Serena Williams was born on 26 September 1981 in Saginaw, Michigan, the youngest daughter of Oracene Price and Richard Williams. She and her elder sister Venus were coached on the public courts of Compton, California, by their father, who had drawn up a plan for both daughters' careers before either was born, and by their mother. Their father home-schooled them, and Serena started playing at an early age.
She turned professional in 1995 and won her first major at the 1999 US Open, aged 17, beating world No. 1 Martina Hingis in the final. In 2002 she beat Venus in the finals of the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, and when she added the 2003 Australian Open she held all four majors at once, the first "Serena Slam". She did it a second time, from the 2014 US Open to Wimbledon 2015.
Her later career was as remarkable as her early one. Working with the French coach Patrick Mouratoglou from 2012, she won ten of her major titles. At the 2017 Australian Open, while about two months pregnant with her first child, she beat Venus in the final for her 23rd major singles title, passing Steffi Graf's Open Era record. After returning to the tour she reached four more major finals in pursuit of Margaret Court's record of 24.
She finished with 23 major singles titles: seven Australian Opens, seven Wimbledons, six US Opens and three French Opens, along with 73 singles titles and 319 weeks as world No. 1. With Venus she won 14 major doubles titles and never lost a major doubles final, and the sisters won three Olympic doubles gold medals; Serena also won the singles gold at London 2012. She played her last singles match at the 2022 US Open, losing in the third round to Ajla Tomljanovic. In September 2026 the sisters played the US Open doubles together again and lost a close first-round match.