Richard Liu and Serena Williams are not publicly documented as relatives, business partners or professional collaborators. The Richard Liu in this query is Richard Qiangdong Liu, also known as Liu Qiangdong, the founder and chairman of JD.com. Serena Williams’s father is a different person: Richard Williams, whom the WTA identifies as the father and former coach of Serena and Venus Williams.
There is also no publicly established direct investment or business partnership between Liu and Williams. That does not prove the two have never met or had some private interaction; it simply means their public careers are documented separately. Liu’s story is centred on the development of JD.com, while Williams built one of tennis’s most decorated careers and later expanded her work through Serena Ventures.
Who Is Richard Qiangdong Liu?
Richard Qiangdong Liu is the founder and chairman of JD.com, one of China’s major e-commerce and technology companies.
JD.com’s corporate biography says Liu earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Renmin University of China in 1996 and later completed an Executive MBA at China Europe International Business School in 2011.
His business history is sometimes dated to both 1998 and 2004, but those dates describe different stages of the same development. JD’s corporate history traces the roots of the business to an offline retail operation that Liu began in 1998. According to JD.com’s regulatory filings, he launched an online retail website in January 2004, and the company’s current leadership biography uses 2004 as the year he founded JD.com.
That distinction matters because the business did not begin as the online company readers know today. Liu first built an offline retail operation before moving the business onto the internet as China’s e-commerce market expanded.
How JD.com Developed
JD.com grew beyond a basic online storefront into a business built around retail, warehousing, logistics and supply-chain infrastructure.
Liu led the company through much of that expansion as chief executive. He remained CEO until April 2022, when JD.com announced that Lei Xu would succeed him in the role while Liu stayed on as chairman.
That makes some older descriptions of Liu as JD.com’s current CEO inaccurate. As of September 26, 2026, Liu is founder and chairman, not chief executive. JD.com’s management roster identifies Sandy Ran Xu as CEO, a position she has held since May 2023.
A July 31, 2026 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission also continued to identify Richard Qiangdong Liu as chairman of JD.com’s board.
His public role is therefore now better understood at the chairman level rather than as the executive responsible for the company’s day-to-day management.
Who Is Serena Williams?
Serena Williams is an American tennis champion, investor and business executive whose career record places her among the defining players of the Open Era.
According to the WTA, Williams has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, more than any other woman in the Open Era. Her major singles record includes seven Australian Open titles, three French Open titles, seven Wimbledon titles and six US Open titles.
She also won 73 WTA singles titles and spent 319 weeks ranked world No. 1.
Her partnership with her sister Venus Williams was another major part of her career. Together they won 14 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles and three Olympic gold medals in doubles.
Williams’s first Grand Slam singles title came at the 1999 US Open. She first reached world No. 1 in July 2002 and, after competing across multiple generations of elite players, won her 23rd major singles title at the 2017 Australian Open.
Richard Williams, Not Richard Liu
One likely reason the names Richard Liu and Serena Williams can cause confusion is the presence of another Richard in Serena’s family history.
Serena’s father is Richard Williams, not Richard Liu.
The WTA identifies Richard Williams as the father and former coach of Serena and Venus Williams. He played an important role in their early tennis development and became closely associated with the story of both sisters’ rise through the sport.
Richard Qiangdong Liu, by contrast, built his career in Chinese retail, e-commerce and corporate leadership. The two Richards are entirely different public figures.
That distinction answers one of the most common questions surrounding the phrase “Richard Liu and Serena Williams”: Richard Liu is not Serena Williams’s father.
Serena Williams’s 2022 Step Away From Tennis
Williams’s status after the 2022 US Open is another area where older descriptions can now be misleading.
In an August 2022 first-person essay for Vogue, Williams said she did not like the word “retirement” and preferred to describe what she was doing as an “evolution” away from tennis.
She then stepped away from professional competition after the 2022 US Open.
For several years, that made descriptions such as “former professional tennis player” broadly understandable. But they became outdated in 2026.
Her Return to Professional Tennis in 2026
On June 1, 2026, the WTA announced that Serena Williams would return to professional tennis after nearly four years away.
The comeback became concrete on June 9, when Williams played her first professional match since the 2022 US Open at Queen’s Club. Partnering Victoria Mboko in doubles, she won 7-6(2), 6-2, according to the Associated Press.
Williams later returned to singles competition at Wimbledon and continued playing doubles during the summer.
At the 2026 US Open, she competed in mixed doubles with Carlos Alcaraz and later reunited with Venus Williams in the women’s doubles draw. Serena and Venus lost their first-round match on September 4 to Chan Hao-Ching and Maya Joint, 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6[7].
That September 4 match was the most recent competitive appearance documented in the available record as of September 26, 2026. It should not be treated as evidence that Williams has retired again or ended her comeback.
Williams was born on September 26, 1981, making her 45 on September 26, 2026.
Serena Ventures and Her Business Career
Williams’s public work now extends well beyond tennis.
Serena Ventures lists her as Managing Partner, giving her a formal role in venture investing alongside her sporting career.
That business work is sometimes used to suggest a possible connection with Richard Liu because both figures operate in commercial and investment environments. But belonging to the broad world of business is not evidence of a partnership.
JD.com’s corporate records connect Liu to the company he founded and its related businesses. Serena Ventures identifies Williams with its investment activity. No documented direct company, fund, investment or professional project involving both Liu and Williams has been publicly established.
The most accurate description is therefore that they have separate business careers, not a known shared one.
Are Richard Liu and Serena Williams Related?
There is no publicly documented family relationship between Richard Qiangdong Liu and Serena Williams.
Liu is associated with JD.com and the development of its retail and logistics business. Williams is associated with professional tennis, Serena Ventures and her broader commercial work.
The name that matters in Serena Williams’s immediate tennis and family history is Richard Williams, her father and former coach.
Have Richard Liu and Serena Williams Worked Together?
No direct professional collaboration between Richard Liu and Serena Williams has been publicly established.
There is no documented joint company, announced JD.com partnership, Serena Ventures investment involving Liu, endorsement arrangement or sports project connecting the two.
That wording is intentionally narrower than saying they have “never had any connection.” Public records can establish known projects and relationships, but they cannot rule out every private meeting, indirect financial overlap or informal interaction.
Where Their Careers Stand Now
As of September 26, 2026, Richard Qiangdong Liu remains the founder and chairman of JD.com. He is no longer the company’s CEO, a role he left in April 2022.
Serena Williams, meanwhile, is again a professional tennis competitor after returning in June 2026. She also continues to be identified by Serena Ventures as its Managing Partner.
Their current roles underline the basic answer behind the search for Richard Liu and Serena Williams: they are two prominent public figures with separate careers. No direct family, business, investment or professional relationship between them has been publicly established, and Serena’s father is Richard Williams, not Richard Liu.
