Serena Williams is an American professional tennis player.  She is formally number 1 in womens singles tennis and has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles.  This is the second-most Grand Slam singles titles of all time falling only behind Margaret Court. 

She has been ranked number 1 in singles on eight separate occasions between 2002 and 2017 by the Women’s Tennis Association.  She has ben ranked number one for 319 weeks in total which is third behind Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova.  Williams holds the most Grand Slam titles combined among all active players.  These Grand Slam titles are in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. 

Williams was the highest paid female athlete in 2016 and was the only woman on the Forbes’ list of the 100 highest paid athletes in 2017.  She won the Laureus Sports woman of the Year award in 2003, 2010, 2016, and 2018. In December of 2015, she was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated.