Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player who is generally regarded as one of the all-time greats of women’s tennis and who, along with younger sister Serena Williams, is credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on the women’s professional tennis tour.
Ranked World No. 11 in singles as of January 28, 2017, Williams has been ranked World No. 1 by the Women’s Tennis Association on three occasions, for a total of 11 weeks. She first became the World No. 1 on February 25, 2002, the first African American woman to do so in the Open Era. On 10 June 2002, Venus and Serena became the first sisters to hold the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the singles rankings, respectively.
On 7 June 2010, Venus became co-No. 1 in doubles with Serena after they won their 4th consecutive grand slam doubles title at Roland Garros. By virtue of that doubles ascension, Venus became one of only seven women to reach No. 1 in singles and No. 1 in doubles. On 21 June 2010, Venus and Serena again occupied the No. 2 and No. 1 spots in the singles rankings, respectively. Astonishingly, this came almost exactly 8 years after first accomplishing this feat.
At the time, Venus had just celebrated her 30th birthday and Serena was three months shy of her 29th birthday, both ages at which many of their peers had retired. Her seven Grand Slam singles titles ties her twelfth on the all-time list, more than any other active female player except sister Serena.
She has also won fourteen Grand Slam doubles titles and two mixed doubles titles. Her five Wimbledon singles titles ties her with two other women for eighth place on the all-time list. Williams is one of four women to have won five or more Wimbledon singles titles in the Open Era. From the 2000 Wimbledon Championships to the 2001 US Open, Williams won four of the six Grand Slam singles tournaments held.
She is one of only six women in the Open Era to win 200 or more main draw Grand Slam singles matches.
All time leader
As of the 2017 Australian Open, Williams extends her record as the all-time leader, male or female, in Grand Slams played, with 73. Furthermore, Williams’ run to the 2017 Australian Open Women’s Singles final set the record for longest span between singles slam finals in the open era at 20 years, the beginning of which was marked by her appearance in the singles final at the 1997 US Open.
At the US Open, after setting a Grand-Slam record 129 mph (208 km/h) serve in the opening round, Williams advanced to her first Grand Slam semifinal outside of Wimbledon since 2003. However she then lost to eventual champion Justine Henin. The tournament resulted in Williams’ ranking moving up to World No. 9. Williams then won her third title of the year at the Hansol Korea Open Tennis Championships in Seoul, South Korea, defeating Maria Kirilenko in the final, before then losing in the final of the Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo to Virginie Razzano.
Williams had earned enough points during the year to qualify for the year-ending WTA Tour Championships in Madrid; however, she withdrew because of continuing problems with anemia. Williams finished the year as World No. 8 with three titles, her best performance in both respects since 2002, and a winning percentage of 83 percent.
