Serena Williams—Changing the Game

Story By Jerell King. Edited by Sean Beach. Photo from www.theodyessyonline.com.

MARCH 8, 2017: This March, FNN wants to recognize some of the many women trailblazers in our history. One of these mountain movers is tennis legend, Serena Williams.

Serena Jameka Williams was born on September 26, 1981 in Saginaw, Michigan to Richard and Oracene Williams. Serena is fifteen months younger than her sister, Venus Williams. Shs was the youngest of five girls.

Serena Williams started playing tennis at the age of five at public courts in Compton, California. Both Serena and her sister, Venus Williams took on tennis at an early age, and were home schooled to get in extra time for practice. Practices started off rocky at first, but with her hard work and determination, she became a natural.

In 1999, Serena Williams won the U.S Open women’s singles title and became the first African American woman to win the tournament since Althea Gibson in 1958. On January 25th 2003, she won the Australian Open tennis championship, with a “grand slam”.  Afterwards, she won the Australian Open three more times, and won the Wimbledon singles tournament five times. Then, during the 2012 Summer Olympics, Serena won two gold medals and participated in last year’s Summer Olympics as well.

Not only is Serena a tennis legend, she has also made some well known media appearances. In July, 2012, she was a guest star on the improv T.V. show “Trust Us With Your Life” and played as a lawyer on the Lifetime T.V. series, “Drop Dead Diva”. She even starred in a “Simpsons” episode along with her sister.

Serena Williams has made waves in the sports world and is an outstanding role model for young ladies who want to achieve big dreams.  

Jerell King is a 9th grade scholar at Friendship Tech Prep Academy.