Who is Venus Williams?

Venus Williams, along with her sister, Serena Williams, made headlines on Thursday, September 1, when they were knocked out of US Open 2022 women’s doubles first round by Czech pair Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova. The match at the Flushing Meadows might just have been their final doubles game together and it could be the end of one of the best women’s doubles partnerships of all time.

Who is Venus Williams?

Venus Williams was born on June 17, 1980, in Lynwood, California, the United States to Richard Williams and Oracene Price. She played tennis while growing up when a local player, Tony Chesta, spotted her potential when she was only 7.

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Venus has a sister, Serena Williams, and the duo is regarded as some of the best women’s players in the history of tennis. The Williams family moved to West Palm Beach in Florida when Venus was 13 so she and her sister could attend a tennis academy.

Venus Williams soon broke into the national scene, when she became the no.1 ranked player among under-12 players in Southern California. She also had a 63-0 record on the USTA junior tour at the time. Her father Richard later pull her and Serena off the academy and became their coach himself.

Venus became a professional tennis player on October 31, 1994. She played against Shaun Stafford in her first professional match, who at the time was just coming off of a fourth-round campaign at the French Open. She beat Stafford 6-3, 6-4 in the match. Venus went on to face the world no. 2 of the time, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, in the next match, however, lost.

In the next two years, Venus played eight more tournaments, facing the likes of Amy Frazier, Magdalena Maleeva and Steffi Graf, displaying great potential against all of them.

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She made her Grand Slam singles debut in 1997 in the French Open, the same year she broke into the world’s top 100. She reached the second round at Roland Garros before making her Wimbledon and US Open debuts. She also made her doubles debut this year, with sister Serena Williams at the US Open.

She won the mixed doubles titles at the Australian Open and French Open in 1998. Since then, she has gone on to win 73 singles titles and 23 doubles titles.