Venus Ebone Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980 in Lynwood, California) 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), 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 holds the record for the fastest serve ever recorded by a female player in a main draw match (129 mph).

Venus is known for her offensive baseliner game, though as her game has developed over the latter stages of her career Venus has begun to serve and volley more often. Which has added a new dynamic to her game.

The serve on average is the most powerful serve on the wta tour usually not serving many aces but many are unreturnable due to the level of power. Venus plays with a single handed forehand which has been known to break down in the course of matches, her stronger baseline shot is her two-handed backhand. Venus also posses a great deal of skill at the net due to her tall frame this has enabled her to be successful in doubles and on the grass at Wimbledon.

Though Venus is not the cleanest striker of the ball, she forces opponents to play longer rallys and deal with alot more power than other players. This comes from her great level of athleticism in combination with her good mental vigour and composure in matches.

Already well-known 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 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." At the Australian Open that year, the Williams sisters boasted that they could beat a man ranked past 200 in the world. As it happened, German Karsten Braasch (then ranked 203) was in attendance and took them up on the offer. He beat Serena and Venus back to back by the score of 6-1 and 6-2. Braasch noted that the morning of the "matches", he had played a round of golf and consumed several beers. Afterwards the sisters revised their statement and stated they could beat men ranked past 350 in the world. Humorously, due to the expiring nature of ATP points, Braasch was slated to lose a significant number of points in the following few weeks and would drop below 350. 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 the 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 in the United States 4-1 win in the final of the Fed Cup against Russia giving the U.S. its 16th title. 1-1 in singles 1-0 in doubles (with Serena)

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. She became only the second player to win the women's singles and doubles title at the same Games. The Williams sisters also won the Wimbledon doubles title for the first time.

Williams 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 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 a severe 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. Venus lost the final to her sister Serena 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Venus's older half sister, Yetunde Price, was murdered in the Compton, California area on the morning of September 14, 2003. The era of domination by the Williams sisters began to close out 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 quickly 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 put her in 25th place in its list of 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 Williams' 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 has 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 number 39 to number 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 seeded 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 Svetlana Kuznetsova in Warsaw, Williams arrived in Istanbul in preparation for the French Open at the Istanbul Cup. She started out well, defeating Tatiana Poutchek 6-1, 6-2 in the first round. However, her run ended as she lost to French hard hitter Aravane Rezai 6-4, 6-4 in the second round. This was Williams's first ever defeat in a Tier III event on the Sony Ericsson 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 fastest woman's serve ever recorded.

At the Wimbledon Championships, playing with a white Wilson (K) Factor limited-edition racket featuring 22-carat gold leaf laid into the frame, a resurgent Williams won her first six singles matches, reaching the final for the sixth time. In her third round match against Akiko Morigami, Williams won the first set 6-2 but then trailed 4-1 in the second set when rain interrupted play. After it resumed, Morigami won the set 6-3 and served for the third set before Williams regrouped and won the match 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. In the fourth round match against Maria Sharapova, the second seed going into the tournament, Venus won in straight sets 6-1, 6-3 and reached the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, on July 5, Venus played Svetlana Kuznetsova, the number 5 seed, whom she beat in straight sets 6-3 6-4, to reach her 6th Wimbledon Championship semifinal. She then beat sixth seed Ana Ivanović 6-2 6-4 to reach the final, defying her critics. This Wimbledon run has drawn comparisons with her 2005 win. On July 7, 2007, Venus clinched her 4th Wimbledon Title with a decisive 124 mph serve into the body of her opponent, Marion Bartoli, who could not return it. Venus won the match in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, taking £700,000 home in prize money. Seeded no. 23, Williams beat her own record set in 2005 as the lowest women's seed to win Wimbledon. During the ceremony she said that her sister Serena inspired her to win. With her 4th Wimbledon title, Venus joins the elite group comprising Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf as the women who have won four or more Wimbledon ladies singles titles in the Open Era. The win also catapulted Venus' WTA Ranking from #31 to #17, her first return to the top 20 in a year.

She then played for America in the Fed Cup for their semifinal tie against Russia. Despite Venus winning both her singles matches, beating Nadia Petrova and Anna Chakvetadze, the American team lost in the deciding doubles tie where Venus paired up with Lisa Raymond.

Williams' next tournament was San Diego. In the first round, she defeated Anastassia Rodionova 6-3, 6-0 despite having a low percentage of first serves in. She faced Virginie Razzano in her second round match and won 6-2, 6-4. Williams struggled a bit in the second set, serving six double faults and only getting 49% of her first serve in. Venus played a much better match against Daniela Hantuchova, the sixth seed in the tournament. She defeated Hantuchova in straight sets, 6-0, 6-3 serving 5 aces in the process and breaking her 7 times. For her quarter-final match, Williams lost to Anna Chakvetadze of Russia. Venus held match point in the second set but lost her nerve, double faulting and ended up giving the match to her opponent. Williams served 8 double faults and managed to only get 43% of her first serves in play in the third set. The final score was 6-7, 7-6, 6-2. However, as a result of her quarterfinal appearance, she moved up two spots to take the #14 spot in the world rankings. She was scheduled to play the Rogers Cup in Toronto but withdrew due to injury.

At the U.S. Open, Venus defeated all of her early-round opponents in straight sets. In a quarterfinal match that culminated in a dramatic third-set tiebreak, Venus prevailed over Jelena Janković 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4). Williams was defeated by Justine Henin in the semifinals of the 2007 US Open 7-6, 6-4 both players played high quality tennis but both had some health issues during the match. Henin came off court first during the match for some treatment yet in the second set Venus was complaining of a stomach ache and dizzyness and was given minimal treatment for it. In the post match interview Venus 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" adding "But, you know, credit to her for playing well." Later, Oracene Price, the Williams' sisters mother talked about how Venus had been diagnosed with anaemia in San Diego where she lost in the quarter finals, revealing that “Today I guess the anaemia came back,” continuing “Venus feels like the ground is moving beneath her feet. Things aren’t right and we have to find out what’s wrong.”.

After reaching the semifinals, her ranking moved up five places to No. 9. With Serena at No. 7, it was the first time the sisters were in the top 10 together since September 2005.

Venus competed in and won her 36th career singles title at the Hansol Korea Open Tennis Championships in Seoul, South Korea. Williams, as the top seed, defeated fourth-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko in the championship match 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. Despite having a heavily strapped leg, Williams then played in the AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo, Japan where she coasted through her first two rounds against compatriots Jill Craybas and Vania King 6-1, 6-3 and 6-0, 6-4 respectively. She then defeated Alicia Molik 7-6(4), 6-3 in the quarterfinals, hitting 15 aces in the process, and Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 7-5 in the semi-finals. However, Venus lost to Virginie Razzano in the final 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-4 after holding three match points. Venus received medical treatment for a hip problem after the second set. Venus' next tournament was the PTT Bangkok Open. In the first two rounds, she defeated Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-2 and Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-4, 6-1, followed by a victory over Camille Pin in the quarterfinals 6-1, 6-1. However, Venus suffered a shock defeat to Flavia Pennetta in the semifinals 6-4, 7-6(8), who went on to win the title.

Despite officially qualifying for the 2007 WTA Tour Championships on October 26, Venus withdrew from the championships on October 28 due to her continuing problems with anaemia. She was replaced by Maria Sharapova.

Despite decades of lobbying by tennis pioneer Billie Jean King and others, only the French Open and Wimbledon in 2005 still refused to pay women's and men's players equally through all rounds. In 2005, Williams met with officials from both tournaments, arguing that female tennis players should be paid as much as males. Although WTA tour President Larry Scott commented that she left "a very meaningful impression," Williams's demands were rejected.

The turning point was an essay published in the The Times on the eve of Wimbledon in 2006. In it, Williams accused Wimbledon of being on the "wrong side of history," writing:

I feel so strongly that Wimbledon’s stance devalues the principle of meritocracy and diminishes the years of hard work that women on the tour have put into becoming professional tennis players.

I believe that athletes — especially female athletes in the world’s leading sport for women — should serve as role models. The message I like to convey to women and girls across the globe is that there is no glass ceiling. My fear is that Wimbledon is loudly and clearly sending the opposite message....

Wimbledon has argued that women’s tennis is worth less for a variety of reasons; it says, for example, that because men play a best of five sets game they work harder for their prize money.

This argument just doesn’t make sense; first of all, women players would be happy to play five sets matches in grand slam tournaments....

Secondly, tennis is unique in the world of professional sports. No other sport has men and women competing for a grand slam championship on the same stage, at the same time. So in the eyes of the general public the men’s and women’s games have the same value.

Third, ... we enjoy huge and equal celebrity and are paid for the value we deliver to broadcasters and spectators, not the amount of time we spend on the stage. And, for the record, the ladies’ final at Wimbledon in 2005 lasted 45 minutes longer than the men’s....

Wimbledon has justified treating women as second class because we do more for the tournament. The argument goes that the top women — who are more likely also to play doubles matches than their male peers — earn more than the top men if you count singles, doubles and mixed doubles prize money. So the more we support the tournament, the more unequally we should be treated! But doubles and mixed doubles are separate events from the singles competition. Is Wimbledon suggesting that, if the top women withdrew from the doubles events, that then we would deserve equal prize money in singles? And how then does the All England Club explain why the pot of women’s doubles prize money is nearly £130,000 smaller than the men’s doubles prize money?

I intend to keep doing everything I can until Billie Jean's original dream of equality is made real. It’s a shame that the name of the greatest tournament in tennis, an event that should be a positive symbol for the sport, is tarnished.

In response, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and members of Parliament publicly endorsed Williams's arguments. Later that year, the Women's Tennis Association and UNESCO teamed for a campaign to promote gender equality in sports, asking Williams to lead the campaign. Under enormous pressure, Wimbledon announced in February 2007 that it would award equal prize money to all competitors in all rounds, and the French Open followed suit a day later. In the aftermath, French Tennis Federation president Christian Bimes admitted he had been "particularly sensitive" to Williams's remarks,, and the Chicago Sun-Times cited Williams as "the single factor" that "changed the minds of the boys" and a leader whose "willingness to take a public stand separates her not only from most of her female peers, but also from our most celebrated male athletes." Williams herself commented, "Somewhere in the world a little girl is dreaming of holding a giant trophy in her hands and being viewed as an equal to boys who have similar dreams."

Venus herself ultimately became the first woman to benefit from the equalization of prize money at Wimbledon, winning the 2007 tournament and being awarded the same amount as the male winner.

Her boyfriend, pro golfer Hank Kuehne, has been a visible presence since Wimbledon, 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."

Venus is a businesswoman and CEO of her interior design firm "V Starr Interiors" located in Jupiter, Florida. Williams' company garnered prominence by designing the set of the "Tavis Smiley Show" on PBS, designed the Olympic athletes apartments as a part of the U.S. bid package for New York to host the 2012 games, and designed for residences and businesses in the Palm Beach, Florida area. Most recently Venus Williams has teamed up with retailer Steve & Barry's to launch her own fashion line EleVen to be in stores from November with over 120 pieces. "I love fashion and the idea that I am using my design education to actually create clothing and footwear that I will wear on and off the tennis court is a dream come true for me," Williams said, "the vision has been to create a collection that will allow women to enjoy an active lifestyle while remaining fashionable at the same time. I'm thrilled with everything we've created to launch EleVen."

In 2001, Williams was named one of the 30 most powerful women in America by Ladies Home Journal. .

Grand slam events in boldface.

*1997: U.S. Open (lost to M. Hingis) *1998: Sydney (lost to A. Sanchez-Vicario) *1998: Rome (lost to M. Hingis) *1998: Stanford (lost to L. Davenport) *1998: Zurich (lost to M. Hingis) *1999: Hannover (lost to Jana Novotna) *1999: Stanford (lost to L. Davenport) *1999: San Diego (lost to M. Hingis) *1999: Munich (lost to S. Williams) *2000: Linz (lost to L. Davenport) *2002: Hamburg (lost to K. Clijsters)

*2002: French Open (lost to S. Williams) *2002: Wimbledon (lost to S. Williams) *2002: U.S. Open (lost to S. Williams) *2003: Australian Open (lost to S. Williams) *2003: Warsaw (lost to A. Mauresmo) *2003: Wimbledon (lost to S. Williams) *2004: Berlin (lost to A. Mauresmo) *2004: Stanford (lost to L. Davenport) *2005: Antwerp (lost to A. Mauresmo) *2005: Stanford (lost to K. Clijsters) *2007: Japan Open (lost to V.Razzano)

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the 2007 PTT Bangkok Open in Bangkok, Thailand, which ended for Venus on October 13, 2007.

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

¹ The San Diego tournament achieved Tier I status only in 2004.

² If Fed Cup (14-2) participation is included, overall win-loss record stands at 475-110.

*List of Grand Slam Women's Singles champions *List of Grand Slam Women's Doubles champions *List of Grand Slam Mixed Doubles champions *List of famous tall women *List of celebrities who have been Punk'd from Season 6 to Present

* *Venus Williams Official website *V Starr Interiors website *ElevenbyVenus website