Serena Williams Biography 2026: Height, Age, Husband, Children, Net Worth

Serena Williams is an American tennis champion who won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any woman in the Open Era. She is 44 years old, stands 5 feet 9 inches tall, and is married to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. They have two daughters, Olympia and Adira. Forbes put her fortune at about $400 million in June 2026, the highest ever recorded for a woman who made her money primarily as an athlete. After stepping away in 2022, she returned to competition in June 2026 at the age of 44.

Serena Williams Quick Facts

Full name	Serena Jameka Williams
Date of birth	September 26, 1981
Age	44 (turns 45 on September 26, 2026)
Birthplace	Saginaw, Michigan, USA
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m), per the WTA
Weight	About 70 kg (154 lb)
Plays	Right handed, two handed backhand
Turned pro	1995, aged 14
Grand Slam singles titles	23 (women’s Open Era record)
US Open titles	6 (1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014)
Weeks at world No. 1	319
Career prize money	$94.9 million, most of any woman
Husband	Alexis Ohanian, married November 2017
Children	Olympia (b. 2017), Adira River (b. 2023)
Net worth 2026	About $400 million (Forbes)

Early Life and Family Background

Serena Jameka Williams was born on September 26, 1981 in Saginaw, Michigan. She is the youngest of Oracene Price’s five daughters and was raised by Price and Richard Williams. The family settled in Compton, California in the early 1980s.

Richard coached Serena and her older sister Venus Williams on public courts from early childhood, and both girls were homeschooled so they could train. In 1991 the family moved to Florida so the sisters could work with coach Rick Macci. Serena was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness and was baptised into the faith in 2023.

Serena Williams Height, Age and Physical Stats

The WTA lists Serena Williams at 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m). She has competed at roughly 70 kg (154 lb). Her fastest recorded serve is 128.6 mph, hit twice at the 2013 Australian Open, and she still produced a 122 mph ace during her Wimbledon comeback in 2026 at 44.

Tennis Career and Grand Slam Record

Williams turned professional in 1995 at 14 and won her first major at the US Open in 1999, beating world No. 1 Martina Hingis in the final aged 17. She twice held all four major titles at the same time, from Roland Garros 2002 to the Australian Open 2003 and again from the US Open 2014 to Wimbledon 2015. Fans called it the “Serena Slam.”

• 23 Grand Slam singles titles: 7 Australian Open, 3 French Open, 7 Wimbledon, 6 US Open. That is the women’s Open Era record. Margaret Court won 24 in total, 11 of them before the Open Era began.
• 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, all with Venus, from a perfect 14 finals. She also won the 1998 Wimbledon and 1998 US Open mixed doubles with Max Mirnyi.
• 73 WTA singles titles, including 5 season ending WTA Finals and a record 23 titles at the tour’s biggest events below major level.
• 319 weeks at world No. 1, third most in WTA history behind Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova, including 186 weeks in a row.
• 4 Olympic gold medals: singles at London 2012 and doubles at Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
• $94.9 million in prize money, the most ever earned by a female tennis player and roughly double the next name on the list.

The sisters met 31 times as professionals. Serena leads that head to head 19 to 12, leads 11 to 5 at majors, and won seven of their nine Grand Slam finals. Their last singles meeting came in Lexington in 2020.

She played her last match before the hiatus at the 2022 US Open, losing a third round thriller to Ajla Tomljanovic 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-1. In a Vogue essay she framed the exit as “evolving away from tennis” rather than retirement, wording that looks well chosen four years on.

Serena Williams 2026 Comeback

The International Tennis Integrity Agency listed Serena Williams as a reinstated player with an eligibility date of February 22, 2026 once she re-entered the anti doping testing pool. Because she had been classed as retired rather than injured, she came back with no protected ranking, so she needs a wild card to enter almost any event.

• June 9, Queen’s Club: her first match in nearly four years. She and Victoria Mboko beat third seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe 7-6(2), 6-2. The run ended when Mboko withdrew with a knee injury before the quarter-final.
• Berlin: she partnered Karolina Muchova and lost in the first round to Routliffe and Giuliana Olmos 6-4, 6-4.
• June 30, Wimbledon: given a singles wild card, she lost to 20 year old Australian Maya Joint 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 after saving a match point. At 44 she became the second oldest woman to play a Wimbledon singles main draw in the Open Era, behind only Martina Navratilova.
• Knee injury: she tweaked her right knee late in the first set, later posted images of the fluid drained from it, and withdrew from the doubles she was due to play with Venus.
• August 11, Cincinnati Open: back after six weeks, she and Venus played their first match together since the 2022 US Open and lost to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns 2-6, 6-1, 10-8.

Will Serena Williams Play the 2026 US Open?

She has not committed either way. The USTA awarded seven of its eight women’s singles wild cards in August 2026, with both discretionary spots going to former champions Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens, and left the eighth unassigned. Wimbledon used the same tactic in June before she said yes.

Her coach Rennae Stubbs has said the intention is to play if the knee holds up. In a separate interview tied to a sponsor campaign, Serena talked about watching from the suites. She sits around No. 1,230 in singles and returned to the doubles rankings at 593rd, so a wild card is the only realistic route in. The main draw begins on August 30. Check our 2026 US Open entry list for the announcement.

Serena Williams Husband and Children

Serena married Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and founder of the venture firm Seven Seven Six, on November 16, 2017 in New Orleans. They met by chance beside a hotel pool in Rome in May 2015, and he proposed at the same table in December 2016.

Their first daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., was born by emergency caesarean on September 1, 2017, weeks before the wedding. Serena developed a pulmonary embolism the following day and needed further surgery. She has written and spoken at length since about maternal mortality among Black women and about her postpartum depression. Their second daughter, Adira River Ohanian, was announced in August 2023. Both girls watched her Wimbledon comeback from the players’ box.

Serena Williams Net Worth in 2026

Serena Williams is worth about $400 million as of June 2026, according to Forbes, which calls her the richest woman ever to build a fortune primarily as an athlete. Other outlets put the figure nearer $350 million.

Prize money is the smallest slice. Forbes estimates she earned $50 million in the year to mid 2026 before tax and fees, taking lifetime earnings to roughly $620 million. Her longest running sponsors are Nike and Wilson, and she has added Audemars Piguet, Lincoln, Heineken 0.0, meal service Factor and telehealth company Ro, whose weight loss campaign drew criticism in 2026.

Business Ventures and Team Ownership

• Serena Ventures: her venture capital firm, running since 2014 and backed by a $111 million debut fund raised in 2022. It has made more than 95 investments, most recently joining health startup Midi’s $100 million Series D in February 2026.
• Toronto Tempo: minority owner of the WNBA’s first Canadian franchise, which tipped off its inaugural season on May 8, 2026. She also has a hand in jersey and merchandise design.
• Miami Dolphins: part owner with Venus since 2009. They were the first Black women to take an ownership stake in an NFL franchise.
• Angel City FC: founding investor in 2020. Willow Bay and Bob Iger bought the controlling stake in 2024, but Serena and both daughters kept their shares.
• Los Angeles Golf Club: she and Ohanian led the purchase of one of the six founding teams in the TGL indoor golf league. She also holds a stake in the Unrivaled basketball league.
• Wyn Beauty: her makeup brand launched at Ulta Beauty in April 2024 with 91 shades across 10 products. Its joint venture partner, India’s Good Glamm Group, wound down in 2025, and the Ulta range has since shrunk to a handful of items, though the brand still sells through its own site.

Her earlier clothing label S by Serena stopped selling in January 2024. Her apparel work now runs through Nike.

Philanthropy and Life Off Court

Williams funded the Serena Williams Secondary School in Matooni, Kenya in 2008 and has backed school builds in Jamaica, Uganda and Zimbabwe. In 2016 she and Venus opened the Yetunde Price Resource Center in Compton, named for their older half sister, who was killed there in 2003. It connects families affected by violence with support services. She served as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador from 2011 and is now listed as an alumna, and she fronted the Allstate Foundation’s Purple Purse campaign on financial abuse from 2017.

On screen, she was an executive producer on King Richard, the 2021 film that won Will Smith an Oscar for playing her father. She executive produced and starred in the eight part ESPN+ series In the Arena: Serena Williams in 2024. She and Venus launched the Stockton Street podcast in September 2025, named after their childhood road in Compton, and Mattel released a Serena Williams doll in its Barbie Dream Team line in March 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Word on Serena Williams

Serena Williams rewrote the women’s record book, then built a business worth several times her prize money. At 44 she is playing again and deciding whether to walk back onto Arthur Ashe Stadium, where she won six titles. Follow the US Open 2026 schedule and our player entry list for the final wild card call.

Last fact checked on August 21, 2026 against WTA, ESPN, Forbes and Olympics.com records.