Serena Williams voted AP Female Athlete of the Year for 5th time.
@serenawilliams
Arike Ogunbowale, women’s basketball . She hit one jumper to knock off previously unbeaten Connecticut in the Final Four, then a 3-pointer in the championship game to lift Notre Dame over Mississippi State.
Chloe Kim, snowboarding . At 17, the Californian won the halfpipe Olympic gold medal in South Korea, where her parents were from before they immigrated to the United States.
Katie Ledecky, swimming . The 21-year-old U.S. Olympian tuned up for the 2020 Games in Tokyo by winning five medals in the city at the Pan Pacific Championships.
In the early 2000s, Williams wore Puma apparel and footwear on court. She used the Wilson Hammer 6.4 Stretch Power Holes racket. Today, she is endorsed by Nike and uses the Wilson Blade 104.
Williams also has endorsement deals with Gatorade, Delta Air Lines, Audemars Piguet, Aston Martin, Pepsi, Beats by Dre headphones, Mission Athletecare, Berlei bras, OPI Products, OnePiece, IBM, Mini, Intel, Tempur and Chase Bank.
Aston Martin. She accepted the contract in June 2015. Williams then posted her first experience on social media service Twitter, and said: “I’m loving my first day on the job as Chief Sporting Officer and Director of Fun!”, stating her optimism on the job as the CSO.
Williams is the current CSO (Chief Sporting Officer) for British luxury automobile manufacturerWilliams is also on the Board of Directors at SurveyMonkey.
Fashion
Williams has been noted for her unusual and colorful outfits on court. In 2002, there was much talk when she wore a black lycra catsuit at the US Open. At the 2004 US Open, Williams wore denim skirts and knee-high boots—tournament officials, however, did not allow her to wear the boots during matches. At the 2008 Wimbledon, the white trench coat she wore during warm-up for her opening match was the subject of much discussion since it was worn despite sunny weather. Some social scientists have argued that the most negative reactions to Williams’ on-court fashion statements, especially in newspaper coverage of the Australian Open and Wimbledon, combines with writers’ fixation upon her muscular body to distract from her on-court accomplishments and fit this commentary within centuries-old narratives of the “pornographic eroticism” and “sexual grotesquerie” of African and African-American women.
Williams formerly had a special line with Puma. In April 2004, she signed a deal worth US$40 million for a line with Nike. Since 2004, she has also run her own line of designer apparel, “Aneres”—her first name spelled backward. In 2009, she launched a signature collection of handbags and jewelry. The collection, Signature Statement, is sold mainly on the Home Shopping Network (HSN).
In early 2010, Williams became a certified nail technician in preparation for her upcoming nail collection with a company called HairTech. In 2015, she became the first black female athlete to have a picture by herself on the cover of Vogue, which she did for the April 2015 issue. In 2015, she also presented her HSN Signature Statement collection for the second time at the New York Fashion Week Show—a clothing line exclusively made for the retailer HSN.
2018 French Open that was likened to a superhero outfit and helped promote her new clothing line, Serena. The outfit was subsequently banned by the French Tennis Federation president Bernard Giudicelli, with the explanation: “It will no longer be accepted. One must respect the game and the place.” Williams expressed no hard feelings towards the French, then she wore a black tutu to her first match at the 2018 US Open on August 27, 2018 against Magda Linette which she dominated in straight sets.
In May 2018 she wore a skin-tight catsuit at theActivism
Williams has become more involved in social change as her career has progressed, primarily using social media as a medium of expressing her views. In 2016 she posted her support of Black Lives Matter on her Facebook page, voicing her concern about her young nephew being in danger from police officers due to his skin color.
Entertainment
Williams has appeared on television and also provided voice work on animated shows: in a 2001 episode of The Simpsons Serena joined the animation along with sister Venus, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.[350] She has also provided guest voice work in a 2005 episode of Playhouse Disney’s animated kids show Higglytown Heroes and a 2007 episode of the Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender, which she has described as her “favorite show”.
Williams has posed for the 2003 and 2004 editions of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. In April 2005, MTV announced plans to broadcast a reality show around the lives of Serena and Venus, which was eventually aired on ABC Family. Williams has appeared twice on MTV’s Punk’d and in 2007, appeared in the ABC reality television series Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race. In 2002, she played Miss Wiggins in the season 3 episode “Crouching Mother, Hidden Father” of My Wife and Kids; she has also guest-starred in episodes of The Bernie Mac Show, ER and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In 2007, Williams appeared in the music video of “I Want You” by the American rapper Common, alongside performers Alicia Keys and Kanye West.
In late 2009, Williams became the first active female professional athlete to appear in a feminine hygiene product advertising campaign. A series of online videos and print advertisements for Tampax Pearl tampons showed her hitting balls at Mother Nature, played by Catherine Lloyd Burns, to prevent Mother Nature giving her a red-wrapped gift, representing her menstrual period. In the online videos, the two have dueling press conferences over the “bad blood” between them. “A lot of celebrities are not open to working with our brand, and we’re thrilled that Serena is”, said a brand manager for Tampax at Procter & Gamble.
In July 2012, she appeared in the ABC comedic improv television series Trust Us with Your Life and as a lawyer on the Lifetime television series Drop Dead Diva.
To celebrate the 35th anniversary of Pac-Man, Williams made a cameo appearance in the movie Pixels, which starred Adam Sandler and Kevin James, and premiered on July 24, 2015.[358]
Beyoncé and made a cameo appearance dancing in Beyoncé’s music video for the song Sorry in the hit album Lemonade. Williams said the director told her, “We would love for you to be in this particular song. It’s about strength and it’s about courage and that’s what we see you as.”
Williams is known to be close toLanguage fluency
In addition to English as her native language, Williams also speaks conversational French, and knows some Spanish and Italian. At the 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2018 French Open she gave her on-court interviews in French, much to the crowd’s delight.
Miami Dolphins venture
In August 2009, Williams and her sister Venus became minority owners of the Miami Dolphins after purchasing a small stake in the team. They live near each other in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, which is about an hour’s drive from the Dolphins’ stadium. They are the first Black women to hold any amount of ownership in an NFL franchise.
Charity work
In 2008, as part of the Serena Williams Foundation’s work, Williams helped to fund the construction of the Serena Williams Secondary School in Matooni, Kenya. The Serena Williams Foundation also provides university scholarships for underprivileged students in the United States. In 2016, the Serena Williams Fund partnered with Helping Hands Jamaica to build the Salt Marsh Primary School for Jamaican youth in Trelawny Parish. She received a Celebrity Role Model Award from Avon Foundation in 2003 for work in breast cancer. Williams has also been involved in a number of clinics at schools and community centers, particularly those which have programs focusing on at-risk youth. She has also won the “Young Heroes Award” from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater L.A. and Inland (2003) and the “Family Circle and Prudential Financial Player Who Makes a Difference Award” (2004). In response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Williams, along with other ATP and WTA stars, decided to forgo their final day of preparation for the 2010 Australian Open to form a charity event in which all proceeds will go to the Haiti earthquake victims. Serena, along with her sister Venus, is a supporter and contributor of First Serve Miami, a foundation for youth who want to learn tennis but are socially and economically challenged. She has been an International Goodwill Ambassador with UNICEF since 2011 and has helped launch UNICEF’s Schools for Asia campaign.
In addition to the Serena Williams Fund in 2016, Serena and Venus collaborated on the Williams Sisters Fund to work on philanthropic projects together. Also in 2016, in their childhood home of Compton, California Serena and Venus teamed up to found the Yetunde Price Resource Center, in honor of their late sister. The Resource Center provides services to families affected by community violence.
Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit organization that provides legal representation to those who might have been denied a fair trial.[379] EJI executive director Bryan Stevenson lauded her courage in supporting his organization. “It’s so rare when athletes at the top of their game are willing to embrace a set of issues that, for a lot of people, are edgier”, he said. “This is not aid to orphans. … She was standing when a lot of her contemporaries remain seated, speaking up when others are being quiet.”
Williams’s return to Indian Wells in 2015 was done in partnership with theIn 2014, Williams began hosting an annual charity run named “The Serena Williams Ultimate Fun Run”. The event is in support of the Serena Williams Fund, which helps underprivileged individuals and communities that are affected by senseless violence and to ensure equal access to education of youth.
In 2017, Williams became Ambassador for the Allstate Foundation‘s Purple Purse project, an initiative to provide financial empowerment to domestic abuse victims. In a press release, Vicky Dinges, Allstate’s senior vice president of corporate responsibility, said, “we are thrilled to welcome Serena, a longtime advocate and role model for so many, to the Purple Purse family. Her voice will bring new audiences into this critical conversation.”
Other charitable organizations Williams supports include the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Hearts of Gold, the Common Ground Foundation, the Small Steps Project, the HollyRod Foundation, Beyond the Boroughs National Scholarship Fund, World Education, the Eva Longoria Foundation, the Caliber Foundation and the Cure for MND Foundation.
Writing
2009 Wimbledon Championships, Williams said that she is in the process of writing a TV show storyline, which will be converted into script form by her agency. She stated that the show will represent subject matter from a mix of popular American television shows such as Desperate Housewives, and Family Guy. Williams released her first solo autobiography entitled On the Line, following the 2009 US Open.
The Williams sisters, with author Hilary Beard, wrote a book titled Venus & Serena: Serving From The Hip: 10 Rules For Living, Loving and Winning, which was published in 2005. During theWilliams sisters match at Mubadala World Tennis Championship is ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’, Tournament director pleased to have the women, who have 30 grand slam titles between them, competing in Abu Dhabi.
The first ever meeting of Serena Williams and Venus Williams in Abu Dhabi has been called “an once in a lifetime opportunity” by Vickie Gunnarsson, the tournament director of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship (MWTC).
The match-up between the American sisters is the final match on Thursday’s opening day of the three-day tournament at the International Tennis Centre at Zayed Sports City, with the action due to start at 8pm.
Serena is back in Abu Dhabi a year after she competed in the first women’s match at the MWTC when she lost to Jelena Ostapenko, and the 23-time major winner is up against her older sibling, who has seven grand slam titles to her name.
With Serena being 37 and Venus 38, Gunnarsson, who has overseen every MWTC since its inception in 2009, believes that people should enjoy the Williams sisters taking each other on while they still can with both players in the latter days of their careers.