Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is a former World No. 1 American tennis player who, as of May 11, 2009, is ranked World No. 3. She has won the Wimbledon singles title the last two years and is the reigning Wimbledon and Australian Open doubles champion. She is the older sister of Serena Williams.
Since joining the Women's Tennis Association tour in 1994, Williams has won 56 titles, which includes 17 Grand Slam titles - seven in singles, eight in women's doubles, and two in mixed doubles. Besides Reginald Doherty she has won more Olympic gold medals than any other tennis player in history - one in singles and two in women's doubles.
Contents
style
2 Professional career
2.1 1994–96: Professional debut
2.2 1997–99: Early success
2.3 2000–02: Prime time
2.4 2003–06: Injuries and losses
2.5 2007–09: Return to form
3 Rivalry with Serena Williams
4 Fight for equal prize money
5 Personal life
5.1 Entrepreneur
6 Career statistics
7 Records and achievements
8 Awards
9 See also
10 References
11 External links
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Playing style
Williams is one of the most powerful baseliners on tour, equipped with an attacking all-court game. Her game is very well adapted to grass where she feels most comfortable, which is reflected in her Grand Slam results as she has five Wimbledon titles. Across her career, she has developed into a skillful volleyer and effectively utilizes her long 'wingspan' (1,85m) and agility around the net. She stated during an interview at the 2008 Australian Open that she 
was working to improve her volley. Williams also has great court coverage using her long reach to play balls that most players would not be able to reach and is capable of hitting outright winners from a defensive position.
Although Williams has the most powerful and feared serve on the women's tour, she has a technically flawed motion. Many tennis analysts have said that there is a lack of synchronization between the upper and lower body, and when not confident in the shot she can produce several double-faults or attackable second serves. She holds the record for the fastest serve struck by a woman in a main draw event. At the Zurich Open, she recorded 130 mph (210 km/h). She also holds the record for fastest serve in all four Grand Slam tournaments: 2003 Australian Open quarterfinal - 125 mph (201 km/h), 2007 French Open second round, 2008 Wimbledon final, 2007 US Open first round - 129 mph. At Wimbledon in 2008, her average first serve speed was 115 mph (185 km/h) in the quarterfinal, 116 mph (187 km/h) in the semifinal, and 111 mph (179 km/h) in the final. She also had a higher average serving speed than then World No.1 Roger Federer as well as eventual men's champion Rafael Nadal.
Williams has always been a explosive hitter of the ball off the ground, but her backhand is the more consistently reliable of her groundstrokes. Her backhand is equally effective down-the-line or crosscourt (frequently for a set-up approach shot). Her forehand occasionally breaks down under pressure. However, it is still the more powerful of her groundstrokes and yields many winners, from a variety of court positions. Additionally, it is one the most powerful forehands in the women's game, frequently struck in the 85 - 90 mph (140 km/h) range. In the 2008 Wimbledon women's final, Venus struck a forehand winner measured at 94 mph (IBM/Wimbledon). Only a few women (notably Ivanovic, Serena Williams, and Justine Henin) hit to these speeds off the ground.
Professional career
1994–96: Professional debut
Already well-known in tennis circles at age 14, Williams turned professional on October 31, 1994. In the second round of her first professional tournament, the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland, Williams was up a set and a service break against top seed Arantxa Sánchez Vicario before losing the match. That was the only tournament Williams played in 1994.
In 1995, Williams played three more events as a wild card, falling in the first round of the tournament in Los Angeles and the tournament in Toronto but reaching the quarterfinals of the tournament in Oakland, defeating World No. 18 Amy Frazier in the second round for her first win over a top 20 ranked player.
Williams played five events in 1996, falling in the first round four times but reaching the third round in Los Angeles, losing to World No. 1 Steffi Graf 6–4, 6–4. 
1997–99: Early success
Williams began to play regularly on the tour in 1997. She reached the quarterfinals of three Tier I events — the State Farm Evert Cup in Indian Wells, California, the European Indoor Championships in Zürich, and the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. During her debut at the US Open, she lost in the final to Martina Hingis after defeating Irina Spîrlea in a semifinal famous for "the bump" in which Spîrlea and Williams collided during a changeover. Richard Williams, her father, later claimed that this incident was racially motivated.
In 1998, Williams teamed with Justin Gimelstob to win the mixed doubles titles at the Australian Open and the French Open. Her sister Serena won the other two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles that year, completing a "Williams Family Mixed Doubles Grand Slam". She began the year ranked outside the top 20 but ended the year ranked in the top 5. Williams won the first three WTA tour singles titles of her career in Oklahoma City (defeating World No. 2 Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals) and Key Biscayne, Florida (defeating World No. 1 Hingis in the semifinals) and at the Grand Slam Cup. Williams also was the runner-up in Sydney (defeating Hingis in the second round for her first win over a reigning World No. 1), Rome (defeating sister Serena in the quarterfinals), Stanford, California (defeating World No. 6 Monica Seles in the semifinals), and Zürich. Another highlight of Williams's year was reaching at least the singles quarterfinals of all four Grand Slam events. Williams won the first two doubles titles of her career, in Oklahoma City and Zürich. Both titles came with sister Serena, becoming only the third pair of sisters to win a WTA tour doubles title.[citation needed] Williams suffered from patella tendinitis in her left knee, which caused her to retire from her quarterfinal match in San Diego and not play in the year-ending Chase Championships.
In 1999, Williams again won the Lipton International Players Championships in Key Biscayne, defeating Jana Novotná, Graf, and her sister Serena in successive matches. Williams also won the tournament in Hamburg, the Italian Open in Rome, the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, Connecticut, and the tournament in Zurich. Venus and Serena teamed to win the doubles titles at the French Open and the US Open, becoming the first sister team to win a Grand Slam doubles title in the 20th century. Venus also went 2–1 (1–1 in singles and 1–0 in doubles with Serena) in the United States' 4–1 win over Russia in the final of the Fed Cup, giving the U.S. its 16th title.
2000–02: Prime time
In 2000, Williams missed the first four months of the year with tendinitis in both wrists. At the French Open, Williams lost to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the quarterfinals.
Williams then won 35 consecutive singles matches and five tournaments. She won her first Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon, defeating World No. 1 Martina Hingis, sister Serena , and defending champion Lindsay Davenport in the final. She won three Tier II events during the North American summer hard court season, including Bank of the West Classic, Acura Classic and Pilot Pen Tennis. At the US Open, Williams defeated World No. 1 Hingis in the semifinals, coming back from 5–3 down in the third set, and World No. 2 Davenport in the final. At the Olympic games in Sydney, Williams defeated Sánchez Vicario, Seles, and Elena Dementieva in the final to win the gold medal. Her winning streak was snapped in October by Davenport in the final of the tournament in Linz. Williams did not play a tournament the rest of the year because of anemia.
In doubles, Williams teamed with her sister Serena to capture the Wimbledon doubles and the Olympic gold medal. Williams became only the second player to win the women's singles and doubles titles at the same Olympic games.
At the start of 2001, Williams reached the semifinals of the Australian Open for the first time but lost to Martina Hingis. She also reached the semifinals of the Tier I Tennis Masters Series tournament in Indian Wells, California, but withdrew just before the match Venus claimed that tendinitis in her knee prevented her from playing, but the withdrawal was controversial. The following day, Serena played Kim Clijsters in the final. Venus and her father (and coach to her and Serena) Richard Williams were booed as they made their way to their seats. Serena was subsequently booed during the championship match against Kim Clijsters and during the trophy presentation. Neither Williams sister has played this tournament since, in what has b
een termed the most famous boycott in modern tennis. She won, however, the next tournament on the tour calendar, the Tier I Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, defeating Hingis and World No. 4 Jennifer Capriati in the final, after saving eight championship points.
During the European clay court season, Williams won a Tier II event in Hamburg but lost in the third round of the Tier I EUROCARD Ladies German Open to Justine Henin and the first round of the French Open to Barbara Schett.
Williams then successfully defended her Wimbledon title, defeating Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals and eighth-seeded Henin in the final.
During the summer hard court season in North America, Williams won the Acura Classic and Pilot Pen Tennis, defeating Davenport in the final, for the second consecutive year. Williams also won the US Open singles title for the second consecutive year, without dropping a set. Venus was only the sixth woman in history to win the singles titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open in consecutive years, the others being Martina Navratilova (twice), Steffi Graf (twice), Althea Gibson, Maureen Connolly Brinker, and Helen Wills Moody (twice).
In women's doubles, Venus and Serena won the Australian Open title for the first time and became only the fifth team to complete a career Grand Slam in that event.
Williams began 2002 in Australia by winning in Gold Coast but losing in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open to Monica Seles.
Williams then won the Open Gaz de France in Paris and the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp before losing in the semifinals of the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open and the NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Florida.
On clay, Williams beat Henin to win the Bausch & Lomb Championships. At the tournament in Hamburg, Williams defeated Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Martina Hingis in the semifinals before losing to Kim Clijsters in the final. At the French Open, Williams was defeated by Serena in the final in straight sets.
Williams then reached the Wimbledon singles final for the third consecutive year after defeating World No. 6 Henin in the semifinals. In the second consecutive all-Williams Grand Slam singles final, Serena defeated Venus in straight sets. In women's doubles, the Williams sisters won the Wimbledon title for the second time.
During the summer hard court season in North America, Williams won Acura Classic for the third consecutive year and Pilot Pen Tennis for fourth consecutive year. She also won the tournament in Stanford, California. At the US Open, Williams lost to sister Serena for the third consecutive time in the final of a Grand Slam event.
Williams won seven singles titles during the year, a career best. In February, Williams became the World No. 1, the first African-American player to garner that spot since the computer rankings began in 1975.
2003–06: Injuries and losses
Williams started 2003 by losing to her sister Serena in three sets in the Australian Open final. Williams then won the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, Belgium for the second consecutive year, defeating Daniela Hantuchová and Kim Clijsters in consecutive matches.
During a semifinal match against Clijsters at Wimbledon, Williams suffered an abdominal injury that required medical attention during the match. Williams lost the first set and was behind early in the second set before rain delayed the match. Once play resumed, Williams won the match 4–6, 6–3, 6–1, advancing to her fourth consecutive Wimbledon final, where she lost to her sister Serena. Following Wimbledon, both Venus and Serena suffered injuries that kept them out of competition for the last half of the year.
On the morning of September 14, 2003, Venus's older half sister, Yetunde Price, was murdered in the Compton, California area.
In 2004, Williams came back to the tour and experienced inconsistent results. As the third seeded player because of a protected ranking, she reached the third round of the Australian Open, where she lost to Lisa Raymond. After quarterfinal losses at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open, and the NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Williams won the Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina. At the Tier II tournament in Warsaw, Williams defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. The following week, Williams reached the final of the Tier I tournament in Berlin but was forced to retire from her match against Amélie Mauresmo. Going into the French Open, Williams had the best clay court record among the women and was among the favorites to win the title; however, she lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Anastasia Myskina 6–3, 6–4.
At Wimbledon, Williams lost a controversial second round match to Croatian Karolina Šprem. The umpire of the match, Ted Watts, awarded Šprem an unearned point in the second set tiebreak. Upon the conclusion of the match, he was relieved of his duties.
Williams was the third seed at the hard court tournament in Stanford, California, where she lost the final to top seeded Lindsay Davenport in a third set tiebreak. At the tournament in Los Angeles the following week, Williams lost again to Davenport, this time in the semifinals. Williams was leading 5–1 in the first set when she suffered an injury and lost the last six games of the set. She then retired from the match.
During the Olympic Games in Athens, Williams failed to defend the gold medal she won at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney as she lost to Mary Pierce of France in the third round 6–4, 6–4.
In the fourth round of the US Open, Williams lost to Davenport for the third consecutive time. Williams ended her year by losing in the quarterfinals of three consecutive tournaments — the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, the Swisscom Challenge in Zurich, and the Advanta Championships Philadelphia.
In 2005, Williams started the year by losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open to Alicia Molik. She then reached the final of the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, where she was attempting to win the tournament for the third time in four years. She defeated Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals, Anastasia Myskina in the semifinals, and was up a set and a break in the final against Amélie Mauresmo before losing the match.
At the NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Venus defeated her sister Serena in the quarterfinals before losing to Maria Sharapova. This was the first time since the 2001 US Open that Venus had defeated Serena.
On clay, Williams reached the quarterfinals of the tournament in Amelia Island, Florida, where she lost to top seeded Lindsay Davenport. In her next tournament in Charleston, Williams lost in the third round. She then won a Tier III title at the Istanbul Cup, defeating second seeded Nicole Vaidišová in the final. At the French Open, Williams lost in the third round to 15-year old Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva, who subsequently failed a doping test and was suspended from the tour for two years.
At Wimbledon, Williams defeated defending champion Maria Sharapova in a semifinal 7–6(2), 6–1, breaking Sharapova's serve four times. (Sharapova had lost only one service game to that point.) This marked the sixth consecutive year that at least one of the Williams sisters had reached the final, and it was Venus's fifth appearance in the Wimbledon final in the past six years. In the longest Wimbledon final in history, Williams was down match point at 6–4, 6–7(4), 5–4 (40–30) before coming back to defeat top seeded Davenport. This was Williams's third Wimbledon singles title, and this was the first time in 70 years that a player had won after being down match point during the women's final at Wimbledon.[citation needed] In addition, Williams was the lowest-ranked (World No. 16) and lowest-seeded (14th) champion in tournament history.[citation needed]
Playing for the fifth consecutive week, including Fed Cup, Williams reached the final of the tournament in Stanford, California after defeating Patty Schnyder in a semifinal 2–6, 7–6(4), 6–2. Visibly exhausted, Williams lost the final to Clijsters.
At the US Open, Williams defeated her sister Serena in the fourth round for the second consecutive time but lost in the quarterfinals to Clijsters 4–6, 7–5, 6–1, who went on to win the tournament. Williams did not qualify for the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships because of an injury sustained during the tournament in Beijing.
In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her 25th on its list of the 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era.
In 2006, Williams was upset in the first round of the Australian Open by Tszvetana Pironkova 2–6, 6–0, 9–7, which was her earliest loss at that tournament.
Venus Williams prepares to serve during the 2006 J&S Cup in Warsaw.
Williams was out of action from January 16 until April 30 because of injuries. After defeating Martina Hingis in the second round, she reached the quarterfinals of the J&S Cup in Warsaw, losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova. She then lost to Hingis in a semifinal of the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, after defeating Jelena Jankovic and Patty Schnyder in earlier rounds. Williams ended her clay court season with a French Open quarterfinal loss to Nicole Vaidišová 6–7, 6–1, 6–3.
Williams was one of the favorites to win the singles title at Wimbledon. She defeated fellow American Lisa Raymond in the second round after Williams was two points from defeat. Williams then lost in the third round to 26th-seeded Jankovic 7–6(8), 4–6, 6–4. After the loss, Williams said that she was having pain in her left wrist, although she admitted that the injury was not the cause of her loss. Williams did not play in the US Open series or the US Open itself due to a recurring wrist injury. During her first tournament in almost three months, she reinjured her wrist at the tournament in Luxembourg and lost in the second round to qualifier Agnieszka Radwanska.
avratilova's nine.
