60 Fun Facts About Serena Williams

Serena Williams grew up in California, but in which state was she born?

Michigan: she was born in Saginaw, her mother's home town, fifteen months after her sister was born in California, and the family moved back west soon afterwards.

Serena Williams was born in 1981, within weeks of which men's tennis great?

Roger Federer: he is seven weeks the elder, and the two bowed out together as well, playing what were billed as their farewell matches three weeks apart in September 2022.

In which California city did Serena and her sister learn tennis on public courts?

Compton: the choice was deliberate, because their father wanted his daughters to grow up seeing the gang-ridden streets around the courts and what awaited them if they did not work hard.

When Serena Williams was nine, her family moved to Florida so she could train at which coach's academy?

Rick Macci: the family crossed the country for his academy, yet in 1995 their father dismissed him and went back to coaching both daughters himself, just as Serena was about to turn professional.

At 14, Serena Williams threatened to sue which organisation over a rule that stopped her turning professional?

The WTA Tour: it had barred 14-year-olds from its main events to stop young stars burning out, so she made her debut that October in qualifying at a small Quebec tournament and lost in under an hour.

At which tournament did Serena win her first Grand Slam singles title?

1999 US Open: at 17 she won the family's first Grand Slam singles title, ten months before her older sister, who had turned professional first and reached the final in New York two years earlier.

Which world No. 1 did Serena Williams beat in the final to win her first Grand Slam singles title?

Martina Hingis: she had beaten Serena's older sister in the semifinal a day earlier, spoiling their father's prediction of an all-Williams final, then lost 6-3, 7-6 to the 17-year-old.

Serena Williams beat which opponent in all four finals of her 2002-03 'Serena Slam'?

Venus Williams: she was world No. 1 and the defending champion when they met in the 2002 Wimbledon final, the second of the four, and losing it handed the top ranking to her younger sister.

Serena Williams's 23 singles majors sit one behind whose record?

Margaret Court: 13 of the Australian's 24 came before the majors opened to professionals in 1968, which is why Serena's 23 stand as the women's Open Era record.

At the 2017 Australian Open, Serena's 23rd major broke whose Open Era record of 22?

Steffi Graf: Serena passed her total of 22 without losing a set in Melbourne and, it emerged that April, while about two months pregnant.

Which opponent won a 2009 US Open semifinal when Serena was docked match point for abusing a line judge?

Kim Clijsters: a foot-fault call left Serena two match points down, and her tirade at the lineswoman cost a point penalty that ended it; the Belgian, a wild card just back from retirement, went on to win the title.

Who replaced Serena Williams as world No. 1 after 186 straight weeks?

Angelique Kerber: Serena's semifinal loss at the 2016 US Open handed the German the top ranking before Kerber went on to win the title, and it left Serena's streak level with the record instead of one week past it.

Serena Williams is married to Alexis Ohanian, a co-founder of which website?

Reddit: its co-founder met her by chance at a Rome hotel in 2015, when he took the table next to hers at breakfast and her friends tried to move him on by claiming there was a rat.

Serena and Alexis Ohanian married in November 2017 in which city?

New Orleans: the November 2017 wedding came eleven months after he proposed at the Rome hotel where the couple had first met, and the guests included Beyonce and Kim Kardashian.

By what name is Serena Williams's first daughter, born in September 2017, known?

Olympia: formally she is Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., named after her father, and her mother was already about two months pregnant with her when she won the 2017 Australian Open.

Serena Williams revealed she was expecting her second child at which 2023 red-carpet event?

The Met Gala: she arrived visibly pregnant in May 2023, nine months after saying she was stepping away from tennis to grow her family, and daughter Adira River was born that August.

A photo captioned '20 weeks' on which app revealed Serena Williams's first pregnancy in April 2017?

Snapchat: the post was deleted within minutes, but her spokesperson confirmed the news that evening, and the dates showed she had already been pregnant when she won the Australian Open in January.

After crowd abuse in 2001, Serena boycotted which tournament for 14 years?

Indian Wells: the crowd booed her through the 2001 final after her sister pulled out of their semifinal injured, and her father said he heard racial slurs, so both sisters stayed away.

When Serena ended her 14-year tournament boycott in 2015, she partnered with which non-profit?

Equal Justice Initiative: Bryan Stevenson's group represents people who may have been denied a fair trial, and she used her comeback at the event where she had been jeered to rally support for its work against racial injustice.

Who beat Serena in the controversial 2018 US Open final?

Naomi Osaka: the 20-year-old won 6-2, 6-4 to become the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam singles title, but boos aimed at the officiating drowned out her trophy ceremony.

The 2018 US Open final was overshadowed by Serena's row with which chair umpire?

Carlos Ramos: he gave her three code violations, for coaching signals from her box, a smashed racket and calling him a thief, and the third cost her a whole game.

Which player beat Serena Williams at the 2022 US Open in her farewell match before a four-year retirement?

Ajla Tomljanović: the Australian won their third-round match in three sets and just over three hours, in what was billed as Serena's last; she did not play singles again until Wimbledon in 2026.

In which magazine did Serena Williams announce in 2022 that she was 'evolving away from tennis'?

Vogue: in the essay she said she had never liked the word retirement and preferred 'evolution', because she wanted to grow her family and her venture capital firm.

Which shot was the biggest weapon in Serena Williams's game?

Her serve: its secret was disguise, because she tossed the ball to the same spot every time, so an opponent could not tell whether power, slice or topspin was coming.

At the 2012 London Olympics, Serena won singles gold by crushing which opponent in the final?

Maria Sharapova: she won a single game in the 6-0, 6-1 final on Wimbledon's grass, and the gold completed Serena's set of all four majors plus the Olympic singles title.

Serena won her first Olympic gold, in doubles, at which Games?

Sydney 2000: she and her sister stayed unbeaten as an Olympic doubles pair for the next 16 years, winning gold again in 2008 and 2012 before losing their opening match in Rio.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Serena Williams lost in the singles quarterfinals to which eventual gold medallist?

Elena Dementieva: she went on to beat Dinara Safina in an all-Russian final, and with Vera Zvonareva taking bronze Russia swept the singles medals.

Which coach joined Serena Williams in June 2012 and worked with her for the next decade?

Patrick Mouratoglou: she turned to the Frenchman after a shock first-round exit at the 2012 French Open and won ten of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles with him.

In which German city did Serena Williams cut her foot on broken glass in July 2010, days after winning Wimbledon?

Munich: she stepped on the glass leaving a restaurant and thought she had only stubbed her foot, but it had torn a tendon, and the world No. 1 missed the rest of the season.

In March 2011, Serena confirmed a hematoma and which life-threatening condition?

Pulmonary embolism: a blood clot had reached her lungs, keeping her off court for months, and the same condition struck again after she gave birth in 2017.

Sports Illustrated readers voted which racehorse 2015 Sportsperson of the Year over Serena Williams?

American Pharoah: the Triple Crown winner took 47% of the magazine's online reader vote to her 1%, but the editors chose Serena, who had won three of that year's four majors.

Serena Williams and her sister voiced themselves alongside Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi in which animated series?

The Simpsons: in 2001's 'Tennis the Menace' the family builds a backyard court and Homer enters a tournament to please Marge, only for the four professionals to turn up as themselves.

Which unseeded Italian ended Serena's 2015 calendar Grand Slam bid in the US Open semifinal?

Roberta Vinci: ranked 43rd, she won 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to leave Serena two wins short of the calendar Grand Slam, then lost an all-Italian final to Flavia Pennetta.

Serena joined Navratilova, Court, Evert, Graf and which other champion with an Open Era Career Grand Slam?

She completed the set at the 2003 Australian Open, at the age of 21.

With which sportswear company did Serena Williams sign her first big endorsement deal, worth about $12 million, as a teenager?

Puma: it signed her for $12 million almost as soon as she left high school, before she had won a Grand Slam singles title.

Serena Williams's venture capital firm mainly backs start-ups founded by whom?

Women and people of colour: they had founded 78% of its portfolio by 2022, a focus she traced to hearing that under 2% of venture capital went to women and assuming the speaker had misspoken.

In 2009, Serena and her sister became minority owners of which NFL team?

Miami Dolphins: it is the home team of the South Florida area where both sisters live, and their small stake made them the first African-American women to own part of an NFL franchise.

Serena is a founding investor in which women's soccer club, which began play in 2022?

Angel City FC: the Los Angeles club's founding group was led by actor Natalie Portman, with Serena's husband as lead investor and their two-year-old daughter listed among the owners.

Who played Serena's father in the 2021 biopic King Richard, which Serena executive produced?

Will Smith: he won the Best Actor Oscar for the role later on the same night that he walked on stage and slapped presenter Chris Rock.

What is the title of the autobiography Serena Williams published in 2009?

On the Line: it came out in September 2009, the month of her US Open tirade at a line judge, which she was then asked about in the interviews promoting the book.

Serena Williams was raised in which faith?

Jehovah's Witness: she often thanked Jehovah God after her wins, and she credited her faith with reviving her career after her ranking slumped to 139th in 2006.

Serena Williams dances beside Beyoncé in the video for 'Sorry', a song from which album?

Lemonade: she dances around the seated singer in the 'Sorry' sequence, and she had to keep the cameo secret until the album's surprise release in April 2016.

Serena Williams said the black catsuit she wore at the 2018 French Open was inspired by which fictional kingdom?

Wakanda: she dedicated the Black Panther-inspired suit to mothers who, like her, had been through a tough pregnancy, but the French federation's president later said it would no longer be accepted.

Which of Serena's half-sisters was murdered in 2003, a loss Serena later dedicated a Grand Slam title to?

Yetunde: the eldest of the five sisters was shot dead in September 2003; Serena dedicated her 2007 Australian Open title to her and later co-founded a community centre in her name.

What is the name of Serena's mother, who coached her alongside her father?

Oracene Price: a nurse when she married Richard Williams, she coached both daughters alongside him; known as Brandy Williams during the marriage, she divorced him in 2002.

Serena made a surprise dancing cameo at the Super Bowl LIX halftime show during whose performance?

Kendrick Lamar: she crip-walked during 'Not Like Us', his diss track aimed at Drake, and said afterwards that it was no dig at the rapper but a celebration of her own roots.

Whom did Serena Williams beat in the 2015 Wimbledon final to complete her second 'Serena Slam'?

Garbiñe Muguruza: the 21-year-old Spaniard lost that first major final 6-4, 6-4, but beat Serena in the French Open final eleven months later for her own first Grand Slam title.

Serena Williams plays herself in which 2015 tennis mockumentary, with Andy Samberg as her adopted brother?

7 Days in Hell: Samberg's Aaron Williams is an orphan taken in by Richard Williams and raised with his daughters, and the film follows him into a Wimbledon match that becomes the longest in history.

Serena won two mixed doubles Grand Slam titles, both in 1998, with which partner?

Max Mirnyi: with the Belarusian she won Wimbledon and the US Open, while her sister took that year's other two mixed doubles majors, so the family swept all four in 1998.

Which men's star partnered Serena Williams in mixed doubles at the 2026 US Open?

Carlos Alcaraz: the pair won their opening match before losing in the quarterfinals; she had first won that title in 1998, five years before he was born.

Serena Williams hosted which sports awards show in July 2024?

The ESPYs: when her sister urged the audience to enjoy women's sports, the host made one exception, telling Harrison Butker, the NFL kicker who had called homemaker one of a woman's most important titles, 'We don't need you.'

With which Canadian teenager did Serena return to professional doubles at Queen's Club in June 2026?

Victoria Mboko: the 19-year-old and Serena, 44, beat the third seeds in straight sets in her first match for 1,375 days, then had to withdraw before the quarterfinal when Mboko hurt her knee.

Which company named the largest building at its world headquarters after Serena Williams?

Nike: the million-square-foot Serena Williams Building is the largest at its Oregon headquarters, and its architects designed it around her career, down to a sunken tennis court in the grounds.

Who beat Serena Williams in the 2011 US Open final, the year she came back from serious illness?

Samantha Stosur: the Australian won 6-2, 6-3 for the only Grand Slam singles title of her career, against an opponent who had looked her dominant self again on the way to the final.

Which Australian beat Serena Williams at Wimbledon in 2026, in her first Grand Slam singles match for four years?

Maya Joint: the 20-year-old won 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 against a seven-time champion who had lifted her first Wimbledon singles trophy in 2002, four years before Joint was born.

In which city did Serena Williams win her first singles title as a mother, in January 2020?

Auckland: she beat Jessica Pegula to win the ASB Classic, her first title in three years, and also reached the doubles final there alongside Caroline Wozniacki.

Whom did Serena beat in the final of the 1999 Open Gaz de France to win her first professional singles title?

Amélie Mauresmo: the home favourite had reached the Australian Open final a month earlier as an unseeded player, but lost in Paris to a 17-year-old who had never won a singles title.

Which British luxury car maker named Serena its Chief Sporting Officer in 2015?

Aston Martin: its design director, Marek Reichman, explained the choice to Sports Illustrated by saying 'She's a predator. We consider our cars predatory.'

With which partner did Serena win the Hopman Cup for the United States at the start of 2008?

Mardy Fish: illness kept her out of the opening tie, but she came back to beat Serbia in the final, where she and Fish won the mixed doubles against a pair led by Novak Djokovic.

Whom did Serena Williams beat in three sets in the 2012 and 2013 US Open finals?

Victoria Azarenka: she led 5-3 in the final set in 2012 and served for the title before Serena won four games in a row, and Serena admitted she had already been preparing her runner-up speech.