Venus Williams: personal life and career of a tennis player

Venus Williams is one of the best athletes of our time. The American has many medals, victories at the Olympic Games and Grand Slam tournaments. She managed to build an excellent career in such a difficult sport as tennis. And now we will tell you the entire biography, career and personal life of the incredible tennis player.

Early life

The Williams sisters in childhood
The year of birth of the international sports star is June 17, 1980, and the place of birth is the American town of Lynnwood, located in the state of California. In addition to herself, there were other children in the family, including from her parents’ previous marriages. The head of the family was the owner of a security agency, and his wife, in turn, worked in a hospital as a nurse.

At the age of seven, Venus first stood out among the rest of her peers: after all, her talent and innate ability to play was then noticed by former professional tennis player Tony Cesta. Then, when she turned ten, the family moved to Florida, where both Williams sisters were sent to the Rick Macchi Academy and there they began to play tennis in earnest. Under Macci’s leadership, the girl is progressing greatly and in the U-12 category (up to twelve years old) she takes first place among players in Southern California + also achieves a record of 63 wins and 0 losses within the USTA (United States Tennis Association). In 1995, Richard Williams, who had previously trained children on his own, took his sisters from the academy and continued to train them at home.

I hope he's ready to start a family.

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The start of performances at the highest level

The beginning of performances at the highest level
Venus made her debut at the professional level at the age of fourteen (1994), but this circumstance did not become an obstacle to her path, but rather, on the contrary, encouraged the young teenager to show special efforts and zeal. As a result, at her first serious sporting event, she managed to reach the second stage of the Auckland WTA, where she lost the match to the future winner of the tournament.

In 1995, she already had three tournaments under her belt: in two of them (in Los Angeles and Toronto) she suffered defeats in the first rounds, and in Auckland she reached the quarterfinals, losing to number 20 Magdalena Maleeva, but this in the second round, winning against Amy Fraser, who was then the 18th seed.

The following year, 1996, Williams took part in five tennis events, in four of which losses were recorded immediately in the first stages, and only in Los Angeles did she reach the third round, where she lost to the second seeded racket in that tournament.

Venus Williams: personal life

Besides the court, the American tennis player is interested in many other things. She took art classes and became certified as an interior designer. Venus Williams created a clothing line called EleVen, as well as a women's collection for Wilson's Leather. She also opened her own design company, V Starr Interiors, which designs spaces throughout the United States.

In 2009, Venus and Serena Williams became the first African-American women to purchase shares of the Miami Dolphins NFL team. The following year, Venus Williams co-authored the New York Times bestseller The Path to Victory: Business Leaders, Artists, Doctors and Other Visionaries on How Sports Can Help You Reach the Top of Your Profession, for which she interviewed such successful people as Sir Richard Branson and Condoleezza Rice, asking about their early sporting experiences.

Venus Williams graduated with a degree in business management from Indiana University in 2015 and plans to pursue a master's degree.

From Wimbledon 2007 to 2010, she dated professional golfer Hank Kuhn. Her current partner is Cuban model Elio Piz, whom she met while filming for her fashion line EleVen.

Breakthrough and success in tennis

A breakthrough in tennis
The following years were practically marked by the birth of a new world star and various kinds of successes on her part. So, in 1995, Venus already participated in fifteen events, five of which were of the first level rank, and in three of them the American reached the quarterfinals. On April 14, 1997, she broke into the TOP 100 rackets in the world. The real breakthrough for her was the American Open 1997, when the young girl sensationally reached the final match of the prestigious tournament, and as a result, by the end of that year she became one of the 22 strongest tennis players on the planet.

1998 became the period of her first serious victories, during which she conquered various singles and doubles tournaments in the WTA (Oklahoma City, Florida, Munich, Zurich) + several times she managed to get into the finals of certain competitions. However, the main achievements here are triumphs at the US Open and Australian Open for mixed doubles, where her partner was Justin Gimelstob. Thanks to this, she is then ranked as high as fifth in the world women's rankings.

In 1999, the sensational athlete became the winner of three first-level WTA tournaments, and together with her sister, she achieved two Grand Slam competitions: Roland-Garros and the US Open. Such achievements, of course, then fully confirmed the rise of new world tennis stars.

In subsequent years, Venus only continues to gain momentum and, simultaneously participating in all possible categories (singles, doubles, mixed), begins to win simply amazing victories at key tennis championships: from Grand Slam tournaments to the Olympic Games, in this regard she won as many as 4 gold medals medals and one silver.

Among its peaks, perhaps, it is worth highlighting separately:

11 Wimbledon (5 singles and 6 doubles),
4 US Open (2 singles and 2 doubles),
5 Australian Open (4 doubles and one mixed),
3 Roland-Garros (2 doubles and one mixed).

Of course, many of the above victories were achieved together with sister Serena, a powerful tandem with whom practically did not leave any serious chances for other rivals.

Success

In 1997, Venus Williams became the first unseeded female finalist at the US Open since the Open era began in 1968, losing only to Martina Hingis. In 2000, she won both Wimbledon and the US Open, which gave her the opportunity to sign a $40 million advertising contract with Reebok. She then defended her titles in 2001.

At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Williams won the gold medal in singles and then finished 2nd in doubles with Serena. The sisters attribute their successes in tennis, whether on the same or opposite sides of the court, to each other. Together the pair won 14 Grand Slam titles and reached the finals more than 20 times.

A lingering wrist injury limited Venus Williams to only a few competitions in 2006, but she returned to form in 2007, winning the singles title at Wimbledon. The American tennis player repeated the victory a year later, beating Serena and winning the 5th Wimbledon tournament in her career. A few months later, the Williams sisters teamed up to win the doubles title at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Playing style

Playing style
Strong physical fitness and an aggressive playing style have been the calling cards of the American tennis player for many years, bringing her numerous victories on world courts. She feels best on grass, as evidenced by her victories at the Wimbledon tournament. She makes excellent use of volleys, which, coupled with the length of her arms, allows her to perform excellently around the net, and also has quite competent defense.

Performance statistics and WTA titles

The personal record of the American athlete to date, that is, at the time of the fall of 2020, approximately totals more than 800 victories and 250 defeats in singles, 185 victories and 36 defeats in doubles, as well as 28 victories and 8 defeats in mixed. The WTA titles in this case were distributed exactly as follows: in singles there are at least 49, in doubles - 22, and in mixed - about 2. It is quite possible that all these indicators will improve over time, because Venus’s professional performances (and in She turned 40 years old in 2020) and continues to this day.

Personal life and other facts

Serena and Venus Williams with their father
Thanks to years of hard training and numerous triumphs on the tennis court, Venus has amassed a large fortune, becoming one of the richest athletes on the planet: tournament prize money alone brought her about $41 million.

He is the designer of his own clothing line, Eleven, which is distributed through the Gilte Group. In addition, she actively collaborates with various well-known brands, including Wilson, Electronic Arts, Kraft, Ralph Lauren and Tide.

Some decline in Venus' game at a certain time was associated with an autoimmune disease, as a result of which she then had to switch to veganism.

She doesn’t have a family or children yet, which, according to the tennis player, has always allowed her to focus on sports.

In 2005, Tennis Magazine ranked Venus as the 25th best player of the last 40 years, and in 2011, Time included her in 30 tennis legends past, present and future.

In addition to clothing design, for which she even studied at a special institution, the tennis player is interested in playing musical instruments, writing poetry, antiques from Asia, dancing, culture, art and much more.

Venus Williams is undoubtedly one of the most powerful tennis players in the history of this sport, who managed to achieve almost all the heights in her professional career, and therefore it is not surprising that she will always arouse great interest among fans and specialists and occupy leading positions in a variety of ratings.

Ugly Ducklings Williams

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VINUS AND SERENA: For the sake of fame they refuse dates with guys

“I programmed the birth of Venus and Serena because I was going to raise two queens of tennis,” Richard , the father and first coach of the stars, proudly claims. Today people listen to him with open ears, but for many years friends and neighbors unanimously called this obsessed black man a moron. To which Williams shrugged his shoulders contemptuously every time, smiled with his toothless mouth and continued to believe that one day the Wimbledon final would become the property of his family. And it happened! Serena and Venus Williams who met in the decisive match . “Here it is, our finale - only blacks, only Williams and only sisters!” - said old Williams enthusiastically.

Today, Venus is a favorite subject of photographers: the whole world considers Black Venus incredibly sexy and goes crazy over her short dresses and flirty black braids, into which the star has woven two thousand real pearls. Serena is being pursued by journalists in the hope of getting something fried out of her: the Black Panther does not mince words and once, for example, told the press that Williams is not the last name of her family at all. It was just the name of the slave owner who bought her ancestors. However, the biggest phenomenon of the star family is, of course, the dad.

Uncle Richard's Cabin

The tennis divas' father was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, the youngest of Julia May's . There were never any men in the family, and Julia made her living by a purely black occupation - picking cotton on plantations. His stern mother sent Richard to work when he was still a child and beat him heartily if he brought home bad grades from school. But she diligently hammered into his head that a person should be strong and draw faith from himself.

DAD TO DAUGHTERS: study and work will grind everything down

At the age of 16, young Williams dropped out of school and went to seek a better life in Chicago, then moved to Los Angeles. He worked wherever he had to, and at night he slept in a car dump. But I saved money. One day, at a bus stop, he met a young girl, Orasin (they were 10 years apart), immediately fell in love, in his own words, with her legs and pursued her until he got her phone number.

They soon got married, and when their first child, Yetunde, was born, Richard decided to move to the ghetto of Compton, a terrible neighborhood in Los Angeles that enjoys the worst reputation in the city. “I always wanted my children to have the same hard time as me, and for them to rely only on themselves - that’s how my mother raised me,” he later explained his extraordinary step. Daughters Isha and Lindrea had already been born when Williams saw a television report about a young tennis player who had received a prize equal to her year's scholarship at a competition. And then it dawned on him: “I told my wife that we will have two more daughters, and I will teach them to play tennis, and they will become champions.” The wife didn’t even want to hear about it and got hooked on birth control pills. However, the daughters were born, and Richard, in order to start training them, took up tennis himself.

Loaded up future tennis players from the age of two

GHETTO LOS ANGELES: the Williams family lived here

As soon as Venus was two years old, her dad began taking her to work with him to deliver phone bills. The little one was loaded down with heavy folders and books: this is how the muscles are trained, they say. At four years old, Richard had already put a racket in her hand. Two years later, Serena followed in her sister's footsteps.

Soon the girls became regulars at the Compton tennis fields, which their caring father cleared of crowds of drug addicts before each practice.
And one day, the whole trio had to throw themselves on the ground right in the middle of training, so as not to fall under machine gun fire from local mafiosi during their next showdown. The decision to change the area came much later and for a completely different reason. The Williams girls had been going to school for a long time, and for the first year their father forbade them to train at all, so that sports would not interfere with their studies. And when they brought home brilliant grades and returned to the court, the old man Richard accidentally overheard, as some mother casually abandoned her daughter: “And this black man beat you from the ghetto?” This was enough for the move. Venus was 10 years old at the time, Serena was nine. They were just starting to shine in the city's youth tournaments when Richard took them both off the courts and moved with his family to Florida. Rick Macchi to train his daughters . Before graduation, the girls' first priority was school, their free time was spent on training, and the entertainment in their lives could be counted on one hand: they were allowed to go to the cinema no more than four times a year. There was no talk of gentlemen in this house: Orasin’s mother was a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses sect and recognized love only on the eve of the wedding (by the way, the sisters to this day do not have any personal life).

NEW ESTATE IN FLORIDA: bought with tennis prize money

The girls made their debut in professional sports when they were 14 years old. And very soon an advertising agent showed up at their house, offering Williams millions of dollars for a long-term contract to advertise a sports company. To which Richard sent him with not the most decent words and slammed the door in his face, adding: “Listen, mister! My daughters will surpass Michael Jordan himself in fame! And you’re offering me some measly pennies...” And indeed, two years later, he signed a multimillion-dollar contract for Venus with.

As for Serena, until she entered the top ten of the country, Williams flatly refused the most tempting offers from world-famous companies, such as Puma, declaring each time that his girl was worth much more. Nowadays, black sisters openly spit on the laws of tennis: after a victory, the first thing they do is rush to hug their father, rather than shake hands with their rivals, and only then graciously accept the final cup. For them, there are only two postulates, hammered into their heads by Richard since childhood: never retreat and never ask for forgiveness. But the question is: how long will they stay at the top of the tennis Olympus? You might feel dizzy...

DOSSIER "EG"

SERENA

*
Born September 26, 1981 in Saginaw, Michigan, USA * Zodiac sign : Libra. * Height : 1.78. * Weight : 75 kg. * Favorite tennis player : John McKinroe. * Favorite color : purple. * Favorite purchases : Victoria's Secret underwear and Mac cosmetics. * Hobbies : surfing, skateboarding. * Foreign languages : French, a little Russian. * Car : BMW third series, yellow with a Titty chicken on the antenna. * Religion : sect “Jehovah's Witnesses. * Historical phrase : “I was born to become a champion.”
VINUS

*
Born on June 17, 1980 in Lynnwood, California, USA * Zodiac sign : Gemini. * Height : 1.86 m. * Weight : 73 kg. * Favorite tennis player : Pete Sampras. * Favorite color : blue. * Favorite purchases : diamonds, sapphires, gold jewelry. * Hobbies : surfing, guitar. * Foreign languages : French, German, plans to learn Italian. * Car : Porsche 911 series, black. * Religion : Jehovah's Witnesses sect. * Historical phrase : “I can’t find anything in myself that I don’t like.”