See how Serena Williams became one of the all-time greats
Serena Williams is a legend. At the age of 18, she became the first American woman to win Wimbledon, a feat that still stands today. She’s won Olympic Gold, won six Grand Slam titles and won 11 Grand Slam finals, the most of any woman. And she’s done it all without losing a single set.
Now, as Williams looks back over a career that has spanned more than a decade and a half, she reveals the lessons she’s learned along the way.
“It’s been like a journey to the top, and it’s taken me five years,” Williams said. “But it’s been one of the most exciting and most difficult journeys I ever had to endure.”
Williams was born in 1984 in Bronx, New York. She and her siblings were adopted, and she had a rough upbringing. Her father was a drunk and a gambler, and so when he had a serious heart attack, the family had to stop their lives.
“He was at the end, so I had to be taken in by an aunt, who put me in foster care at the age of eight months. It was terrible,” she said. “I had to clean and go to day care and get tutored by someone, but it made my journey. I think I had to be like a good little sister for my sisters.”
Williams attended Catholic school in New York City for the first few years of her life, but she wasn’t happy. Growing up, she wasn’t athletic and didn’t like playing sports, but she was an avid reader. She began to write poems and books that she sold.
“It was all kind of a mess,” she said. “It was very difficult to get a balance between my family, my friends and also my writing career. I had to be extremely strong and go through the trials and tribulations. But I kept going forward.”
While working as a waitress, Williams worked on her novels and began to feel like she was getting some type of validation from them. She also wrote poems and songs, and she would put these on CDs and play them to her friends. Eventually, Williams got
