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Serena Williams

An American professional tennis player and advocate for gender equality, winning a record 23 Grand Slam singles titles in her career. Serena has revolutionized women’s tennis.

Learning tennis from her father in California, Serena became a professional tennis player at just 14 years old. Winning her first Grand Slam title at 18 years old, Serena has since won a record number of Grand Slam titles during her career, with a total of 23 Grand Slam tournament victories.

In 2002 and 2003, Serena won the French Open, US Open, Wimbledon, and Australian Open, making her one of only six women to complete a career Grand Slam. In holding all four major titles simulataneously, she achieved "The Serena Slam." Since 2016, Serena has been the highest-paid female athlete for four years in a row. She has also been ranked number 1 in the world in singles 8 times by the Women’s Tennis Association.

The success of every woman should be the inspiration to another. We should raise each other up. Make sure you’re very courageous: be strong, be extremely kind, and above all be humble.

— Serena Williams

Serena has always been interested in fashion, collaborating with Nike and the Home Shopping Network to endorse products. In 2015, Serena was the first black female athlete to land a solo cover of Vogue. And on top of that, in a 2018 edition of Vogue, Serena shared the major health complications related to giving birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia, as well as how motherhood is making her a better player. Serena relased her own clothing line in 2018, 'S' by Serena, which aims to empower, celebrate, and champion women.

Serena continues to advocate for gender equality. During the US Open in 2018, the umpire gave Selena a warning for receiving coaching from the sidelines and docked her a point for smashing her racket. The umpire then penalised her a game. In her interview following the match, Serena expressed that she’s fighting for women’s rights and called out sexist double standards.

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