Serena Williams' 45th Birthday Countdown

Serena Williams Timeline

Serena Williams records

About Serena Williams

Trained on public courts in Compton alongside her sister Venus, Serena won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most of the Open Era, and four Olympic golds, then moved into venture investing after retiring in 2022.

The plan written before she was born

Richard Williams famously drew up a detailed plan to raise tennis champions before his daughters could hold a racket, then taught Serena and Venus himself on the public courts of Compton. It worked faster than anyone imagined: at the 1999 US Open, a 17-year-old Serena with white beads in her hair beat world No. 1 Martina Hingis in the final, becoming the first Black woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Althea Gibson in 1958.

Twenty-three, one while pregnant

Serena's 23 Grand Slam singles titles are the most of the Open Era, alongside four Olympic gold medals and 319 total weeks at world No. 1. The most astonishing of them all came at the 2017 Australian Open, which she won without dropping a set -- beating Venus in the final -- while roughly eight weeks pregnant with her daughter Olympia. She and Venus also went a perfect 14-for-14 in Grand Slam doubles finals together.

Schools, healing, and a $111 million fund

Through the Serena Williams Fund she has built secondary schools in Kenya and Jamaica, including a 2008 school in Kenya's Makueni County with the Build African Schools initiative, and she serves as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. With Venus she opened the Yetunde Price Resource Center in Compton, helping families affected by violence in memory of their eldest sister. Her firm Serena Ventures, whose debut fund raised $111 million in 2022, deliberately backs founders who are women or people of color.

Quick facts

• Born September 26, 1981, in Saginaw, Michigan
• 23 Grand Slam singles titles, an Open Era record
• Four Olympic gold medals
• Won her first US Open at 17 in 1999, beating world No. 1 Martina Hingis
• Won the 2017 Australian Open while roughly eight weeks pregnant
• Her venture firm Serena Ventures raised a $111 million debut fund in 2022