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Serena Williams
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Serena Williams is a world-ranked professional tennis player, one of very few African-Americans to dominate that sport. Her sister Venus Williams is ... a top-ranked player. Serena is three inches shorter, 25 pounds lighter, and a year younger than Venus. Their father, Richard Williams, has coached and, some say, harangued the girls since childhood -- or even earlier. He says he was watching tennis on TV in 1978, and when he saw how much prize money could be won, he decided on the spot that tennis winnings could be his family's path to success. He started talking his wife -- already the mother of three girls from a previous marriage -- into having more children.
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Serena Williams is one of the best tennis players ever. Serena was born in Saginaw, Michigan on the September 26, 1981. She has 4 older sisters. Her parents are Richard and Oracene Williams. Serena grew up in Compton, California. Serena entered her first tournament when she was only four and a half years old.
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Together with her older sister, Venus Williams, Serena Williams has taken the tennis world by storm, soaring to the top of a game traditionally dominated by white players. For Serena, 2002 was particularly sweet. The year didn't get off to a particularly auspicious start. A sprained ankle forced Williams to miss the Australian Open in January 2002, but things brightened up considerably for the remainder of the year. She won seven of her next 12 events, winning three of the four 2002 Grand Slam tournaments—the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open—and snatching from sister Venus the number one world women's ranking. In recognition of her impressive performance in 2002, Williams, along with Australian Lleyton Hewitt, was named International Tennis Federation world champion in December.
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Beginning in the late 1990s, Serena Williams became one of the world's most talented and exciting tennis players. With her outgoing personality, unique fashion sense, and striking good looks, Williams would have commanded attention even if she hadn't been a topranked professional player. But her skills on the court happen to be extraordinary, the result of years of training, natural ability, and a powerful determination to win. Williams has gained additional attention as an African American athlete in a sport generally dominated by white players. Her 1999 singles victory at the U.S. Open made her only the second black woman ever to win a Grand Slam title; Althea Gibson (1927–2003) was the first. The Grand Slam tournaments—the Australian Open, Roland Garros (better known as the French Open), Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open—are among the game's most visible and significant events for pros.
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Serena Williams was born in Saginaw, Michigan, and spent her early years in Compton, California, near Los Angeles. Her father, Richard, encouraged Serena and Venus to pursue tennis at a young age, and both became prodigies. Coached by her father, Serena began entering tournaments by the age of five and became a star on the highly competitive southern California junior tennis circuit. However, Richard limited his daughters’ participation in national junior events, citing other cases where teenage tennis stars had suffered burnout. The family moved to Florida in the early 1990s so Serena and Venus could get more advanced tennis instruction.
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Serena Williams was born in Saginaw, Michigan, on September 26, 1981, but she and her sister were raised in the economically depressed and often violence-riddled Los Angeles suburb of Compton. Her father Richard ran a private security firm, and her mother Oracene (who often uses the name Brandy) was a nurse. A fan of televised tennis, Richard Williams dreamed of the opportunities that might await his offspring-to-be: "I went to my wife and said, 'Let's have kids and make them tennis players,'" he told Newsweek. His ambitions went nowhere with the first three of his five daughters, but Venus, born in 1980, and Serena, the youngest daughter, showed promise from the start. "Venus and Serena took to tennis as soon as rackets were put in their hands," older sister Lyndrea told Sport magazine.
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