Venus Williams

Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American inactive professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the U.S. Open. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

Along with her younger sister, Serena, Venus Williams was coached by her parents Oracene Price and Richard Williams. Turning professional in 1994, she reached her first major final at the 1997 U.S. Open. In 2000 and 2001, Williams claimed the Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles, as well as Olympic singles gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She first reached the singles world No. 1 ranking on 25 February 2002, becoming the first African American woman to do so in the Open era, and the second of all time after Althea Gibson. She reached four consecutive major finals between 2002 and 2003, but lost each time to Serena. She then suffered from injuries, winning just one major title between 2003 and 2006. Williams returned to form starting in 2007, when she won Wimbledon (a feat she repeated the following year). In 2010, she returned to the world No. 2 position in singles, but then suffered again from injuries. Starting in 2014, she again gradually returned to form, culminating in two major final appearances at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2017.

Along with her seven singles major titles, Williams has also won 14 women's doubles major titles, all partnering Serena; the pair are unbeaten in Grand Slam doubles finals. She became the world No. 1 in doubles for the first time on June 7, 2010, alongside Serena, after the pair completed a non-calendar-year Grand Slam at the French Open. The pair also won three Olympic gold medals in women's doubles, in 2000, 2008, and 2012, adding to Venus' singles gold in 2000 and her mixed doubles silver in 2016. Williams has also won two mixed doubles major titles, both in 1998.

The Williams sisters are credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on the women's professional tennis tour. With 49 WTA Tour singles titles, Williams has the most singles titles among active players. With 22 WTA doubles titles and two mixed doubles titles, her combined total of 73 WTA titles is also the most among active players. She is also the only active player to have reached the singles finals of all four majors. Williams was twice the season prize money leader (in 2001 and 2017), and ranks second behind Serena in all-time career prize money winnings, having earned over US$42 million as of March 2022.