under in California.At that point he could not do much more for them, so he moved the family to Florida where the two could be trained by Rick Macci, who has also trained Jennifer Capriati.By age 14 Serena was playing professional tennis. Three years later in 1998 she was in the top 100. A year after in 1999 she won her first Grand Slam event. In 2002 she was ranked number one.Having to play against her sister has been the hardest part of it all.She is strong for a woman tennis player and probably has the best serve. She gives the other side no rest.When asked at the Australian Open in 2007 if she was fit enough, she said, “I could lose 20 pounds and I’m still going to have these knockers and I’m going to have this ass, and that’s just the way it is.” She is 1.78 metres tall (5 foot 10) and has a weight of 65 kg (143 pounds).Just from tennis alone she has made $18 million (4 million crowns) so far.She has three older half sisters. In 2003 the oldest of them, Yetunde, was murdered.