Serena Williams – Wimbledon Ladies’ Tennis Player

Serena Williams has had mixed fortunes in the 2007 season. The two-time Wimbledon ladies’ singles champion started the year off with a bang when she lifted her eighth Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open, crushing top seed and world number two, Maria Sharapova, in straight sets, 6-1 6-2, in just 63 minutes.

The former world no.1 had been battling with lack of form, mental exhaustion and a chronic knee injury which kept her out of both the French Open and Wimbledon in 2006.

Due to her inactivity she plunged to a lowly ranking of 139. At the last Grand Slam event of the year, the US Open, she was granted a wild card, but lost to Frenchwoman, Amelie Mauresmo in the fourth round.

Like all true champions, Serena Williams, Wimbledon ladies’ tennis player, claimed publicly that she had no doubt that she would be the number one in the world again, and went on to trounce Sharapova for the Australian Open title.

Following her triumph over Sharapova, she pulled off a three-set victory over current world number one, Justine Henin at the Sony Ericsson Open in Florida. In doing so she became the lowest-ranked player in history to beat the world’s top two players at the same event. She had beaten Sharapova yet again in the fourth round.

Williams entered the fray at the All England Club with a heavily taped calf, and succumbed to Justine Henin in the quarterfinal, 4-6 6-3 3-6. Her ranking soared to number seven in the world.

Sadly, she has lost form in recent months, and is nowhere near her best. She was arguably in her best form of her life in 2002 when she picked up eight titles including Wimbledon, the French Open and the US Open.

She even went on to better that in 2003 when she achieved her “Serena Slam” – holding all four Grand Slam titles at the same time!

To date she has only won two events in 2007, and was forced to pull out of the end-of-year WTA Championships due to injury.

Serena is undoubtedly one of the most prominent ladies’ tennis players in the world, and if she can overcome ongoing injuries, she will have a fighting chance of claiming her third Wimbledon title.

Serena’s Wimbledon statistics:

• In 1998 she won the mixed doubles event at Wimbledon with partner Max Mirnyi.
• In 2000 she won the doubles event with sister, Venus.
• In 2002 she won her first Wimbledon Ladies’ singles title, defeating sister, Venus, 7-6(4) 6-3.
• She also claimed her second doubles win at the all England Club, again partnering sister, Venus.
• In 2003 she again beat her sister Venus, 4-6 6-4 6-2, to claim her second Wimbledon singles crown.
• In 2004 she reached the finals of the event, but was unable to claim her third successive Wimbledon title when she fell prey to rival, Maria Sharapova.
• In 2005 she lost in the third round to compatriot Jill Craybas and in 2006 she had to withdraw from the tournament due to injury.
• In 2007 she lost in the quarterfinals to Justine Henin.