Hot Features Picture: August 2010

Serena Williams Biography & Pictures 2010 2011

Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American professional tennis player who is currently ranked World No. 1 in singles and No. 2 in doubles with sister Venus Williams(12/8/10). The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her World No. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She regained this ranking for the fifth time on November 2, 2009. She became the World No. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002. On July 3, 2010, she became 6th on the all-time greatest champions list.

Williams is the reigning champion in both singles and women's doubles at the Australian Open, the reigning singles champion at Wimbledon, and in women's doubles at the French Open and the US Open. Her 27 Grand Slam titles places her ninth on the all-time list: 13 in singles, 12 in women's doubles, and 2 in mixed doubles. She is the most recent player, male or female, to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously and only the fifth woman in history to do so. Her 13 Grand Slam singles titles is sixth on the all-time list.[4] Williams ranks fourth in Grand Slam women's singles titles won during the Open Era, behind Steffi Graf (22 titles) and Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova (18 titles each).[4] She has won more Grand Slam titles in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles than any other active female player.

Williams has won two Olympic gold medals in women's doubles.[5] Williams has won more career prize money than any other female athlete in history.[6] Williams is the younger sister of former World No. 1 Venus Williams. They have played each other in 23 professional matches since 1998, with Serena winning 13 of these matches as of October 2009. As of July 2009, they have met in eight Grand Slam finals, with Serena winning six times. Between the 2002 French Open and the 2003 Australian Open, they met in all four Grand Slam singles finals, the first time in the open era that the same two players had contested four consecutive Grand Slam finals. The pair have won 12 Grand Slam doubles titles together.

Serena Williams

Venus Williams Biography And Pictures Gallery 2010

Venus Ebony Starr Williams[2] (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player who is currently ranked World No. 4 in singles and World No. 1 in doubles. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate occasions. She became the World No. 1 for the first time on February 25, 2002.

Williams is the reigning champion in women's doubles at the Australian Open, the French Open, and the US Open. Her 21 Grand Slam titles ties her for twelfth on the all time list[3] and is more than any other active female player except for her sister Serena Williams: seven in singles, twelve in women's doubles, and two in mixed doubles. Her seven Grand Slam singles titles ties her with four other women for twelfth on the all-time list. Her five Wimbledon singles titles ties her with two other women for eighth on the all-time list. From the 2000 Wimbledon Championships through the 2001 US Open, Williams won four of the six Grand Slam singles tournaments held.

Williams has won three Olympic gold medals, one in singles and two in women's doubles.[4] She has won more Olympic gold medals than any other female tennis player.

With 43 career singles titles, Williams along with Justine Henin leads active players on the WTA Tour and is tied for 10th overall in all-time titles.[citation needed] Her 35-match winning streak from the 2000 Wimbledon Championships to the 2000 Generali Ladies Linz tournament final, remains the longest winning streak since January 1, 2000.

Williams is the older sister of current World No. 1 Serena Williams. They have played each other in 23 professional matches since 1998, with Serena winning 13 of these matches as of October 2009. As of July 2009, they have met in eight Grand Slam finals, with Serena winning six times. Between the 2002 French Open and the 2003 Australian Open, they met in all four Grand Slam singles finals, the first time in the open era that the same two players had contested four consecutive Grand Slam finals. The pair have won 12 Grand Slam doubles titles together. In 2010 Yahoo sports ranked Venus as the 8th greatest female tennis player of all time

Venus Williams

Maria Sharapova Oops & Biography

Singles

Country	Russia
Residence	Bradenton, Florida, USA
Date of birth	April 19, 1987 (1987-04-19) (age 23)
Place of birth	Nyagan, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)^[1]
Turned pro	April 19, 2001
Plays	Right-handed; two-handed backhand
Career prize money	US$13,621,022
Career record	356 - 85 (81.0%)
Career titles	22 WTA
Highest ranking	No. 1 (August 22, 2005)
Current ranking	No. 16 (August 23, 2010)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	W (2008)
French Open	SF (2007)
Wimbledon	W (2004)
US Open	W (2006)
Major tournaments
Championships	W (2004)
Doubles
Career record	23–17
Career titles	3
Highest ranking	41 (June 14, 2004)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2003, 2004)
US Open	2R (2003)
Last updated on: October 5, 2009.

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (Russian: About this sound Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова (help·info), Mariya Yur’evna Sha'rapova [pronounced sha-RAH-po-va] Russian pronunciation: [mɐˈrʲijə ʂɐˈrapəvə]; born April 19, 1987) is a former World No. 1 Russian professional tennis player. Sharapova has won 22 WTA singles titles, 3 WTA doubles titles and 3 Grand Slam singles titles, including 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open. She was also runner-up at the 2007 Australian Open. She has also won the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in 2004. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her World No. 1 in singles on 4 separate occasions. She regained this ranking for the fourth time on May 19, 2008. She became the World No. 1 for the first time on Aug 22, 2005. She is currently ranked World No. 16.

Sharapova made her professional breakthrough in 2004 when, at age 17, she upset two-time defending champion and top seed Serena Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final for her first Grand Slam singles title. She entered the top ten of the WTA Rankings with this win. Despite not winning a major in 2005, Sharapova briefly held the number one ranking, and reached three Grand Slam semifinals, losing to the eventual champion each time. She ultimately won her second major at the 2006 US Open defeating then-World No. 1 Amélie Mauresmo in the semifinals and World No. 2 Justine Henin in the final. Sharapova's 2007 season was plagued with a chronic shoulder injury, and saw her ranking fall out of the top 5 for the first time in two years. She ultimately won her third Grand Slam at the 2008 Australian Open, defeating Henin in the quarterfinals and Ana Ivanović in the final. After reclaiming the number one ranking in May 2008, Sharapova's shoulder problems re-surfaced, ultimately requiring surgery in October and forcing her out of the game for nearly ten months. Sharapova returned in May 2009 and was ranked No. 126 in the world due to her extensive lay-off. Since her comeback, Sharapova has won 3 singles titles (bringing her career total to 22) and recovered her ranking to World No. 12.

Sharapova's public profile extends beyond tennis, as she has been featured in a number of modeling assignments, including a feature in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Also she has been featured in many advertisements including Nike, Prince, Canon and many more, also being the face of many fashion houses, primarily Cole Haan. Sharapova was the most searched-for athlete on Yahoo! in both 2005 and 2008. Since February 2007, she has been a United Nations Development Project Goodwill Ambassador, concerned specifically with the Chernobyl Recovery and Development Programme.