http://www.womentennis.org en-us Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:51:13 -0800 http://www.womentennis.org/serena-williams/ Serena Williams was born in 1981 as is consider one the best tennis players in the world. She has won 18 Grand Slam titles: nine in singles, seven in women's doubles, and two in mixed doubles. She also has won two Olympic gold medals in women's doubles. She is the most recent player, male or female, to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously. In 2005, Tennis magazine ranked her as the 17th-best player of the preceding forty years. She is the younger sister of a former World No. 1 professional female tennis player, Venus Williams. Serena currently resides at Ballen Isles in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Serena was born in Saginaw, Michigan. When she and her four sisters were young, their parents, Richard and Oracene (also called Brandy), moved to the Los Angeles suburb of Compton. Her father dreamed of making at least one of his daughters a tennis superstar, hoping that involvement in sports would give them an opportunity for a better life. The children were homeschooled.

When Serena was four and a half, she won her first tournament, and she entered 49 tournaments by the age of 10, winning 46 of them. At one point, she replaced her sister Venus as the number one ranked tennis player aged 12 or under in California.

In 1991, Richard Williams, saying that he hoped to prevent his daughters from facing racism, stopped sending them to national junior tennis tournaments, and Serena attended a tennis school run by professional player Rick Macci in Haines City, Florida at Greneleaf Resort and Conference Center instead. Macci had already helped the careers of Jennifer Capriati and Mary Pierce, among others. Soon Richard, who had struck a deal on behalf of his daughters with a major clothing company, was able to move the rest of the Williams family to West Palm Beach, to be near Serena and Venus.

Williams became a professional in September 1995 at the age of 14. Because of her age, she had to participate in non-WTA events at first. Her first professional event was the tournament in Quebec City, where she was ousted in less than an hour of play.

Williams's biggest achievement of 1997 was her run in Chicago; ranked World No. 304, she upset both Monica Seles and Mary Pierce, recording her first career wins over top 10 players. She finished 1997 at World No. 99.

1998 was the first year that Williams finished ranked in the WTA top 20. She began the year in Sydney as a qualifier, ranked World No. 96, and defeated World No. 3 Lindsay Davenport in a quarterfinal. Williams was then expected to do well in her first Grand Slam tournament, but lost in the second round of the Australian Open to sister Venus.

Williams reached six other quarterfinals during the year. She won the mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon and the US Open with Max Mirnyi, completing the Williams family's sweep of the 1998 mixed doubles Grand Slams. Williams won her first pro title in doubles at Oklahoma City with sister Venus, becoming the third pair of sisters to win a WTA tour women's doubles title. She earned U.S. $2.6 million in prize money during the year. That was a real boost for her those days.

In 2008, Williams started the year by participating on the U.S. team that won the Hopman Cup for the fifth time in Perth, Australia.

Williams entered the 2008 Australian Open as the defending champion and seventh seed but lost in the quarterfinals to World No. 4 and third-seeded Jelena Janković 6–3, 6–4. This was her fourth straight loss in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament. In the women's doubles event, Serena and her sister Venus lost in the quarterfinals to the seventh-seeded team, Zheng Jie and Yan Zi.

Williams then withdrew from the tournaments in Paris, Antwerp, and Dubai due to an urgent need for dental surgery.

Upon her return to the tour, Williams won three consecutive singles titles. At the Tier II tournament in Bangalore, India, Serena defeated sister Venus in the semifinals 6–3, 3–6, 7–6(4) after Serena saved a match point 6–5 in the third set. This was the first time they had played each other since the fourth round of the 2005 US Open. Serena then defeated Patty Schnyder of Switzerland in the final. At the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Williams won her fifth career singles title there, tying Steffi Graf for the most singles titles at this tournament. Williams defeated World No. 1 Justine Henin in the quarterfinals, World No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals, and World No. 4 Janković in the final. This was Williams's 30th career singles title. At the clay court Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, Williams defeated, for the fourth consecutive time, second-seeded Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals 7–5, 4–6, 6–1. In the final, Williams defeated Vera Zvonareva to capture her tenth career Tier I title and first clay court title since the 2002 French Open.

Williams's 17-match winning streak was ended by Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals of the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin 2–6, 6–1, 7–6(5). Williams was the fifth-seeded player at the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome and made it to the quarterfinals, where Alizé Cornet received a walkover over Williams because of a back injury.

Williams was the fifth-seeded player at the French Open. Although she was the only former winner of this tournament in this year's draw, she lost in the third round to 27th-seeded Katarina Srebotnik 6–4, 6–4.

At Wimbledon, the sixth-seeded Williams reached the semifinals for the first time in four years. She defeated former World No. 1 and 2006 Wimbledon champion Amélie Mauresmo in the third round 7–6(5), 6–1. She then defeated Agnieszka Radwańska in the quarterfinals and Zheng Jie, a Chinese wild card, in the semifinals. Williams, however, lost the final to her older sister Venus in straight sets. Serena and Venus then teamed to win the women's doubles title without dropping a set the entire tournament, defeating Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur in the final.

Williams then played four World Team Tennis matches for the Washington Kastles, contributing 49 points for her team.

Williams was seeded first at the tournament in Stanford, California. After defeating fifth-seeded Schnyder in the quarterfinals, Williams retired from her semifinal match against qualifier Aleksandra Wozniak while trailing 6–2, 3–1 because of a left knee injury. That injury caused Williams to withdraw from the tournament in Los Angeles the following week.

At the Beijing Olympics, Williams was the fourth-seeded player in singles but lost to fifth-seeded and eventual gold-medalist Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals 3–6, 6–4, 6–3. Serena and her sister Venus were the second-seeded team in doubles. They won the gold medal, beating the Spanish team of Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual in the final.

Williams was seeded fourth at the US Open and defeated her seventh-seeded sister Venus in the quarterfinals 7–6(6), 7–6(7). Serena trailed 5–3 in both sets and saved two set points in the first set and eight set points in the second set. Williams then defeated Safina in the semifinals 6–3, 6–2. She went on to win the title, defeating second-seeded Janković in the final, and became the new World No. 1.

At the Tier II Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Williams was the top seed but lost to World No. 30 Li Na in the second round 0–6, 6–1, 6–4. Serena also played doubles in Stuttgart with her sister Venus, but they withdrew after winning their first round match because of a left ankle injury to Serena.

On October 3, 2008, Williams announced her withdrawal from the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow, citing a continuing left ankle injury and a desire to give her body time to recover from a packed 2008 playing schedule. Because of her withdrawal, she lost her No. 1 title to Jelena Janković. Williams defeated Dinara Safina in her first round robin match at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha.

From 2004 to 2005, Williams dated Brett Ratner. And in 2007 she was linked to Miami Heat Forward Udonis Haslem & actor Jackie Long of "ATL" & "Idlewild" fame. She is currently dating famous rapper Common. ]]> Sun, 09 Nov 2008 09:06:06 -0800 http://www.womentennis.org/serena-williams/ http://www.womentennis.org/maria-sharapova/ Maria Sharapova was born on April 19, 1987 and is a former World No. 1 Russian professional tennis player. As of July 21, 2008, she is ranked World No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association.

Sharapova has won three Grand Slam singles titles. In 2004, at the age of 17, she won Wimbledon, defeating Serena Williams in the final. She has since won the 2006 US Open, defeating Justine Henin in the final, and the 2008 Australian Open, defeating Ana Ivanovic in the final.

As of July 2008, she is the world's highest-paid female athlete. She is currently coached by her father, Yuri Sharapov, and former player Michael Joyce.

Sharapova is considered to be a power baseliner, with excellent power, depth, and angles on her groundstrokes. Instead of using a traditional volley or overhead smash, she often prefers to hit a powerful "swinging" volley when approaching the net or attacking lobs. Sharapova has good speed around the court, especially considering her height. At the beginning of the 2008 season, many observers noted that Sharapova had improved her movement and footwork and added a drop shot and sliced backhand to her repertoire of shots.

Sharapova's preferred surfaces are the fast-playing hard and grass because her game is not as well-suited to the slower-playing clay. She lacks confidence in her ability to move and slide on this surface and once described herself as like a "cow on ice" whenever she plays on clay. Her limitations on this surface are reflected in her career results, as she did not win a Women's Tennis Association tour title on clay until April 2008 (despite having won 18 titles on other surfaces) and because the French Open is the only Grand Slam singles title she has not yet won.

Sharapova's first and second serve are her main weapons and are very powerful. She is often able to produce an ace or a service winner or results in a weak reply from her opponent, which allows her to take control of the rally immediately. Sharapova is also known for her extremely well placed serves, often capable of acing on her second service. A serious shoulder injury in early 2007, however, reduced the effectiveness of her serve for several months, as she routinely produced eight to ten double faults in many of her matches during this period. She later changed her service motion to a more compacted backswing (as opposed to her traditional elongated backswing) in an attempt to put less stress on her shoulder, but she nevertheless periodically experienced problems with her serve throughout the rest of the year, most notably producing 12 double faults in her third-round loss at the US Open. Her serve appeared to be more effective at the 2008 Australian Open, as she produced just 17 double faults in seven matches while winning the tournament. Her serving problems resurfaced, however, during the spring of 2008, as she produced 43 double faults in just four matches at the French Open and eight double faults during her second round loss at Wimbledon. Observers, including Tracy Austin, believe that when Sharapova experiences problems with her serve, she often loses confidence in the rest of her game, and as a result, produces more unforced errors and generally plays more tentatively.

Sharapova is known for on-court "grunting," reaching 101 decibels (near the volume of a police siren) during a match at Wimbledon in 2005.

Sharapova was born in 1987 to Yuri and Yelena, ethnic Russians, in the town of Nyagan in Siberia, Russia. Previously her parents had lived in Gomel, Belarus, but were compelled to move after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.

When Maria was two, the family moved to Sochi. There, Yuri befriended Aleksandre Kafelnikov, whose son Yevgeny would go on to become a Grand Slam champion. Aleksandre gave Maria her first tennis racket at the age of four and subsequently, Maria and her father began regular practices in the local park. At the age of six, Maria attended a tennis clinic in Moscow run by Martina Navratilova, who noted Maria was talented but required professional training, recommending the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. Yuri and Maria, neither of whom could speak English, moved to Florida in 1994. Because of visa restrictions, Yelena could not originally move with them, though she eventually joined them two years later. Yuri took a variety of jobs in order to fund Maria's lessons, including washing plates, and, until the age of 12, Maria was transported to the academy each day on the handlebars of Yuri's bicycle as they could not afford any other method of transport. Maria developed rapidly at the academy and began playing junior tournaments.

Sharapova turned professional in 2001, although she played a total of just two WTA tournaments in 2001 and 2002 plus six challenger events. She became the youngest girl to reach the final at the junior Australian Open in 2002, and repeated this feat at Wimbledon later in the same year. She also won three titles on the ITF Circuit and played her first matches on the main WTA Tour, including winning a match at the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California.

Sharapova was the fifth-seeded player at the Australian Open. She defeated former World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport in the second round and World No. 1 Justine Henin in the quarterfinals 6–4, 6–0, ending the latter's 32-match winning streak. Sharapova then reached her second consecutive Australian Open final when she defeated an injured Jelena Jankovic in the semifinals. Dropping only 10 service points during the final, Sharapova defeated Ana Ivanovic and won this tournament without losing a set.

After the Australian Open, Sharapova extended her winning streak to 18 matches before finally losing. She participated for the first time in Fed Cup and won the Tier I Qatar Total Open in Doha. In the semifinals of the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Sharapova lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova, which was her first loss of the year. Sharapova then withdrew from the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, citing a shoulder injury.

She was the top-seeded player at the Tier II Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida. Her 3 hour, 26 minute third round victory was her longest ever match. The next day, she needed an additional 2 hours, 36 minutes to win her quarterfinal match. Sharapova then received a walkover to the final after Davenport withdrew from the tournament. In her first career clay court final, Sharapova defeated Dominika Cibulkova.

The following week at the Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, Sharapova lost to Serena Williams in the quarterfinals 7–5, 4–6, 6–1. Sharapova had a set point at 5-4 in the first set and claimed the second set but then won only nine points in the final set. This was Sharapova's fourth consecutive loss to Williams.

Sharapova was the second-seeded player at the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia, formerly known as the Italian Open, in Rome. She defeated Patty Schnyder in the quarterfinals but then did not play her semifinal against Jankovic because of a calf injury. Sharapova nevertheless regained the World No. 1 ranking because of Henin's sudden retirement from professional tennis and request to the Women's Tennis Association that her own ranking be removed immediately.

Sharapova was the top-seeded player at the French Open and defeated compatriot Evgeniya Rodina in the first round 6–1, 3–6, 8–6 after being two points from becoming the first female top seeded player in the open era to lose in the first round of this tournament. Sharapova ultimately lost to 13th-seeded and eventual runner-up Dinara Safina in a 2 hour, 52 minute fourth round match 6–7(6), 7–6(5), 6–2. Sharapova saved two set points in the first set tiebreaker before winning the last four points to take the set and then had a match point at 5–3 in the second set and led 5–2 in the second set tiebreaker before losing the last five points of the set. Safina won the last four games and ten of the last twelve points of the match. Sharapova lost the match despite hitting 65 winners and only 39 unforced errors. She relinquished the World No. 1 ranking as a result of this loss.

Sharapova withdrew from the grass court DFS Classic in Birmingham, United Kingdom because of a shoulder injury sustained during the French Open. At Wimbledon, Sharapova was seeded third but lost in the second round to compatriot and World No. 159 Alla Kudryavtseva 6–2, 6–4. This was her earliest loss ever at Wimbledon.

Sharapova now intends to play the Tier I Rogers Cup in Montreal, the singles event at the Olympics in Beijing, and the US Open. Sharapova's representation of Russia in the Fed Cup has been controversial. At the end of 2004, compatriot Anastasia Myskina stated she would stop playing for Russia if Sharapova joined. Nevertheless, at the end of 2005, Sharapova stated she was now keen to make her Fed Cup debut and was set to play against Belgium in April 2006, but withdrew.

Sharapova later withdrew from ties against Spain in April 2007 and against the United States in July 2007 because of injuries. The latter withdrawal led to Russia's captain saying she would be "ineligible for selection" for the Fed Cup final in September. However, Sharapova attended the final, cheering from the sidelines and acting as a "hitting partner" in practices, resulting in some of her Russian teammates implying that she was attending only to enable her to play at the 2008 Beijing Olympics (rules state that players must have "shown commitment" to Fed Cup in order to play). Svetlana Kuznetsova said, "She said she wanted to be our practise partner but if you can't play how then can you practise?"

Sharapova finally made her Fed Cup debut in February 2008, in Russia's quarterfinal tie against Israel. Sharapova won both her singles rubbers, against Tzipora Obziler and Shahar Peer, helping Russia to a 4-1 victory. ]]> Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:44:45 -0700 http://www.womentennis.org/maria-sharapova/