--- description: The tennis star on the people that have helped her reach the top. title: Watch: Watch: Serena Williams Reveals Her Biggest Influence image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Sports](/section/sports/) ## Sports Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [TIME 100](/tag/time-100/) ## TIME 100 Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Serena Williams on Her Biggest Influence by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 24, 2014 4:43 PM CUT by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 24, 2014 4:43 PM CUT Serena Williams has been playing tennis since the age of four and has established herself as one of the greatest female players of all time, having racked up 32 major titles in her career. “I always try to stay positive through the ups and downs and try to keep a smile on my face,” she says. Despite a number of controversies and injury setbacks, Williams is competing in a number of tournaments this year and took time out to talk to TIME about the biggest influence on her life and career. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/72785/serena-williams-time-100-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/72785/serena-williams-time-100-video/"},"headline":"Serena Williams on Her Biggest Influence","datePublished":"2014-04-24T16:43:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:15:14.443Z","description":"The tennis star reveals the people that have helped her reach the top","url":"https://time.com/72785/serena-williams-time-100-video/","keywords":["TIME 100","tennis","TIME 100"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-100/","name":"TIME 100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/72785/serena-williams-time-100-video/","name":"Serena Williams on Her Biggest Influence"}}]}] ```