Venus Williams

Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professionaltennis player. She has been ranked World No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association(WTA) on three separate occasions; as of February 1, 2010, she is ranked World No. 5. She is the reigning Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open doubles champion and has won 20 Grand Slam titles: seven in women's singles, eleven in women's doubles and two in mixed doubles. In addition, she has won three Olympic gold medals, one in women's singles and two in women's doubles.

Williams reached the US Open finals at the age of 17, becoming the first woman since 1978 to reach a US Open final on her début and was the first unseeded female US Open finalist since 1958. After her breakthrough, Williams breached the top ten on the WTA world rankings for the first time in 1998 when she won the Lipton Championships in Miami. Between 2000 and 2001, Williams won four of the six Grand Slam tournaments she entered. Her 35-match winning streak remains the longest of the millennium. She became the World No. 1 for the first time in February 2002.

Williams suffered an abdominal injury in mid-2003 which prevented her from playing. Upon her return in 2004, she experienced inconsistent results. In 2005, she won her first Grand Slam title in four years at Wimbledon, but since then she suffered from a wrist injury and only played six events in 2006. Her world rankings suffered as a result, being World No. 54 in February 2006. However, Williams eventually won another Grand Slam title at the Wimbledon in 2007, becoming the lowest-seeded and lowest-ranked Wimbledon champion in history. Williams returned to the top ten later that year and has since competed in every Grand Slam event. She returned to the top three for the first time in six years in May 2009.

Williams is the elder sister of the current World No.1 tennis player, Serena Williams. The sisters have played each other in 21 professional matches dating back to 1998, with Venus winning 10 matches played between them as of July 2009. Their meeting in the final of the 2001 US Open was the first Grand Slam final contested by two sisters in the open era. As of July 2009, they have met in eight Grand Slam finals, with Venus winning two of those. Between the 2002 French Open and the 2003 Australian Open, the sisters met in all four Grand Slam finals, the first time in the open era that the same two players had contested four consecutive Grand Slam finals.

Personal Life
On December 13, 2007, Williams received her associate degree in Fashion Design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale with Cum Laude honors and a 3.5 GPA.

Williams's longtime boyfriend, pro golfer Hank Kuehne, has been a visible presence since Wimbledon 2007, holding her hand during long rain delays and clapping support from the players' box along with her 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."

In 2003, Venus and Serena Williams's older sister Yetunde Price, 31, was shot dead near the courts on which the sisters once practiced. Price was the Williams sisters' personal assistant. The Williams family issued this statement shortly after the death: "We are extremely shocked, saddened and devastated by the shooting death of our beloved Yetunde. She was our nucleus and our rock. She was a personal assistant, confidante, and adviser to her sisters, and her death leaves a void that can never be filled. Our grief is overwhelming, and this is the saddest day of our lives."

Williams said her family's faith as Jehovah's Witnesses has helped her tremendously.


Entrepreneur

Williams is the chief executive officer of her interior design firm "V Starr Interiors" located in Jupiter, Florida. Williams's company designed the set of the Tavis Smiley Show on PBS, the Olympic athletes' apartments as part of the U.S. bid package for New York City to host the 2012 Olympic Games, and residences and businesses in the Palm Beach, Florida area.

In 2007, Williams teamed with retailer Steve & Barry's to launch her own fashion line EleVen. "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. 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 the Ladies Home Journal.

In June 2009, Venus was named 77th in the Top 100 Most Powerful Celebrities compiled by Forbes magazine.

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