Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American professional tennis player and the current World Number 1 ranked female player. She has been ranked World Number 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) on five separate occasions. She regained this ranking for the fifth time in her career on the November 2, 2009.
She is the reigning champion in both singles and women's doubles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon and in doubles at the US Open. In total, she has won 25 Grand Slam titles: 12 in singles, 11 in women's doubles and 2 in mixed doubles. She also has won more Grand Slam titles than any other active female player and has won more career prize money than any other female athlete in history.
Williams reached the top ten on the WTA world rankings for the first time in 1999 when she won several tournaments, including her first Grand Slam victory at the US Open at the age of 17. Between 2002 and 2003, Williams won five of the six Grand Slam events she entered, becoming the fifth woman in history to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously. She became the World Number 1 for the first time in July 2002.
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova born in April 19, 1987 is a former World No. 1 Russian professional tennis player and three time Grand Slam singles champion.
When Sharapova was six, she and her father moved from their life of poverty in Russia to the United States , to enroll her in the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy Wimbledon in 2004 at the age of 17.
In the two years that followed, Sharapova won eight titles on the WTA Tour and had two brief stints as the World No. 1. However, she lost all five Grand Slam semifinals she played during this period. She ultimately won her second Grand Slam title at the 2006 US Open.
In 2007, a right shoulder injury forced Sharapova to withdraw from numerous tournaments; this was partially responsible for her dropping out of the top five on the WTA world rankings for the first time in three years. Although she won her third Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in early 2008 and returned to the World No. 1 position later in the year, her shoulder needed surgery in October 2008. Sharapova was away from the sport for ten months until May 2009, which caused her ranking to drop out of the top 100. Since returning, Sharapova's ranking has recovered to within the top 15.
