The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion is staying busy with several entrepreneurial endeavors these days.
With SI Swimsuit’s Net Worth Series: Empowering Equal Pay, our goal is to shine a light on incredible athletes while examining income disparities and promoting equal pay across industries.
Serena Williams is arguably the greatest tennis player of all time. The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion spent 319 weeks ranked world No. 1 by the WTA and is a four-time Olympian.
Today, the 42-year-old retired athlete and entrepreneur is a proud mom of two who is the founder of venture capital firm Serena Ventures and creator of makeup brand WYN Beauty. Williams is also a published children’s book author and the founder of production company 926 Productions.
Additionally, the Michigan native and 2024 EPSYs host is an investor and a three-time SI Swimsuit model, who posed for the annual issue in 2003, ’04 and, most recently, in 2017, when she traveled to Turks and Caicos.
Williams picked up a racket at the age of 4 and turned pro when she was just 14. She made her professional debut at the Bell Challenge in Quebec, Canada in 1995, and Williams went on to win her first major singles title at the US Open in 1999, when she was 17. Just three years later, Williams claimed titles at the French Open, US Open and Wimbledon.
In 2003, Williams secured a win at the Australian Open, earning her first Grand Slam, a win at all four major tennis tournaments throughout her career. Williams has participated in four Olympic games, starting with the Sydney Summer Olympics in 2020. She has four Olympic gold medals to her name.
“This sport has given me so much. I love to win. I love the battle. I love to entertain,” Williams added of her tennis career. “I’m not sure every player sees it that way, but I love the performance aspect of it—to be able to entertain people week after week. Some of the happiest times in my life were spent waiting in that hallway in Melbourne, and walking out into Rod Laver Arena with my earphones in and trying to stay focused and drown out the noise but still feeling the energy of the crowd. Night matches in Arthur Ashe Stadium at Flushing Meadows. Hitting an ace on set point.”
In addition to her success as an athlete, Williams has always made a point to be outspoken about prioritizing her well-being off the court, too.
“You have to take care of your body and your mind,” she has said. “I mean, no one else is going to take care of it for you. So, you really have to be your best supporter. Because honestly, people, sometimes they’re just looking for a thrill for that moment and the champion for that moment, and they really don’t understand what’s going on behind closed doors. You have to be your own champion and take care of yourself.”
Serena Williams endorsement deals and brand partners
Throughout the years, Williams has inked countless endorsement deals with brands like Anheuser-Busch, Gatorade, Nike, Beats by Dre, Wilson, JP Morgan Chase, Secret and more. The athlete’s 2023 Super Bowl commercial was a popular one—it also featured Alex Morgan and Nneka Ogwumike—and her Serena Williams Design Crew in partnership with Nike allows up-and-coming designers to showcase their talent.
Of the latter, Williams has said that she and Nike teamed up in order to highlight fresh designers because she “wanted to see emerging designers that looked like and represented me … from all walks of life.”
Serena Williams retirement
After 27 years of professional play, Williams stepped away from her sport in September 2022. Though she has officially retired from tennis after competing in the US Open that fall, Williams has not slowed down in the slightest.
“I have never liked the word retirement,” Williams noted in a self-penned Vogue essay announcing her move away from tennis. “It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. I’ve been thinking of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people. Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.”
With a net worth of $340 million, according to Forbes, Williams has amassed $45 million in endorsement deals alone. Throughout her illustrious career, she also accumulated a whopping $95 million in prize money.
Building upon her success, Williams created Serena Ventures in 2014. The venture capital fund aims to support women and individuals in underrepresented groups through financial means. Today, Williams has invested in brands like Billie, MasterClass, Impossible Foods, Honeylove and Banza.
Former Swiss tennis player Roger Federer is worth a reported $550 million, while Spanish pro tennis player Rafael Nadal has an estimated net worth of $220 million. Arguably the two are the top of their class when it comes to professional tennis in the male sector, and Williams falls right in the middle with a net worth estimate of $340 million.
Federer enjoyed a 24-year long professional tennis career, while Nadal is still active and on his 23rd year of play. Upon her retirement, Williams was active for 27 years. When it comes to both net worth and prize money accumulated throughout their careers (Nadal notched $130,594,339 in prize money, per the ATP Tour), it’s clear that there’s a monetary discrepancy between the male and female GOATs within the sport of professional tennis.
