•
Current
stint at No.1 began on November 2, 2009. First
ascended to the top spot on July 8, 2002 (the 12th
woman to do so); on April 26, 2010, became the 7th
woman to hold the No.1 ranking for 100 or more weeks
•
Ended
2009 as No.1 (2nd time in her career after 2002)
after winning 3 titles and was the first female
player to earn more than $6 million in prize money in
a year
•
Won
2nd Tour Championships title in 2009 (after 2001);
was also runner-up in 2002 and 2004
•
By
winning 2010 Roland Garros, Venus/Serena became the
3rd pair to hold all 4 Grand Slam doubles titles at
the same time (Navratilova/Shriver;
Fernandez/Zvereva); they also ascended to joint-No.1
in the doubles rankings
•
At
2009 Australian Open, became leading all-time prize
money leader on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and the
first professional female athlete to eclipse the
$23-million mark in any professional sports league;
has now exceeded $30 million (first female tennis
player to do so)
•
Holds
11-11 lifetime record against No.1s (5-6 vs. Hingis,
1-1 vs. Davenport, 1-0 vs. Capriati, 2-0 vs.
V.Williams, 0-1 vs. Mauresmo and 2-3 vs. Henin); her
62 60 win over Henin at 2008 Miami was at the time
the most lopsided defeat of a world No.1 since Hingis
fell to qualifier and No.129 Dokic by the same score
in the 1st round of 1999 Wimbledon (since eclipsed by
Venus Williams’ 61 60 win over No.1 Safina at
2009 Wimbledon)
•
Member
of US Olympic Team in 2000 and 2008 (gold medalist in
doubles both times w/V.Williams); member of US Fed
Cup Team in 1999, 2003 and 2007
GRAND SLAM HISTORY
•
2010
Wimbledon is 43rd career Grand Slam appearance; has
never lost in 1r
•
Holds
12 Grand Slam singles titles, the most for any active
player (and equal 6th all-time). Completed 'Serena
Slam' of all 4 Grand Slam titles in a row – 2002
Roland Garros, Wimbledon, US Open and 2003 Australian
Open
•
Has
won a Grand Slam title without dropping a set 3 times
– 2002 Wimbledon and US Open and 2008 US Open
•
Saved
match point in 2009 Wimbledon SF (vs. Dementieva)
before going on to win the title – the first
player to save match point 3 times en route to a
Grand Slam title, having also done so at 2003 and
2005 Australian Opens
•
Grand
Slam singles runner-up 3 times – 2001 US Open,
2004 Wimbledon, 2008 Wimbledon; also 3-time SF, 11-
time QF; reached QF or better at every Grand Slam she
contested (16 events) from 2000 Wimbledon through
2005 Australian Open
•
Earliest
defeat is 2r on Grand Slam debut at 1998 Australian
Open (l. V.Williams)
•
Winner
of 12 Grand Slam women's doubles titles (all w/Venus,
including the last 4 Slams – 2009 Wimbledon,
2009 US Open, 2010 Australian Open and 2010 Roland
Garros); also 1 of 5 doubles teams to have completed
the career doubles Grand Slam and (along w/Venus),
the only team to complete a “Golden Slam”
adding 2 Olympic gold medals (2000, 2008)
•
By
winning 2010 Roland Garros, Venus and Serena became
just the 3rd team in history to hold all 4 Grand Slam
doubles titles at the same time after Martina
Navratilova/Pam Shriver (1983-84) and Gigi
Fernandez/Natasha Zvereva (1992-93)
•
Winner
of 2 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, at 1998
Wimbledon and 1998 US Open (both w/Mirnyi)
OTHER FACTS
•
Coached
by father, Richard Williams, and mother, Oracene
Price; hitting partner is Aleksander (Sasha) Bajin;
physical trainer is Esther Lee; previously coached by
Rick Macci
•
Official
Web site: www.serenawilliams.com
•
Appears
in Tour's "Looking For A Hero?" advertising
campaign
•
Owns
Aneres, a fashion design label (Official Web site: www.aneresdesigns.com)
•
Won
Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year for third time
in 2010 (also 2002, 2009)
•
Began
playing tennis at age 5 at public courts in Compton,
California
•
Is
youngest of five girls: Lyndrea, Isha, Yetunde
(deceased September 14, 2003) and Venus
Vera
Zvonareva
TOURNAMENT
HISTORY:
Making
8th Wimbledon appearance; previous best results are
two 4r finishes, in 2003 (as No.16 seed, l. No.4 seed
V.Williams) and 2004 (as No.12 seed, l. No.5 seed
Davenport); one 3r finish in 2009 (conceded w/o to
Razzano w/ankle injury); reached 2r 3 times, on debut
in 2002 (l. No.23 seed Majoli), 2005 (as No.11 seed,
l. Peschke) and 2008 (as No.13 seed, l. Tanasugarn in
3s); fell 1r in 2006 (l. No.2 seed Clijsters); did
not compete in 2007 due to left wrist injury; won
mixed doubles title in 2006 (w/Ram)
2010
HIGHLIGHTS: WON (1): Pattaya City; R-Up (1):
Charleston; QF (1): Dubai; 4r (3): Australian Open,
Indian Wells, Miami
•
Won 10th career title at Pattaya City, defending 2009
title (2nd time in career that she has successfully
defended a title after 2004/05 Memphis); the first
player to win back-to-back titles at that event
•
Runner-up at Charleston (as No.7 seed, l. No.4 seed
Stosur in final)
•
QF at Dubai (as No.6 seed, l. No.4 seed Azarenka)
•
Reached 4r at Australian Open (as No.9 seed, l. No.7
Azarenka, led by a set and a break), Indian Wells (as
No.12 seed and defending champion, l. No.8 seed
Stosur) and Miami (as No.11 seed, l. WC Henin)
•
Reached 2r at Madrid (l. No.4 seed V.Williams) and
Roland Garros (as No.21 seed, l. An. Rodionova)
•
Fell 1r at Rome and Eastbourne
•
At Sydney, ret. in 1r match vs. Vesnina at 3-3
(w/right ankle injury; same ankle as off-season
surgery)
CAREER
SUMMARY:
WON
(10): most recently 2010 Pattaya City; R-Up (11):
most recently at 2010 Charleston; 5 doubles titles,
most recently at 2009 Indian Wells (w/Azarenka,
completing singles-doubles title sweep)
•
10-time Tour singles champion, most recently at 2010
Pattaya CIty, where she defended a title for the 2nd
time in her career (after 2004-05 Memphis)
•
Won biggest title to date at 2009 Indian Wells and
finished in year-end Top 10 for 2nd straight year;
also reached first Grand Slam SF at 2009 Australian
Open and made Top 5 debut in February 2009
•
Runner-up at 2008 Tour Championships (l. V.Williams),
also qualified in 2004 and played as an alternate in
2009, but did not advance from the round-robin stage
on either occasion
•
Missed 2 months of 2005 season with left ankle
injury; missed 4 months (April to August) of 2007
with left wrist injury; also missed 2 months in 2009
due to a right ankle injury suffered at Charleston
(see above); had surgery to remove scar tissue in
November 2009
•
Coming into Wimbledon, had 18 career Top 10 wins,
most recently against No.2 Wozniacki (2010 Charleston
via retirement), including 9 Top 5 wins and 2 against
reigning No.1s at 2007 Indian Wells (vs. Sharapova)
and 2008 Tour Championships (vs. Jankovic)
•
Member of Russian Fed Cup Team, 2003-04, 2008; 2008
Russian Olympic Team, (after Sharapova’s
withdrawal) went on to win bronze medal in singles
over Li
GRAND
SLAM HISTORY
•
2010 Wimbledon is 30th career Grand Slam singles main
draw appearance
•
Best previous result is SF at 2009 Australian Open
(l. No.3 seed Safina); also QF at 2003 Roland Garros
and 4r on 8 occasions, most recently 2010 Australian
Open
•
Won 2006 US Open women’s doubles title w/Dechy;
two-time Grand Slam mixed doubles champion, at 2004
US Open (w/B.Bryan) and 2006 Wimbledon (w/Ram)
OTHER
FACTS
•
Currently without a full-time coach; working here
with Sergey Demekhin; previously coached by Antonio
van Grichen (former coach of Azarenka) January to
March 2010; and before that by Samuel Sumyk, who
started working with Azarenka in 2010
•
Official website: www.zvonareva.ru
•
Named a "Promoter of Gender Equality" as
part of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's partnership with
UNESCO; in this role she joins fellow players Venus
Williams, Tatiana Golovin and Zheng Jie; WTA Tour
founder Billie Jean King, was also named "Global
Mentor for Gender Equality" in November 2008
•
In 2008, participated in UNESCO Regional Conference
“Political Involvement of Women in the
Caucasus” to contribute to the idea of giving
women equal opportunities in life
•
Supports foundation aiming to increase understanding
of Retts Syndrome (complex neurological disorder,
predominantly affecting girls); daughter of a close
friend affected by it
•
Mother introduced her to tennis at age 6, but no one
else in family plays tennis
