Meet Serena, controversial fashion icon and tennis star

Nairobi’s Sadili Oval Sports Club has hosted scores of sports celebrities over the years, including Ethiopia’s multiple Olympic and world distance running champion, Kenenisa Bekele, and Jacques Rogge, the Belgian surgeon who is President of the powerful International Olympic Committee.

But the residents of this Langata address, famous for nurturing fledgling sports, and especially tennis, never thought they would one day host and rub shoulders with the world’s leading women’s tennis players, Serena Williams, their mentor and role model.

Besides being unstoppable on tennis courts, Serena is also a fashion icon and has suffered criticism from the sport’s conservatives, especially at Wimbledon, by “overstepping the boundaries of decent dressing” at tennis matches.

Her sometimes-outrageous on-court outfits have won her quite a number of admirers with the purists not too happy on the other hand.

Leather looking catsuit

Like her leather-looking catsuit at the 2002 US Open and Denim skirt and suits at the same tournament four years later. Or the trench coach she warmed up with at this year’s Wimbledon championships.

Serena – a powerful baseline player with a notoriously strong serve - secured a degree in fashion at the age of 18 and launched her own fashion company, “Aneres”, Serena spelt backwards.

“I did this because I love fashion and I know it’s something that I’m good at and I can do for a very long time,” she says.

In 2004, Serena signed a $40 million sportswear deal with Nike and has also raked in astronomical figures from showbiz, having featured in numerous television shows including “The Simpsons”, “My Wife and Kids”, “ER” and “Law and Order”, among others.

The five-year Nike deal was described as the richest ever for a female athlete.

Thanks to advice from the William Morris agency, Serena also landed roles in the movie “Beauty Shop” and the drama “Street Time.”

Agencies reported in 2002 that a survey of the public relations industry deemed Serena and Tiger Woods the most attractive spokespersons among athletes.

“We’ll work very closely with Serena, not only as a tennis player and an athlete, but also as an athlete to develop products that will support her tennis performance and help grow the game,” Nike spokesman Dave Mingey said at the 2005 contract signing ceremony that elevated the tennis star to another level.

We’re all very excited about the opportunity to see her input in the development of products, both for on the court and off.”

Socially, Serena is currently said to be dating rapper Common, after previous affairs with, among others, NBA forward Udonis Haslem of the Miami Heat and Brett Ratnen.