Grand slams, gold medals and foot faults: Serena Williams’ most notable moments

Her older sister Venus made her professional debut before Serena, but the younger Williams sibling had long been tipped to become the better player. She was only 16 in 1997 when she recorded her first professional main draw win, at the Ameritech Cup in Chicago. She quickly followed it up with two more victories, including one against Monica Seles, before losing in the semi-finals.

Williams won her first title the hard way, beating the world No 4 (Monica Seles), No 2 (Lindsey Davenport) and No 1 (Martina Hingis) on her way to the US Open title in 1999. Hingis had been the best player in the world until the rise of the Williams sisters, and the victory confirmed a new era had begun.

The Williams sisters helped change a white-dominated sport but there were ugly incidents along the way. Rumours circulated at Indian Wells in 2001 that Venus had pulled out of a match against Serena in order to avoid facing her sister. Serena was subsequently mercilessly booed by the crowd in her home state during the final against Kim Clijsters. There were also allegations that the sisters were racially abused by some fans. Serena did not return to Indian Well until 2015. Venus returned the following year.

Williams couldn’t match Steffi Graf’s achievements in 1988, when the German won all four majors in a calendar year. But she did win four grand slam titles in succession, starting with her first French Open title in 2002 and ending with the Australian Open at the start of 2003. Dubbed the Serena Slam, it confirmed her greatness. Another notable achievement came at the London Olympics in 2012 when she became the first player in history to win all four majors and the Olympics in both singles and doubles over the course of a career.

Williams