68 incredible photos of Serena Williams playing tennis throughout her career

Serena Williams is one of the most elite athletes on the planet.

The 40-year-old tennis star has won 23 Grand Slams in her illustrious career.

And she's done it in absolutely dominant fashion for more than two decades.

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She made her professional debut at 14 years old despite her parents' hopes that she'd wait another two years.

AP Photo/Michael S. Green

She didn't compete in any tournaments the following year but burst onto the scene at the Ameritech Cup in 1997.

AP Photo/Michael S. Green

At the Chicago-based tournament, a then-16-year-old Williams — who was ranked 304th in the world at the time — upset the No. 7 and fourth-ranked players before losing to the fifth-ranked player in the semifinals.

AP Photo/Katrina Tepper

Source: The New York Times

She played in her first Grand Slam — the Australian Open — the following year, defeating yet another top-10 opponent before falling to her sister, Venus, in their first of many meetings.

Mark Baker/Reuters

Source: The New York Times

She and Venus won their first doubles tournament together in Oklahoma City later that year, marking Serena's first professional victory.

Reuters

The sisters have been doubles partners throughout their illustrious careers and went on to win another 21 doubles titles together.

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But Serena is best known for her singles career, which began to take its familiar, dominant shape right around the turn of the century.

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Williams won her first professional tournament on her own back in 1999 at the Open Gaz de France in Paris.

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She entered the top-10 of the WTA rankings in 1999 and — for the vast majority of the following 20 years — she lingered there.

Reuters

Source: WTA

Shortly thereafter, Williams broke through under the bright lights of the 1999 US Open, becoming the first African American woman to win a Grand Slam in more than 40 years.

The floodgates would really open two years later when Williams completed her first "Serena Slam" — holding all four Grand Slam titles at one time.

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She won her first French Open, first Wimbledon, second US Open, first Australian Open, and second Wimbledon in succession between 2002 and 2003.

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And in all five victories, she faced Venus in the final.

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Serena would go on to win the US Open four more times.

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And she's competed in the finals in Flushing Meadows an additional four times.

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Of the four Grand Slam tournaments, she's had the hardest time competing on clay at Roland Garros.

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In addition to winning the French Open in 2002, Williams made three additional finals appearances there.

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She took down Maria Sharapova in 2013 and Lucie Šafářová in 2015.

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Source: ESPN

Still, she's had much more success some 190 miles northwest in Wimbledon.

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And she's enjoyed some of her greatest career moments on the famed grass across the pond.

AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth

Williams has won seven of her 11 title match appearances at The Championships — the oldest and most esteemed of the Grand Slam tournaments.

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Likewise, she's won seven singles tournaments at the Australian Open.

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And she's made it look easy down under.

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She's only lost a single finals appearance in Melbourne.

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This prolonged dominance allowed her to achieve a second "Serena Slam" from 2014 to 2015.

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And Williams nearly completed her first-ever calendar-year Grand Slam in 2015, but a semifinal loss to Roberta Vinci kept the then-33-year-old out of the elusive club of Grand Slammers.

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But along with her remarkable successes have come a fair share of controversies.

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The racket Serena Williams smashed during her 2018 US Open final defeat to Naomi Osaka just sold at auction for $20,910

Williams berated Carlos Ramos at the 2018 US Open after the chair umpire made some controversial — and arguably sexist — calls against her in her finals match against Naomi Osaka.

Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY SPORTS

Serena Williams said 'I don't know who that is' when asked about the 2018 US Open umpire who caused her infamous meltdown

And even though her loss was controversial, Williams was gracious towards Osaka after the then-budding star earned her first Grand Slam victory.

Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

'No more booing': Serena Williams gives emotional interview after dramatic US Open women's final

Williams was also twice accused of verbally abusing US Open officials.

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Sources: ESPN, The Atlantic

Even her attire has sometimes attracted negative attention; the catsuit she wore during the 2018 French Open was famously banned post-competition.

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The French Open banning Serena Williams' catsuit is like when women were vilified for wearing shorts

Williams has also faced racism throughout her career in tennis — a sport historically dominated by white athletes.

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An Australian newspaper printed a cartoon showing Serena Williams as an angry baby

But through controversy ...

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... injury ...

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... and even pregnancy ...

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Serena Williams and her husband made a video about her pregnancy and it'll make you cry

... Williams has remained the face of women's tennis for more than two decades.

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Through all the tumult, Williams has held the No. 1 spot in the WTA rankings for a whopping 319 weeks of her career, good for third all-time.

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And she's just one Grand Slam victory shy of tying Margaret Smith Court's record for most singles Grand Slam victories — male or female — in the history of the sport.

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Though she hasn't yet managed to secure that elusive first Grand Slam win since returning to the court from maternity leave, Williams remained quite competitive immediately after her comeback.

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After she famously won the 2017 Australian Open while nine weeks pregnant, Williams took a little more than a year off before returning to the clay at Roland Garros.

REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

She then made back-to-back finals at Wimbledon and the US Open.

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But she lost in straight sets each time.

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Angelique Kerber got revenge for her 2016 Wimbledon loss at the same event two years later, while Simona Halep stunned Williams in 2019 despite entering the tournament as a seven-seed.

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At the US Open, upstarts Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu both upset the tennis legend in consecutive finals.

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Still, after 2018, Williams rose up the WTA rankings from 491 — her lowest ranking in more than a decade.

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Source: WTA

By the end of that year, she had once again broken into the top-20.

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Source: WTA

She dipped in and out of the top-10 in 2019, but never found herself outside of the top 20.

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Source: WTA

Williams was ranked in the top 10 throughout 2020.

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Source: WTA

But her priorities began to shift in 2021.

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After making deep runs at the first two Slams of the year — the Australian Open and the French Open — Williams suffered an ankle injury that ended her Wimbledon run before it even started.

Serena Williams bowed out of her Wimbledon opener after falling to the ground with an apparent ankle injury

A lingering leg injury then forced her to withdraw from the US Open.

Serena Williams has pulled out of the US Open to recover from a torn hamstring

And her ranking fell to its lowest position in well over a decade.

But as Williams' form on the court began to shift, so too did her life outside of tennis.

Serena Williams and her daughter, Olympia, wore adorable matching outfits on the red carpet

Life as mom to Olympia was her top priority.

And she began exploring other projects from Hollywood to Wall Street.

AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Serena's next serve

She didn't return for either the Australian Open or French Open in 2022.

But after trips to the Oscars and the boardroom, Williams laced up her shoes for her big return.

Serena Williams is making her tennis comeback after being granted wildcard to play Wimbledon

At Wimbledon — her first Grand Slam in a year — Williams fell to Harmony Tan in the first round.

Serena Williams hinted at playing the US Open later this year after her shocking first-round exit from Wimbledon

But the epic battle, which came down to a tiebreak, showed that the 40-year-old still had what it takes to compete at the highest levels of tennis.

Still, Williams was growing tired of splitting her life in two.

And, in August, she announced that it was time to say goodbye.

AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali

Serena Williams announces she is retiring from tennis, saying that as a woman, she must choose between 'tennis and a family'

She'll play one final US Open — the Grand Slam where she won her first-ever title and kickstarted her illustrious career — before hanging up her racket for good.

AP Photo/Mike Groll

Serena Williams says Tiger Woods convinced her to give Wimbledon and the US Open one more shot

And though she doesn't like the word "retirement," she'll undoubtedly make her grand exit to immense fanfare.

Florian Eisele/Pool Photo via AP

The 2022 US Open — Williams' final go — begins August 29 in New York City.

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