Biography of Venus WilliamsVenus Ebone Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked the world's No. 1 female tennis player. As of July 2007, she is the reigning Wimbledon ladies' singles champion.
Williams has won the Olympic gold medal in women's tennis and 14 Grand Slam titles, including six singles (four at Wimbledon and two at the U.S. Open), six women's doubles, and two mixed doubles titles. She is the older sister of fellow former World No. 1 tennis player Serena Williams. The Williams sisters are noted for their power games: Venus currently holds the record for the fastest serve ever recorded in a professional WTA tour match (129 mph).
Williams is known for her offensive baseliner game, though as her game has developed over the latter stages of her career, she has begun to serve and volley more often.
Her serve on average is one of the most powerful on the WTA tour. Williams is known for her powerful two-handed backhand, which is her stronger and more consistent side. Occasionally her forehand has been prone to break down in tough matches. Williams is also a skillful volleyer and effectively utilizes her long reach and quickness at the net.
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 in Oakland, Williams was up a set and a service break against top seed Arantxa Sanchez Vicario before losing the match. That was the only tournament Williams played in 1994. She remained a part-time player on the tour during the next two years, playing only three tournaments in 1995 and five tournaments in 1996.
Williams began to play regularly on the tour in 1997. The highlight of her year was her debut at the U.S. Open, where she lost in the final to Martina Hingis 6-0, 6-4 after defeating Irina Spirlea in a semifinal famous for "the bump" in which Spirlea 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 title at the Australian Open and the French Open. Her sister Serena Williams won the other two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles of the year, completing a "Williams Family Mixed Doubles Grand Slam." In singles, Venus won the Grand Slam Cup and the tournaments in Miami and Oklahoma City. She also reached at least the quarterfinals at all four Grand Slam tournaments. She ended the year ranked fifth in the world.
In 1999, Williams won the tournament in Miami, defeating Jana Novotna, Steffi Graf, and her sister Serena in successive matches. Venus also won tournaments in Hamburg, Rome, New Haven, and Zurich. Venus and Serena teamed to win the doubles titles at the French Open and the U.S. 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.
In 2000, Williams won the singles title at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and two gold medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.[3] She became only the second player to win the women's singles and doubles titles at the same games. The Williams sisters also won the Wimbledon doubles title for the first time.
Williams successfully defended her Wimbledon and U.S. Open singles titles in 2001. At the U.S. Open, Williams won the tournament without dropping a set, defeating sister Serena in the final 6-2, 6-4. The Williams sisters won the Australian Open doubles title for the first time, completing a career Grand Slam in doubles for the pair. Venus won six singles titles during the year.
Williams opened 2002 by defeating Justine Henin to win the Gold Coast tournament. She then reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, won Paris and Antwerp, and reached the semifinals of Dubai and Miami. Williams won seven singles titles during the year, a career best. In February 2002, Williams became the top-ranked women's player in the world, the first African-American player to garner that spot since the computer rankings began in 1975. The Williams sisters won the Wimbledon doubles title for the second time in 2002.
Beginning with the 2002 French Open and extending through the Australian Open in 2003, Venus reached the final in four consecutive Grand Slam singles tournaments, losing each to Serena.
Williams started the year by losing to her sister Serena in three sets in the 2003 Australian Open final. Williams then won the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, Belgium for the second consecutive year, defeating Daniela Hantuchova 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 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
On the morning of September 14, 2003, Venus's older half sister, Yetunde Price, was murdered in the Compton, California area.[6] The era of domination by the Williams sisters began to subside after the murder. Following Wimbledon, both Venus and Serena suffered injuries that kept them out of competition for the last half of the year.
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 in Tokyo, Dubai, and Miami, Williams won the Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, defeating Conchita Martinez in the final. 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 Amelie 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 Sprem. The umpire of the match, Ted Watts, awarded Sprem 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 hardcourt tournament in Stanford, 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.
In the fourth round of the U.S. Open, Williams lost to Davenport for the third consecutive time. Williams ended her year by losing in the quarterfinals of three consecutive tournaments in Moscow, Zurich, and Philadelphia.
Williams started the year by losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open to Alicia Molik. She then reached the final at the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, Belgium, 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 Amelie Mauresmo before losing the match. Williams then lost in the first round in Dubai.
At the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami, Venus defeated her sister Serena in the quarterfinals before losing to Maria Sharapova. This was the first time since the 2001 U.S. Open that Venus had defeated Serena.
Williams then reached the quarterfinals at Amelia Island, 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 in Istanbul, 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 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 6 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. In addition, Williams, as the 14th seed, was the lowest seed to win the women's singles title in Wimbledon history.
Playing for the fifth consecutive week, including Fed Cup, Williams reached the final of the Stanford tournament after defeating Patty Schnyder in a semifinal 2-6, 7-6, 6-2. Visibly exhausted, Williams lost the final to Clijsters.
At the 2005 U.S. Open, Williams reached the quarterfinals. In the fourth round, Venus defeated her sister Serena for the second consecutive time. In the quarterfinals, Williams lost to Clijsters 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, who went on to win the tournament.
In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her 25th on its list of the 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era.
Williams lost surprisingly in the first round of the Australian Open to Tszvetana Pironkova 2-6, 6-0, 9-7. It was her earliest loss at that tournament.
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 at the J&S Cup in Warsaw, losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova. She then lost to Hingis in a semifinal of the Italian Open, after defeating Jelena Janković 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 competed at Wimbledon as one of the favorites to win the title. She survived a scare against fellow American Lisa Raymond in the second round when Williams was two points from defeat. Williams then lost in the third round to 26th seeded Janković 7-6(8), 4-6, 6-4. After the loss, Venus was quoted as saying that she was having pain in her left wrist, but that it was not the reason why she lost.
Williams did not play in the U.S. Open series or the U.S. Open itself due to a recurring wrist injury. During her first tournament in almost three months, she reinjured her wrist in Luxembourg and lost in the second round after defeating rising star Ana Ivanović in the first round.
Williams started the year by withdrawing from the 2007 Australian Open because of a recurring wrist injury. This was the second consecutive Grand Slam event that Williams had missed due to injury.
At the WTA Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Tennessee, Williams won the title, defeating top-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel in the final 6-1, 6-1. This was her first tournament since October 2006 and her 34th career singles title.
Williams's next tournament was the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, where she lost in the third round to top seeded Maria Sharapova 2-6, 6-2, 7-5. However, her ranking jumped from World No. 39 to World No. 32.
She then moved onto clay, playing at the Tier II Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida. She beat Aravane Rezai and fourth seeded Patty Schnyder before falling in the quarterfinals to the eighth seed and eventual champion Tatiana Golovin 6-2, 6-3. Her next tournament was the Tier 1 Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, where she lost in the semifinals to Jelena Janković. Despite the loss, her ranking rose to World No. 22.
Williams played Fed Cup with her sister Serena for the first time in four years, in a home tie against Belgium in Delray Beach, Florida, beating the young Belgium team 5-0. Williams defeated Kirsten Flipkens 7-5, 6-2 and Yanina Wickmayer 6-1, 6-2.
At the J&S Cup in Warsaw, Poland, a title she won in 2004, Williams lost in the quarterfinals to Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
After taking two weeks off after her loss to Kuznetsova, Williams played the Istanbul Cup in preparation for the French Open. She defeated Tatiana Poutchek in the first round before losing to French hard hitter Aravane Rezai in the second round 6-4, 6-4. This was Williams's first defeat in a Tier III event on the WTA Tour.
At the French Open, Williams lost her third round match with Janković 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. During her second round win over Ashley Harkleroad, Williams hit a 206 km/h (128.8 mph) serve, which is the second fastest woman's serve ever recorded and the fastest ever recorded during a main draw match.
At Wimbledon in a first round match on Court 2, Williams was within two points of defeat against Alla Kudryavtseva before winning. During her third round match with Akiko Morigami, Williams won the first set 6-2 but trailed 4-1 in the second set when rain interrupted play. After the match resumed, Morigami won the set 6-3 and served for the match before Williams regrouped and won the match 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. In her fourth round match, Williams defeated second-seeded Sharapova 6-1, 6-3. In the quarterfinals, Williams defeated fifth-seeded Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-4 to reach her sixth career Wimbledon semifinal, where she defeated sixth-seeded Ana Ivanović 6-2, 6-4. In the final, Williams defeated Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-1. As the 23rd seeded player, Williams beat her own record set in 2005 as the lowest women's seed to win Wimbledon. During the award ceremony, she said that her sister Serena inspired her to win. With her fourth Wimbledon title, Williams joined Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, and Steffi Graf as the only women to who have won at least four Wimbledonsingles titles during the open era. The win also bettered her ranking from World No. 31 to World No. 17, her first return to the top 20 in a year.
Williams then played for the U.S. in its Fed Cup semifinal tie against Russia. Williams won both her singles matches over Nadia Petrova and Anna Chakvetadze; however, the U.S. lost the tie when Williams and Lisa Raymond were defeated in the deciding doubles match.
At the Tier I Acura Classic in San Diego, Williams lost her quarterfinal match to Chakvetadze 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 after Williams double faulted while holding a match point in the second set. Nevertheless, her ranking increased to World No. 14.
At the U.S. Open, Williams defeated Jelena Janković in the quarterfinals 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4) before losing to the eventual champion, Justine Henin, in a semifinal 7-6, 6-4. Both players had health issues during the match. In the second set, Williams was treated for a stomach ache and dizziness. In the post match interview, Williams stated, "I just was feeling dizzy, a little sick to the stomach. Was just having some energy problems. I'm not really sure what's wrong with me. But, you know, credit to her for playing well." The tournament resulted in Williams's ranking moving up five places to World No. 9. With sister Serena at World No. 7, it was the first time the sisters were in the top 10 together since September 2005.
Williams then played three tournaments in Asia. Williams won her 36th career singles title at the Hansol Korea Open Tennis Championships in Seoul, South Korea, defeating fourth-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko in the final. Despite having a heavily strapped leg, Williams then played in the AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo, Japan, where she lost to Virginie Razzano in the final 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-4 after holding three match points. At the PTT Bangkok Open, Williams lost in the semifinals to Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 7-6(8).
Despite officially qualifying for the 2007 WTA Tour Championships, Williams withdrew because of her continuing problems with anemia. She was replaced by Sharapova, who subsequently reached the finals.
On December 13, 2007, Williams received her associate degree in Fashion Design from The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale with Cum Laude honors and a 3.5 GPA.
Williams began the year at an exhibition tournament in Hong Kong, defeating Maria Sharapova in the final 6-4, 6-3.[16]
Williams is the eighth-seed at the Australian Open. She defeated qualifier Marta Domachowska of Poland in the fourth round, reaching the quarterfinals at this tournament for the first time since 2003. She is scheduled to play fourth-seed Ana Ivanovic for a place in the semifinals. Playing with her sister Serena in the womens doubles event, they defeated the second-seeded team of Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama in the second round 6-2, 7-6(2) but eventually lost in the quarterfinals to the seventh-seeded team and former champions Zi Yan and Jie Zheng 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
In 2003 her elder sister and personal assistant of 31 Yetunde Price was shot dead on the very courts that she herself and her sister once practiced on. Her family issued this statement shortly after the death
"We are extremely shocked, saddened and devastated by the shooting death of our beloved Yetunde," the family said."She was our nucleus and our rock. She was a personal assistant, confidante, and adviser to her sisters, and her death leaves a void that can never be filled. Our grief is overwhelming, and this is the saddest day of our lives."
Venus is currently engaged to her long time boyfriend pro golfer Hank Kuehne, who has been a visible presence since Wimbledon 2007, holding her hand during the long delays and clapping support from the players' box along with Williams' parents and younger sister, Serena.
"He's a great guy," Williams said. "He understands competition. He's very supportive. I love having him here and everyone else in the box, too."
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