The 2012 Serena Williams tennis season officially began on 2 January with the start of the 2012 WTA Tour. Williams won the most WTA singles titles of the season with seven, including two majors at Wimbledon and the US Open. She also won the WTA Championships and her first singles Olympics gold. She also suffered her first opening-round loss in a major at the French Open, losing to Virginie Razzano.
In doubles, Williams, partnering with sister Venus, dominated the grass court season by triumphing at Wimbledon and winning women's doubles gold medal at the Summer Olympics. Serena Williams was voted WTA Player of the Year for 2012, the fourth time she won the award. Based on her performance for the season, Williams was named as the International Tennis Federation world champion.
Year in detail
Early hard court season and Australian Open
Brisbane International Williams began her 2012 season at the Brisbane International where she defeated Chanelle Scheepers in the first round in straight sets. At the second round, she faced Bojana Jovanovski and served for the match when she twisted her left ankle. She eventually won the match breaking the Serbians serve in the tenth game. However, the next day, she withdrew in her quarterfinals match against Daniela Hantuchová due to the same injury.
Australian Open Williams then played the Australian Open where she was on a 14-match winning streak after winning the event in 2009 and 2010 but missing the 2011 edition. She was able to cruise pass the first three rounds. She beat Austrian Tamira Paszek in straight sets hitting 34 winners but also made 26 unforced error, in a first round match that started 30 minutes to 12 midnight. At the second round, she defeated Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová winning the first set at love and breaking serve once and by doing so, she earned her 500th tour win. She then cruise pass Hungarian Gréta Arn with a loss of only 2 games to make through the fourth round. The match ended with 2 double faults and 59 minutes. At the fourth round, she suffered a surprising loss to Russian Ekaterina Makarova at the fourth match point of the Russian. At the time, Makarova was the lowest ranked player left in the draw. Williams hit 37 unforced errors and 7 double faults in 2 sets. The loss ended her 17 match winning streak at the Open.
She originally was set to participate in mixed doubles partnering with Andy Roddick. The team withdrew before their first round match due to Roddick's hamstring injury.
Sony Ericsson Open
Coming into the Sony Ericsson Open, Williams was attempting to break the record she shares with Steffi Graf of 5 titles and 7 finals at the event. She was also returning after a two-year hiatus with the 2009 edition was the latest edition she participated in. As the tenth seed, she received a bye in the first round. In the second round, she faced China's Zhang Shuai and won easily with 6 aces. She followed it up with a loss of only three games over Roberta Vinci. In the fourth round, she faced Samantha Stosur. Avenging her loss at the final of the 2011 US Open, she beat the Australian in two tight sets, while also serving 20 aces in the win, the most aces she has served in a match. Coming into her quarterfinals match-up against Caroline Wozniacki, she was the favorite as she had never lost to the Dane with a 3–0 record. However, she lost winning four games in both sets in an error-stricken match where she committed 34 winners and 36 unforced errors to Wozniacki's 12 winners and 13 unforced errors.
Clay court season and French Open
Family Circle Cup Williams started her clay season campaign at the Family Circle Cup, having not played on clay since the 2010 French Open. As the fifth seed, she received a bye in the first round. In the second round, she faced Elena Vesnina and won with a break lead in each set, closing out the match win her 11th ace. In the next round, she faced New Zealand's Marina Erakovic and won with a double fault from Erakovic and with Serena winning 10 of the last 12 games. In her quarterfinals match, her opponent, Sabine Lisicki, had to retire after twisting her left ankle at 3rd game. In the semifinals, she faced Samantha Stosur whom just outlasted Venus Williams in her quarterfinals match. Williams dominated the match with a double breadstick win in just under an hour and breaking the Aussie five times. In the final, she met Lucie Šafářová for her first title of 2012. Williams dominated the match winning the first 9 games before the Czech got a game to avoid a double bagel defeat, it was the only game the Czech won in the match. With the win, she remained undefeated against the Czech. This was Williams' 40th singles title, second on Charleston and only her fourth on clay.
Mutua Madrid Open Williams then played at the blue clay courts of the Mutua Madrid Open. In the first round she met Russian Elena Vesnina and won with 13 aces and 40 winners. In the second round she faced another Russian in Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and swept pass the Russian with a straight sets victory. She then faced Caroline Wozniacki. Having lost their last match-up at Miami, a sluggish start from Williams looked similar to Miami as Wozniacki won the first set easily losing only one game. However, Williams avenged her loss at Miami and got back, winning the next two sets with 43 winners. In the quarterfinals she faced her third Russian opponent in the tournament, Maria Sharapova, with whom she had a 7–2 lead against Sharapova. Williams continued her streak with a victory and 11 aces. In the semifinals she ended the run of Czech qualifier, Lucie Hradecká. The first set was a tight contest with Williams edging Hradecká in the tie-break. The second set was a contrast with Williams winning with a bagel. In the final, she faced world no. 1, Victoria Azarenka, and dominated the match losing only four games in the victory. Williams hit 13 aces in the match and she also improved her record against Belarusian to 7–1. This was her 41st title putting her second in most titles among active players along with Kim Clijsters and behind her sister, Venus Williams, with 43. The win also moved her from 9th to 6th in the rankings.
Internazionali BNL d'Italia
Williams then played the Internazionali BNL d'Italia for her final preparation for the French Open. In the first round, she faced Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva for the first time and won with 24 winners in a late match that started at 10.30 PM. In the next round, she faced a tough match-up in the form of Nadia Petrova where their last four meetings went to deciding set. Williams led their head-to-head 6–3, but Petrova won their last 2 meetings. In the first set, the Russian edged it out winning it with a single break. In the second set being down triple break point on serve in the third game, Williams came back and took control of the match winning the final two sets. In the third round she defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues in straight sets. In the quarterfinals she faced Italian Flavia Pennetta but had an easy pass as Pennetta retired after being down 4–0, 40–0 on Williams serve due to a right wrist injury. Heading into the semifinals Williams led her opponent Li Na 5–1. However, Williams was forced to withdraw with a lower back injury as a precaution heading into the French Open.
French Open Williams came to the French Open as the heavy favorite for the title. In the first round, the fifth seeded Williams was drawn against local player ranked 111th in the world, Virginie Razzano. She, surprisingly, lost to the Frenchwoman in three sets, marking the first time she lost in a grandslam opener in her career. Williams was two points away from victory nine times in the second set including leading 5–1 in the tiebreak. However, she failed to capitalize her chances and Razzano took the set and forced a third set to be played. Razzano quickly took control of the third set and, even though Williams managed to save seven match points, she fell to Razzano.
Williams also returned to mixed doubles competition for the first time since the 1999 Australian Open. She played with Bob Bryan and was drawn against Gisela Dulko and Eduardo Schwank in the first round. The pair lost to the Argentinians in a third set match tie-break.
Grass court season: Wimbledon Championships and the Olympics
Wimbledon Championships