Serena Williams will be inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, which celebrates the achievements of women in various fields of endeavor, in March 2024.
Williams will be among 10 women who will be honored during Women’s History Month in March. She will be honored at a ceremony in Seneca Falls, New York, which was the site of the first women’s rights convention in 1848.
The American, who retired from professional tennis in September 2022, enjoyed an illustrious tennis career, winning 23 Grand Slam singles titles, 14 Grand Slam doubles titles with her sister Venus, and four Olympic gold medals across singles and doubles.
The American was ranked World No. 1 in singles for a total of 319 weeks throughout her career. She is the only player to complete a career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles.
But Serena Williams is not only a champion on the court, as she has also been a champion for women’s rights, social justice, and diversity all through her career. She has used her platform to advocate for equal pay, racial equality, maternal health, and education.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion will join a prestigious group of women who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame since its inception in 1973. Althea Gibson and Billie Jean King are the other tennis players who are part of the club.
Serena Williams will be joined by other notable women in the Class of 2024, such as civil rights activist Ruby Bridges, activist and scholar Peggy McIntosh, theologian Judith Plaskow, and others.
How Serena Williams became one of the greatest Grand Slam champions of the Open Era
Serena Williams dominated the sport for almost three decades, winning a women’s record of 23 Grand Slam singles titles in the Open Era and the second-most of all time.
Williams made her Grand Slam debut in 1998 and won her first Major at the US Open in 1999. She went on to complete the Career Grand Slam in 2003 and also achieved the rare feat of holding all four Grand Slam titles twice, in 2002-03 and 2014-15.
The 42-year-old has won seven titles each at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, six at the US Open, and three at the French Open.
Serena Williams is also the oldest woman to win a Grand Slam singles title in the Open Era, at 35 years, four months, and two days, when she won the Australian Open in 2017. Remarkably, she was pregnant with her daughter Olympia at the time.
In her final hurrah in front of fans, at the 2022 US Open, the American icon reached the third round before falling to Ajla Tomljanovic in a tense three-setter.
