Venus Williams is known as a pro tennis player. She is most famous for being a champion women's tennis player and four-time Olympic gold medalist.
Venus Ebony Starr Williams was born on June 17, 1980, in Lynwood, California. One of Richard and Oracene Williams' five little girls, Venus, alongside her more youthful sister, Serena, would become massive tennis stars. By the age of 10, Williams' serve beat a speed of 100 miles per hour, a weapon she used to go 63-0 on the United States Tennis Association junior tour.
On October 31, 1994, Venus turned pro. She proved she was more than prepared for this when, in her first match, she beat No. 50-seeded Shaun Stafford at the Bank of the West Classic in California. It was a pivotal event for the Williams family. Richard, in particular, wasn't reluctant to let the tennis world know that his young ladies were going to change the game.
At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Williams won the gold award in the singles events, and after that took the second one with Serena in the doubles event. The sisters have acknowledged the other for pushing them in tennis, both as partners and as contenders. Together, the pair have won 13 Grand Slam duo titles and have squared off more than multiple times, including the finals of eight Grand Slam competitions.
Williams contended in only a few competitions in 2006 because of wrist damage. However, she came back to shape in 2007, winning the singles title at Wimbledon. She repeated the triumph a year later when she crushed Serena for a fifth career Wimbledon championship. A couple of months after, the Williams sisters collaborated to catch the doubles title at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
In August 2019, while the more significant part of the U.S. Open was rained out, unseeded Venus Williams still competed against No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina under the rooftop on Louis Armstrong. Svitolina served out a 6-4, 6-4 win, finishing Williams' 21st U.S. Open run in the second round.
Venus is in a romantic relationship with a wealthy financier named Nicholas Hammond. Beforehand, Venus had dated a Cuban model named Elio Pis, whom she met when he modeled for EleVen Fashion line in 2012. She was additionally in a romantic relationship with a golf player named Hank Kuehne, their relationship went on for around three years, but the couple separated in 2010.
Williams was driving in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on June 9, 2017, when another automobile crashed with her SUV before she cleared the intersection, killing a 78-year-old man and injuring another person in the other vehicle. Initially, police stated she was "at fault" for the collision, but after analyzing the surveillance video on July 7, they concluded she was not to blame. Authorities found that Williams' car was unlawfully cut off by an unnamed driver of a third vehicle performing a left turn in front of Williams on December 21, 2017. Williams had entered the junction legally, according to a neighboring video camera. The collision was caused by an unnamed third motorist, not Williams, according to authorities.
Tennis Magazine named her as the 25th best player in the last 40 years in 2005. Time magazine named her one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present, and Future" in June 2011. Tennis Channel presented a television series called "100 best tennis players of all time" in March 2012, in which she was rated 22nd. During the show, Williams' opponent Lindsay Davenport complimented her, saying, "Venus had more power than any other player on tour."
Williams made her professional debut on October 31, 1994, when she was fourteen years old. Williams was up a set and a service break against world No. 2 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the second round of her maiden professional event, the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland, before dropping the match. No. 2 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario defeated Martina Navratilova to win the title. Williams only competed on one occasion in 1994.
Williams played three more events as a wild card in 1995, falling in the first round of both the Los Angeles and Toronto tournaments, but reaching the quarterfinals of the Oakland tournament, defeating No. 18 Amy Frazier in the second round for her first win over a top 20 ranked player before losing to Magdalena Maleeva. Williams competed in five competitions in 1996, losing four times in the first round but making it to the third round in Los Angeles before falling to No. 1 Steffi Graf.
| Net Worth 2021: | 95 million |
