Serena Williams’ journey from the hard courts of Crompton to the glory of success in tennis is a story that is shaped by motivation and hard work. However, apart from being a tennis icon, she is also a savvy businesswoman as well. Despite such immense success, when asked about “money” being a motivation in her climb up the ladder, Williams had an interesting answer.

The 23rd Grand Slam Champion has been ranked among the top 30th highest-paying athletes by Forbes in 2021. It was reported that she earned a total of $41.5 million as her on and off-court income. And according to reports, she has bagged a total of $95 million of prize money through her earnings in her career. But for the former World No.1, financial success always comes secondary to her passion and love for tennis.

In a podcast interview, Williams revealed that when she started playing tennis, she did not feel the need for anything. “For me, money was never the motivation. I remember when I first started back in the day, they used to write out checks after you won your tournament and I would always forget to take checks. So they would always have to say, Serena, we have all these checks,” Williams said.

She further explained how her former accountant would remind her to take the checks from the tournament back home. Moreover, Serena, whose current net worth is almost $300 million, also spoke about what made her happier about her illustrious career. “My starting point was I just wanna win championships and I wanna have fun. I want to be a great tennis player and quite frankly I wanted to win a Grand Slam. Honestly, for me everything else was a bonus.”

Turning professional in 1995, she did win her first Grand Slam at the age of 17 in the U.S. Open back in 1999. And utilizing her love for tennis blended with hard work, she remained at the top ranking for 319 weeks! But her achievements are not confined within the court. Off the court, she is a successful businesswoman as well.

Serena Williams’ entrepreneurial ventures

From dominating the courts of tennis, Serena Williams has smoothly transitioned to the business arena with her immense talent and entrepreneurial interests. She has 85 companies to her name and 14 out of those have turned into $1 billion value. Not only that, she also recently launched her beauty brand called WYN Beauty. However, it does not end here.

Apart from having her own clothing line, she is also a part of Serena Ventures, which is an initiative to promote and fund companies led by women and people of color. Speaking of her investment strategies, she once said,” My mission after tennis is to invest in us! Women, people of color and diversity”.

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As she continues in her quest for excellence and builds her legacy, Serena Williams remains an inspiration for people through her priority of passion over money.