Tennis superstar Serena Williams, by the numbers
The 139th U.S. Open starts Monday, featuring the world’s top tennis players competing head to head for the honor of becoming a Grand Slam title winner, including tennis superstar Serena Williams.
Founded in 1881, the U.S. Open is one of the top international tennis tournaments and is the fourth in the Grand Slam series, which also includes the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon.
This year’s purse — $57 million — is considered the “richest in tennis history.” Broken down, each winner of the men’s and women’s singles matches will receive $3.85 million, while the teams that win the doubles matches will receive a payout of $740,000.
The U.S. Open is where Williams’ won her first major Grand Slam title: In an upset match, seventh-ranked Williams beat top-seeded Martina Hingis at the age of 17.
Williams, who lost last year’s U.S. Open to Naomi Osaka, is favored to win the women’s tournament, alongside defending men’s champion Novak Djokovic.
In honor of one of tennis’ greats, let’s do the numbers on Serena Williams.
Williams, along with her sister Venus, has been playing tennis since the age of 3. Williams went pro in 1995, and within two years, she was already ranked No. 99 in the world — while still in high school.
Over the course of Williams’ career, she has won a total of 23 Grand Slam singles matches, six of them at the U.S. Open. The all-time record of 24 Grand Slam wins is held by Australian Margaret Court.
Williams has earned $90.6 million in career prize money.
She has won 72 titles in total — that includes winning 796 tennis matches, while losing 133.
Today, at No. 8, Williams is the highest-ranked American woman on the Women’s Tennis Association list of players.
Williams is the highest-paid female athlete in the world, according to Forbes, a title she’s held for the last four years. She’s also ranked as the 63rd highest-paid athlete, with an estimated pay of $29.2 million between June 1, 2018, and June 1, 2019.
It is also estimated Williams earns approximately $25 million in endorsements from companies including Nike, Intel, JPMorgan Chase and Beats.
In 2009, Williams and her sister Venus purchased minority shares in the Miami Dolphins, becoming the first African American women to “hold an ownership stake in an NFL franchise.”
Williams played in the Dolphin’s home stadium during the Miami Open in July, however, she withdrew from the competition before playing against Qiang Wang during the third round, citing a knee injury.
In 2014, Williams founded Serena Ventures, a venture capital company dedicated to supporting diverse startup companies. The company has invested in at least 34 companies, and its stock portfolio is estimated to be worth at least $10 million.
Williams married Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in 2017, and their combined net worth is $189 million.
In 2018, WIlliams launched her own clothing line, the eponymous Serena. Each piece, according to Vogue, is priced under $250. And yes, if you’re wondering, it does include jumpsuits and bodysuits.
Williams will face Maria Sharapova in the first round of the U.S. Open on Monday. It will be their first U.S. Open meeting; they have faced off in three other major tournaments. Williams has a 19-2 record in her WTA Tour matchups with Sharapova.
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