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| Birth Name(s) : Venus Williams |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Single
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Full Venus Williams Biography
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.
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.
Williams started the year by losing to her sister Serena in three sets in the 2003 Australian Open final.
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 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.
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 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 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.
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. |
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