Legend of the Game: Profile of The Williams Sisters

Having one professional athlete in a family is rare – having two professional American athlete siblings is almost unthinkable!  Serena and Venus Williams (The Williams Sisters) beat those odds, however, and have both previously held the number 1 ranking for tennis players.  Currently, they are ranked two and three in the world.

Serena and Venus have played each other many times in Grand Slam singles tournaments, as well as other professional tournaments.  They are the only women during the open era to have played one another in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals.  Their head to heard series is currently tied 10 to 10.

Serena Williams

Serena was born in 1981.  She is known for breaking records in the game of professional tennis!  She held the World No. 1 ranking by the Women’s Tennis Association on four different occasions.  She won 2 Olympic gold medals in women’s doubles.  Throughout the course of her career, she has won more prize money than any other female athlete (ever!), with more than $24 million awarded.

Serena has won 20 Grand Slam titles, including 10 titles in singles, 2 in mixed doubles, and 8 in doubles.  She is the reigning Australian Open singles champion as well as the US Open champion.  In fact, Serena is the most recent athlete, male or female, to hold all four Grand Slam singles titles at the same time.  She is the only female to have won all four Grand Slam tournaments.

Venus Williams

Venus was born in 1980, and previously held the World No. 1 American tennis player ranking by the Women’s Tennis Association.  Venus turned professional in 1994, and since then has won 56 titles including 17 Grand Slam titles – 7 in singles, 2 in mixed doubles, and 8 in women’s doubles.  Other than Reginald Doherty, Venus has won three Olympic gold medals, including one in singles and two in women’s doubles – more Olympic gold medals than any other tennis player.  Venus is second only to her sister in prize money earnings, winning over $22 million.

Off the courts, Venus is the Chief Executive Office of an interior design firm called V Starr Interiors.  The company has designed the Olympic athletes apartments as part of the US package for hosting the 2012 Olympic Games in New York City, designed the set for the PBS show, Tavis Smiley Show, as well as residences and businesses in and around Palm Beach, Florida.  She has also teamed with the athletic clothing retailer, Steve & Barry’s, to launch her own fashion lined called EleVen in 2007.

Ana Ivanovic: Star of Tennis

Born in Basel, Switzerland in 1987, Ana Ivanovic is a 6’1 star of tennis. When she was just 5 years old, Ana fell in love with tennis after watching Monica Seles on television. She pleaded with her parents to allow her to take tennis lessons, to which they agreed and bought her a tennis racquet for her birthday. Her training years were less than ideal due to NATO bombings in 1999. She starting having practices in the morning to help avoid the chaos and even started training in an abandoned swimming pool during the winter months due to a lack of facilities. Ana  turned pro in August of 2003, debuting on the ITF Circuit. In 2004, she finished in the Top 100, making the largest ranking jump of any player that year. She also reached the final of the Junior Wimbledon tournament in that same year. Her first break through performance occurred when she took Venus Williams to two tie breaks, until eventually losing in the Zurich Open in Switzerland.

Brief Tournament History
Ana won her first career singles title in 2005, playing in Canberra Australia. She continue her wins after defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, and Nadia Petrova who were all considered top 10 players. She reached the quarter finals of the French open in that same year, losing to Petrova.  Moving on, Ivanovic reached the semifinals of the 2005 Zurich Open and Generali Ladies Linz, both tournaments she lost to Patty Schnyder. In 2006, Ivanovic played tournaments in Australia, Warsaw, and Berlin. She also progressed to the third round of the French Open and the fourth at 2006 Wimbledon. After suffering several defeats in 2006, Ivanovic made a breakthrough win when she defeated Martina Hingis, a former World Number 1, in the final of the Montreal Rogers Cup. She went on to win the United States Open series ahead of Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijisters. She lost the US Open to Serena Williams.

Shortly after playing the US Open, she had to recuperate from a recurring injury affecting her right shoulder. Her return happened in Linz and she made it to the quarterfinals before she lost to Sharapova.
Ana also played nine additional tournaments in doubles, teaming up with Maria Kirileno and Sania Mirza. Ana ended 2006 placing at World Number14 in rankings herself and at World Number 51 in doubles. Ivanovic started 2007 with three tournaments in Australia, being defeated in all three. Shortly after the losses, Ana fired her coach David Taylor. As the year progress, she went into the French Open with a 6 match winning streak, ultimately being defeated. She was later forced to withdraw from the Serbian Fed Cup and the US Open due to a knee injury she sustained at Wimbledon. Upon her return she played and won the East West Bank Classic in California and increased her ranking to a career high World Number 4. It was in 2008 that Ana finally defeated Venus Williams for the first time in her career. Ultimately, she was defeated by Sharapova but her ranking rose to World Number 2 during the tournament performance.

In recent months, Ana has been once again plagued by an injury, this time a tear in her thigh, which isn’t thought to keep her out of the next series of tournaments. As a player, Ana likes to play on all surfaces and her best shot is considered to be her forehand. Personally, she admires Federer for his professionalism both in and out of the game. She is also superstitious in that she will not walk on the lines of the court and she will dine at the same restaurants during her tournament stays. Ana is fluent in Serbian, English, and some Spanish.

Ivanovic’s Additional Awards

• Junior Wimbledon runner-up 2004
• Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Most Improved Player 2005
• US Open Series champion 2006
• Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Most Improved Player 2007
• Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Karen Krantzcke Sportmanship Award 2007
• UNICEF National Ambassador for Serbia
• Nominated for U.S. Secretary of State’s 2007 International Women of Courage Award
• AIPS Women’s Tennis Player of the Year 2008
• German Tennis Magazine Michael Westphal Award 2008
• Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Diamond ACES Award 2008
• Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Humanitarian Award 2009

Profile of American Athlete: Mary Lou Retton

Mary Lou Retton also known as “Americas Sweetheart” is a well know American athlete.  She has been retired from competitive women’s gymnastics since 1986 yet still holds a special place in the hearts of Americans and the history of the sport.  Here we will learn more about the child, the athlete and the woman she is today.

Background and Childhood.
Born on January 24, 1968 in Fairmont, WV Mary Lou Retton is one of five children.  Mary Lou Retton began dance classes when she was four years old and then began gymnastic classes with her older sister.  She trained in West Virginia until the age of 14 when she moved to Houston to begin studying under Bela Karolyi.  While living in Houston she lived with a fellow student’s family and continued her education while training via correspondence courses.  She almost missed the 1984 Olympics due to a knee injury which required surgery just six weeks before the Olympics.  She recovered from surgery in just three weeks and the rest as they say “is history”.
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