Serena Williams's 2009 tennis season officially began at the 2009 Medibank International Sydney. Williams finished the year ranked world no. 1 for the second time in her career, having played in 16 tournaments, more than any other year. She also broke the record previously set by Justine Henin for the most prize money earned by a female tennis player in one year, with Williams earning $6,545,586. In doubles, she finished the year ranked world no. 3, despite playing only six tournaments as a pair. She won five Grand Slam titles, putting her total Grand Slam titles at 23.
Williams was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in a landslide vote (66 of 158 votes – no other candidate received more than 18 votes). She also was the International Tennis Federation World Champion in singles and doubles.
Year in detail
Early hard court season and Australian Open
Medibank International Sydney Williams began her 2009 season at the Medibank International Sydney as the top seed and faced local Samantha Stosur in the first round. Williams broke Stosur in the fourth game and maintained the advantage to close out the set. The second set went to a tie-break with a couple of breaks, the breaker went to Stosur. Stosur served for the match at the 10th game and had three match points, but Williams broke back and held. Williams then broke Stosur again in the twelfth game to take the match. In the second round Williams' cruised pass Sara Errani, losing just 3 games. In the quarterfinals Williams' had another tough match this time against Caroline Wozniacki, Williams lost the first set in a tie-break. The second set went to Williams when she broke in the ninth game after failing to serve the set out in the previous game. In the final set, Wozniacki took the lead and serve for the match at the twelfth game and had three match points but Williams broke and forced a tie-break, which she won to three. In the semifinals, Williams was routined by Dementieva in straight sets.
Australian Open
Williams came into the Australian Open having a chance to claim the world number 1 ranking. In her opening round she face Yuan Meng of China and won the first set with a single break and took the first 4 games of the second set and held the lead to win the match. In the following round she faced Gisela Dulko, where she won the first set easily. However, in the second set Dulko served for the set in the ninth game and had six set points, but Williams saved them all and broke and took the next 3 games to win in straight sets. In the third round she faced China's Peng Shuai and took the first set winning the last 6 games of the set. The second set was closer, with Williams being broke twice but still won the set in the tenth game. In the Round of 16, Williams got a lucky break, when her opponent Victoria Azarenka retires due to the heat, after Azarenka won the first set, and Williams was up by a break in the second. In the quarterfinals, Williams faced 8th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and was in trouble when she fell by a set and Kuznetsova serving for the match at 5–4, However Williams took 9 of the last 10 games to win the match and be the only non-Russian in the semifinals. She avenged her loss to Elena Dementieva in their previous match as she defeated the Russian in straight sets with a break lead in each set. In the final, she faced world no. 3 Dinara Safina, wherein the winner will claim the world no. 1. In the first set Williams took in a bagel, hitting 12 winner and 2 unforced errors. In the second set Safina, had more resistance as she took 3 games in the set, but Williams was proven to good as she won her 10th slam title. The win also meant that Williams has now become the highest paid female athlete in history, overtaking golfer Annika Sörenstam.
In doubles, she paired with sister Venus and won their first three matches in straight sets against Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova, Ayumi Morita and Martina Müller, and Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs. In the quarterfinals, they dropped their first set of the tournament against the team of Hsieh Su-wei and Peng Shuai, when they lost the second set, but eventually won in three. In the semifinals, they faced the team of Casey Dellacqua and Francesca Schiavone and won easily with a loss of only two games. In the final, they faced Daniela Hantuchová and Ai Sugiyama also known as "Hantuyama", the Williams sister fell by an early break but took six of the last seven games to the take the first set. They then took the second set, breaking in the ninth game of the second set to win the match.
Open GDF Suez
Having just re-claimed the no. 1 ranking, Williams competed in the Open GDF Suez. She cruised through in her first round against Iveta Benešová, Williams took the last 6 games of the first set to win it and then went on to take the second set as well. In the following round, she cruised pass Croat Karolina Šprem without dropping a point on serve in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, it was again smooth sailing for Williams as she dispatches Frenchwoman Émilie Loit in straight sets. Williams was then forced to withdraw from her semifinal match against Elena Dementieva due to a right knee tendon injury.
Dubai Tennis Championships Williams next scheduled event is the Dubai Tennis Championships. Being the top seed, Williams received a bye into the second round, where she faced Italian Sara Errani, Williams dropped the first set, but came back dropping just two games in the nest two sets and winning a bagel in the third. She then faced 13th seed Zheng Jie, where she won in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, Williams faced former World no. 1 and reigning French Open champion Ana Ivanovic and won in four in straight sets, coming from a break down in the second set. In the semifinals, Williams faced sister Venus Williams in their 19th meeting having split their previous 18. The first set went to Venus, after Serena's first service percentage was a dire 36%, compared to her elder sibling's 83%, and she delivered six double faults, whereas Venus kept her slate clean. In the second set Serena cleaned her game, came back and won it to push a decider. The third set then went to a tie-break, which Venus won, thus ending Serena's 13 match winning-streak.
Sony Ericsson Open Williams entered the Sony Ericsson Open as the top seed and received a bye into the second round. Williams began her campaign for a record sixth title against American wild card Alexa Glatch and won in straight sets. In the following round, she faced Peng Shuai and won in straight sets, however despite the straight sets win, Williams was broken three times. In the fourth round she faced Zheng Jie, Williams won the first five games, however Zheng won the next five games to even it out. Williams eventually broke in the twelfth game to win the set. In the second set Zheng was ahead by a break twice but failed to capitalize, however she broke Williams in the eleventh game and held to go to a decider. Zheng led by a break in the decider, but Williams was able to get back winning six of the last seven games to advance. In the quarterfinals, Williams faced her third Chinese opponent in a row in Li Na, Williams suffered a slow start losing the first five games, but was able to find some form to win the next four. However, Li was able to hold serve in the tenth game to win the set. The second set went to a tie-break after both players failed to take advantage of break points, Williams won the breaker losing only a point. Williams then broke Li in the third and fifth games and served it out in the eight game to advance to the semifinals In the semifinals, she faced sister Venus Williams, Serena served for the first set at ninth game, but was broken just to break again to take the set. In the second set Venus broke in the ninth game to push it to a decider. In the third set while serving to stay in the match at 5–3, Serena broke Venus to advance to her 7th Miami final. In the final, Williams faced Victoria Azarenka and lost convincingly 3–6, 1–6. Williams was hampered with ankle and quad injuries and was advised not to play in the final.
Clay court season and French Open
Andalucia Tennis Experience, Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open Williams then headed to the clay court season. Her first tournament was at the Andalucia Tennis Experience, however she was upset by then world no. 95 Klára Zakopalová in three sets, with Williams winning the second. She then headed to the Internazionali BNL d'Italia having dropped the number 1 ranking to Safina, she faced Patty Schnyder in the second round after receiving a bye and lost in three sets, after winning the second set. Her clay court season has gone from bad to worse when she retired against Francesca Schiavone after having dropped the first set in the first round of the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open due to a right knee injury. This is extended her losing streak to four, the longest in her career.
French Open
Williams entered the French Open having not won a match on clay. In the first round she faced Klára Zakopalová, who beat her in their last encounter. Williams was quick to take the lead was a set and a break-up; Williams squandered 5 match points in the ninth game and lost the second set in a tie-break. Williams then led the third with a break and had three match points in the eight game and had another three match points, but Zakopalová came back to get it on serve, just to lose her serve in the tenth game of the third set to hand the win to Williams in Williams' ninth match point. This ends Williams' four match losing streak. In the second round, Williams faced Virginia Ruano Pascual and unlike her first-round match, Williams cruised through, losing just two games including a bagel in the first set. In her next match she faced another Spaniard in María José Martínez Sánchez. Martínez Sánchez took the first set with a break, but with controversy as Williams fired in a powerful shot that appeared to graze Martínez Sánchez's hand as she looked to defend herself. The Spaniard denied that such happened, Martínez Sánchez got the break in that game and took the set. Williams came back and took the last two sets with a single break lead in each set. In the fourth round, she face Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak and won comfortably in straight sets in 53 minutes. In the quarterfinals, she faced Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, Kuznetsova took the first set in a tie-break after saving a set point on her own serve in the twelfth game. Kuznetsova served for the match in the ninth game of the second set, but Williams broke through and won the last four games to push it to a decider. Williams then led by an early break just to surrender it and the match to Kuznetsova when she got broken in the twelfth game of the third set. Williams later admitted that she got tight in the match.
In the doubles, Williams paired again with sister Venus and entered as the fifth seeds; the sisters scrapped through their first two matches, winning it in three against the teams of Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká, and Gisela Dulko and Ágnes Szávay. However, their resistance was placed in halt as they lost in the third round to Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Nadia Petrova; after winning the first set, they eventually lost in a tie-break in the final set.
Wimbledon Championships Williams entered Wimbledon Championships as the second seed and favorite.