Everything You Didn’t Know About Serena Williams

Serena Williams is one of the biggest names in the world of tennis. If we’re only talking about the women’s half, Mrs. Serena is the best thing to happen to modern tennis. Her personality goes far beyond tennis and she’s one of those athletes that transcendents sports. As far as entertainment goes, we shouldn’t say anything more than just go and watch the Super Bowl LIX half-time show again and see how one tennis player made it all about herself in just a few moments of screen time.

Yet, there are certainly things you do not know about her. If you’re just a casual Serena or tennis fan, her sports and personal life might still be a mystery to you. We can’t let this stand! If you find yourself attending a pub quiz or simply begging to know a trivia answer about Serena Williams and her personal and sports life, below you’ll find some of the main answers about frequently asked questions about this tennis superstar.

Serena Has 11 Siblings

This is truly a fun fact. You couldn’t have guessed the number of brothers and sisters Serena has even if you were an avid fan of online sports betting. While everyone knows her sister Venus Williams who is an amazing tennis player in her own right, rare are those who know that she has additional brothers and sisters and that number goes up to eleven.

23 Grand Slams

Serena Williams didn’t become the face of modern tennis by simply winning a few trophies. She has both longevity and on court success. During Williams’ illustrious career, Serena has appeared in 60 Grand Slams and won 23 of them. It’s this number that put her on the pedestal as one of the most successful athletes of all time and not only in female tennis.

Serena Has Two Favorite Cities

During her tennis career, Serena has travelled the world more than a few times. Yet, there are two cities in the world that she sees as her favorites. The first one is of course Miami, where she lives today with her family. The second one is interestingly the Italian capital, Rome. It is in Rome where she met her husband Alex Ohanian, the billionaire entrepreneur and Reddit founder.

Woman of Faith

While it is not uncommon to have athletes practice religion both on and off court, we’re used to having them being devoted Christians or Muslims. Yet, Serena took a different path as far as her religion goes. Former Grand Slam champion is a Jehovah Witness. She was raised in this religion by her mother, and Serena practices this faith even to this day.

Autographed Racket

Back in the day, Serena was always a favourite when playing in any given tournament. If you’re into tennis betting you know that she dominated on every surface. She became so dominant at one point that the status of the best player in the game was achieved. When this happened she was given a special honour which reflects in receiving an autographed racket. The biggest company in the world of manufacturing tennis equipment, Wilson, blessed Serena Williams with a customized autographed racket Blade SW104 Autograph Racket that carries her name.

Home Schooling

Both Serena and Venus dedicated their lives to the sport of tennis from a young age. Their talent was evident from a young age, and in the most basic sense their education was never put at the first place. Chasing tennis dreams was one thing, but their mother didn’t want her girls to miss out on the educational part of growing up. Thus, both Serena and Venus were homeschooled early on which enabled them to have full focus on tennis. When we take a look back on their lives and careers we can say that the right decision was made in both ways.

Keeping up With The Williams’

All jokes aside, we’re sorry to have compared Serena and Venus with the Kardashian sisters. While both successful as entertainers, we can say that Williams sisters haven’t quite made it as reality stars. But, it is not for the lack of trying. Back in 2005 when they were still on the rise as stars in the world of tennis a reality show was made about them that had both starring. It was called Venus and Serena: For Real.

Favorite Animals

This is where things get peculiar for the former No1 WTA player in the world. While her love for canines is no secret and Serena is known for having dogs, she has found love for another animal. We’re talking cats, but big ones. Just like Mike Tyson, Serena Williams’ favourite animal, in addition to dogs, is a tiger. While Serena’s Yorkshire terrier Chip is a well known name, we do not have any information that she has owned or tried to buy a tiger.

Career Outside of Tennis

Just like many other athletes of her calibre, Serena’s ventures go far beyond tennis. While she is a name representing many brands, the venture that she dedicated quite a lot of time too is rather interesting. Serena Williams is a certified nail technician and she even has a branded nail polish. There’s plenty of money to be found in the world of cosmetics and Serena wasn’t blind to the opportunities it provides.

The Giving Nature of Serena Williams

There’s plenty of athletes willing to dedicate their fame and resources to a just cause, and Serena Williams is one of them. While a ruthless dictator on the court, outside of this, Serena is a person caring plenty for  others and she is a dedicated UNICEF ambassador putting forward plenty of hours and shifts in making the world around us a better place for those less fortunate.

A Less Known Middle Name

During her career, Serena Williams was known as the most dominant tennis player of her generation and far beyond that. The world knows the name Serena and today it is mostly associated with her, and plenty of girls all over the world were given this name because of her. Yet, there are more than a few of us that didn’t know her middle name. It is Jameka. Tell us, you didn’t know it either, right?

Star From The Young Age

It is a well documented fact that the talent for tennis was more than evident in Williams’ sisters from a young age. According to various sources, Serena started playing with a racket when she was only three years old. Starting early definitely paid off for Williams as it made her one of the most successful female players in history with 23 Grand Slams to her name.  It is estimated that she has put forth some 10 thousand hours of practice in her career which made her a go-to safe bet at Stake.com and other sports betting outlets when she was playing at Wimbledon and other tournaments.

Titles, Titles, Titles

We’ve mentioned the number of Grand Slams Williams took home but that doesn’t paint the entire picture. Serena has over 60 career titles. This long list includes winning Wimbledon five times. As if that wasn’t enough, and it was to write her name forever in the tennis history books, she also added six US Opens, six Australian Opens, and four Olympic Gold Medals.

Favorite Author

A successful career in sports as the one Serena endured leaves little time for any other activities. Yet, Serena didn’t fail to put in some reading hours to the busy schedule of a top athlete. Reading is one of her favourite pastimes, and her favourite author is Maya Angelou.

Other Sports Ventures

While it is hard to count all the sports and business ventures Serena Williams has outside the world of tennis one of them stands out. Both Serena and Venus are fans of the NFL and they made this love official by becoming partial owners of one storied NFL franchise the Miami Dolphins. As Miami resident, Serena is often seen watching the Phins from the stands.

A Peculiar Love Life

Serena Williams had plenty of partners before she settled down with her current husband. Back in the day, she had a thing for musicians so her relationships with rappers Common and Drake were in the spotlight for quite a while. Among many others she also dated Hollywood director Brett Ratner, former NBA superstar Amar’e Stoudemire, and finally Alexis Ohanian. When she looks back at her life and career, and her two beautiful children, Serena was right to have been waiting for the right guy that came in the end. 

Michigan Origins

While now a Miami resident, Williams was not originally from Florida. Serena and her sister Venus were born in Saginaw, Michigan. Before finally settling in Florida, Williams’ sisters spent some time in Compton, California, where their careers took off.

A History Maker

Since the early days of Serena Williams it was evident that she was going to make history. She managed to put her name in the history books as early as in 1999 when she became the only second  black woman to win a Grand Slam. She continued to write the annals of history as she added 22 more titles making her one of the most successful athletes of all times as far as tennis goes and far beyond the white sport.

An Established Author

The story of Serena Williams is a story that many people need to hear.  Serena was of the same opinion so she participated greatly, as a co-author of her autobiography titled My Life: Queen of The Court. This book depicts both her career and her personal life alike. Together with her sister Venus, she also added another signature to a book as she co-authored her book called Venus & Serena: Serving from the Hip. Both are a must-read papers if you’re even remotely in the sport of tennis.

Serena Williams Net Worth

As we said, Serena was not only a fine tennis player, but she also went far beyond the sport and ventured plenty in the world of business. Even today she remains one of the most marketable faces in the industry. During her career Serena has signed with many sports brands as the face of their companies, starting with Nike, and adding to her portfolio through real estate, entertainment, acting bits, and authoring a few books. When it is all said and done, today, Serena Williams’ net worth stands at close to $340 million.

Star of The Super Bowl Half-Time Show

While the star of the Super Bowl half-time show is usually the performer or the performers this time it was different. While Kendrick Lamar did an amazing job performing, he made a minor mistake. A crip walk move performed by Serena Williams was the star of the show. Former tennis star was asked to perform it once again at the Super Bowl half-time show after it caught Lamar’s eye when Williams performed it after winning one of her many Grand Slams. While Serena was on the screen only for a few seconds the whole world was in awe asking: Isn’t that Serena Williams? She simply stole the show.

An Eye for The Business

We already spoke of Serena’s net worth, but not all that much from where it all came from. While she earned plenty playing tennis, she is also a successful business woman. There are 14 companies tied to her name all doing just fine in their respective domains. If they were publicly traded today, these businesses would rake in more than a few billions it is estimated.

Serena Green-Lighted King Richard

The career of both Serena Williams and her sister is hard to describe with words and even harder to put into motion once again. Yet, King Richard, a film featuring Will Smith managed to hit on the essence of what their careers and years of growing up with their father were like. Serena served as an executive director on the set of the film and was more than satisfied how it turned out.

For now this is all about Serena Williams we’re going to fill you in. There’s plenty more ,and we’re sure pages on her will be added in years to come. Yet, we deem this much info enough to give you an advantage when the Serena Williams quiz pops out for you next time.