Ten facts about Serena Williams on her birthday, featuring Mmmbop and a scene with Peter Dinklage

Tennis Features
Serena Williams warming up

Serena Williams turns 37 today and we have 10 facts about the tennis great. We have one or two of the usual “stats” based facts, but we promise most of them are very interesting.

1. Mmmbop, ba duba dop
Let’s start with a fun one to get you going. She once told espnW.com that the song she is most embarrassed to have on her phone is Mmmbop from Hanson.

We are not sure if that is still the case, but here you go Serena.

And you will now be singing that song for the rest of the day.

2. Some serious stats
– 23 Grand Slam titles (one behind Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24)
– She spent 319 weeks top of the world rankings (third behind Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova)
– Was ranked No 1 for 186 consecutive weeks (tied with Graf in first place)
– Is the oldest player to be ranked at No 1 at 35 years, seven months and five days
– The oldest player to win a Grand Slam at 35 years, four months and two days when she won the 2017 Australian Open
– She has won 72 WTA singles titles (No 1 for current active player) and 23 WTA doubles trophies
– Has four Olympic gold medals (one singles and three doubles with sister Venus) to her name

3. Closing in on the $100,000,000 mark for career prize money
Serena has earned a staggering $88,233,301 (up to date until September 26, 2018) in tennis prize money and that is more than double what the person in second place, her sister Venus, has earned ($40,931,048).

If that’s not already making you sit up and take note, then how about this. The American missed most of the 2017 season and also the start of the 2018 campaign as she was on maternity leave, but she still topped Forbes’ highest-paid female athletes list for the period between June 2017 and June 2018.

Her net worth is $180 million and her sponsors include Nike, Intel, Wilson Sporting Goods, Gatorade, JPMorgan Chase and Beats Electronics.

4. Dr Serena Williams?
She started playing tennis at a very young and juggling between school and practice was always a mission so her parents opted to home school her along with Venus. Serena, though, did enrol in high school and graduated from Driftwood Academy in 1999.
Young Serena Williams

Back in 2015 she revealed she was studying for a pre-med degree at the University of Massachusetts.

She told Telegraph Sport that it “was prompted by the auto-immune condition – Sjogren’s syndrome – that has afflicted her sister Venus”.

5. Friends with royalty
She is, of course, “pals” with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and she even attended the royal wedding earlier this year. Her other friends include American royalty like Eva Longoria, Ciara, Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Kim Kardashian…although we are not sure if they are just fans. She is Serena Williams after all.

6. She owns a stake in the Miami Dolphins
Serena, along with sister Venus, became the first African American women to own a stake in a professional NFL franchise when they became minority shareholders in the Miami Dolphins in 2009.

“We’re really honored,” Serena told ESPN. “Venus and I in tennis have tried to do so much for the sport. We’re really excited to even have this opportunity.”

7. Movie star, TV star and voice over artist
She had cameos in movies like Oceans 8, Pixels and 7 Days In Hell (of course) to name a few while her TV credits include ER, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and The Legend of Korra. She has also done voice overs for Avatar: The Last Airbender and Disney Channel’s Higglytown Heroes.

Here’s her scene from Pixels with Peter Dinklage.

8. Fashionista
She has been known to make fashion statements on court. She first wore a catsuit during the 2002 US Open, but then reinvented it at Roland Garros in 2018. Her other on-court attire include boots, trench coats, leg warmers and Serena earrings.

In 2004 she launched a fashion line called “Aneres” (her name spelled backwards) and in 2018 she introduced her new clothing line Serena.

9. She nails everything!

We know you usually watch her for the tennis, but surely you will have noticed that her nails always look great. Back in 2010 she enrolled to become a nail technician and wrote a blog post for Globalgrid.com about how it was a “no brainer”.

We are not sure if she completed the 240 hours to earn her certificate, but this is Serena so she probably did it in record time.

10. Doing her part
She has been a United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) International Goodwill Ambassador since 2011 and also has her own charity the Serena Williams Foundation.

Her foundation supports charities like Build African Schools, Common Ground Foundation, Elton John AIDS Foundation, Eva Longoria Foundation, Global Goals, Great Ormond Street Hospital and many more.

Serena Williams

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