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Venus Ebone Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is
a former World No. 1 tennis champion who was born
in Lynwood, California, United States. She is the
daughter of Richard Williams (tennis)|Richard and
Oracene Williams and the older sister of another
tennis champion, Serena Williams.

==Tennis career==
Venus turned professional in the 1990s, then won
many important championships, including two Gold
medals at the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics|Summer
Olympics in 2000, the 1999 French Open doubles
(with sister Serena as her partner), and five
other doubles and two mixed doubles Grand Slam in
tennis|grand slams. In 2000, she won the Wimbledon
championships|Wimbledon championship and the U.S.
Open (tennis)|U.S. Open in singles and defended
both titles in 2001. In 2002 and 2003, Venus
reached five consecutive Grand Slam in
tennis|major finals, and lost all of them to her
sister Serena Williams|Serena.

When Venus and Serena won the 1999 French Open
doubles title, they became the first pair of
sisters to win a doubles title in the 20th
century.  They remain a dominant doubles team when
they choose to play.

In 2003, Williams faced her sister Serena Williams
at the 2003 Wimbledon finals despite suffering a
severe abdominal injury which required medical
attention during the match. Venus eventually lost
to her sister Serena, 6-4, 4-6, 2-6.

Venus and Serena's older sister, Yetunde Price,
was killed by gunshots in the Compton area on the
morning of September 14, 2003.

The era of domination by the Williams sisters
began to close out after the murder of their
sister. Both Venus and Serena suffered injuries
(Venus with a severe adductor muscle tear) that
kept them out of the latter part of the 2003
season. In that time, Belgian players Kim
Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne took over as
the most dominant players in the game.

Upon their return in 2004, the Williams sisters
failed to recapture their previous best, including
Venus's controversial defeat in a second round
loss to Croatian Karolina Sprem at Wimbledon. The
referee of the match, Ted Watts awarded Sprem an
unearned point in the deciding tiebreak. Upon the
conclusion of the match, he was quickly relieved
of his duties. Her sister, Serena Williams, made
the finals of 2004 Wimbledon, losing to Maria
Sharapova.

Venus' 2005 season began similarly patchy, with
one Tier III title (Istanbul) and a series of
unusual losses. However, media attention and
public interest in both of the Williams sisters
continued with their fashion and interior design
companies as well as their reality TV series.

However, after an embarrassing loss to 15-year old
Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva at the 2005 French
Open, Venus reached the 2005 Wimbledon finals
without dropping a set.  She defeated the
defending champion Maria Sharapova with a
blistering display of power tennis in the
semifinals in straight sets, decisively breaking
Sharapova's serve four times. (Sharapova had lost
only one service game in reaching the semifinal.)
This marked the sixth consecutive year that at
least one of the Williams sisters reached the
final.

In the longest Wimbledon final in history, Venus
overcame a match point against her to triumph over
top-seeded Lindsay Davenport 4-6 7-6(4) 9-7 to
claim the 2005 Wimbledon Championship - her third
Wimbledon title in six years. This was the first
time in 70 years that a player had won after
facing match point during the women's
championship. In addition, Williams, as the 14th
seed in the draw, was the lowest seed to win the
title in Wimbledon history.

At the age of 18 she served the fastest serve by
any woman (127.4 MPH) to Ace Mary Pierce at the
semifinals of the Swisscom Challenge in Zurich,
Switzerland.

==Titles (43)==
{| cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="1"
style="border: #cccccc solid 1px; border-collapse:
collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee" 
|Legend (Singles)
|- bgcolor="#e5d1cb" 
| Grand Slam (5)
|- bgcolor="#ffffcc" 
| WTA Championships (0)
|- bgcolor="gold"
| Olympic Gold (1)
|- bgcolor="#dfe2e9"
| Tier I Event (6)
|- bgcolor="#ffffff" 
| WTA Tour (23)
|}

===Singles (33)===
{| bgcolor="#f7f8ff" cellpadding="3"
cellspacing="0" border="1" style="font-size: 95%;
border: gray solid 1px; border-collapse:
collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
|No.
|Date
|Tournament
|Surface
|Opponent in the final
|Score
|-
| 1.  
| 1998-02-23 
| Oklahoma City, USA
| Hard
| Joannette Kruger (South Africa) 
| 6-3 6-2
|- bgcolor="#dfe2e9"
| 2.
| 1998-03-16 
| Key Biscayne, USA
| Hard
| Anna Kournikova (Russia)
| 2-6 6-4 6-1
|-
| 3.
| 1998-09-28 
| Munich, Germany (Grand Slam Cup) 
| Carpet
| Patty Schnyder (Switzerland)
| 6-2 3-6 6-2
|-
| 4. 
| 1999-02-22 
| Oklahoma City, USA
| Hard
| Amanda Coetzer (South Africa) 
| 6-4 6-0
|- bgcolor="#dfe2e9"
| 5. 
| 1999-03-15 
| Key Biscayne, USA
| Hard
| Serena Williams (USA) 
| 6-1 4-6 6-4
|- 
| 6. 
| 1999-04-26 
| Hamburg, Germany
| Clay
| Mary Pierce (France)
| 6-0 6-3
|- bgcolor="#dfe2e9"
| 7. 
| 1999-05-03 
| Rome, Italy
| Clay
| Mary Pierce (France) 
| 6-4 6-2 
|- 
| 8. 
| 1999-08-23 
| New Haven, USA
| Hard 
| Lindsay Davenport (USA)
| 6-2 7-5
|- bgcolor="#dfe2e9"
| 9. 
| 1999-10-11 
| Zurich, Switzerland
| Hard
| Martina Hingis (Switzerland) 
| 6-3 6-4 
|- bgcolor="#e5d1cb"
| 10.
| 2000-06-26 
| Wimbledon, London, Great Britain
| Grass
| Lindsay Davenport (USA)
| 6-3 7-6
|-
| 11. 
| 2000-07-24 
| Stanford, USA
| Hard
| Lindsay Davenport (USA)
| 6-1 6-4
|-
| 12. 
| 2000-07-31 
| San Diego, USA
| Hard
| Monica Seles (USA)
| 6-0 6-7 6-3
|-
| 13. 
| 2000-08-21 
| New Haven, USA
| Hard
| Monica Seles (USA) 
| 6-2 6-4 
|- bgcolor="#e5d1cb"
| 14.
| 2000-08-28 
| U.S. Open (tennis)|U.S. Open, New York, USA 
| Hard
| Lindsay Davenport (USA)
| 6-4 7-5
|- bgcolor="gold"
| 15.  
| 2000-09-18 
| 2000 Summer Olympics|The Olympics, Sydney,
Australia
| Hard
| Elena Dementieva (Russia)
| 6-2 6-4
|- bgcolor="#dfe2e9"
| 16. 
| 2001-03-19 
| Miami, USA
| Hard
| Jennifer Capriati (USA)
| 4-6 6-1 7-6
|- 
| 17. 
| 2001-04-30
| Hamburg, Germany
| Clay
| Meghann Shaughnessy (USA)
| 6-3 6-3
|- bgcolor="#e5d1cb"
| 18.
| 2001-06-25
| Wimbledon, London, Great Britain
| Grass
| Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium)
| 6-1 3-6 6-0
|-
| 19.
| 2001-07-30 
| San Diego, USA
| Hard
| Monica Seles (USA) 
| 6-2 6-3 
|-
| 20.
| 2001-08-20 
| New Haven, USA
| Hard
| Lindsay Davenport (USA) 
| 7-6 6-4  
|- bgcolor="#e5d1cb"
| 21. 
| 2001-08-27 
| U.S. Open (tennis)|U.S. Open, New York, USA
| Hard 
| Serena Williams (USA) 
| 6-2 6-4
|-
| 22.
| 2001-12-31 
| Gold Coast, Queensland|Gold Coast, Australia
| Hard
| Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium)
| 7-5 6-2
|-  
| 23. 
| 2002-02-04 
| Paris, France
| Hard
| Jelena Dokic (Serbia & Montenegro)
| W/O
|-
| 24. 
| 2002-02-11 
| Antwerp, Belgium
| Hard
| Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium)
| 6-3 5-7 6-3
|-
| 25. 
| 2002-04-08 
| Amelia Island
| Clay
| Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium) 
| 2-6 7-5 7-6
|-
| 26. 
| 2002-07-22 
| Stanford, USA
| Hard
| Kim Clijsters (Belgium)
| 6-3 6-3
|-
| 27.
| 2002-07-29 
| San Diego, USA
| Hard
| Jelena Dokic (Serbia & Montenegro)
| 6-2 6-2
|-
| 28.
| 2002-08-19 
| New Haven
| Hard
| Lindsay Davenport (USA) 
| 7-5 6-0 
|-
| 29. 
| 2003-02-10 
| Antwerp, Belgium
| Hard
| Kim Clijsters (Belgium)
| 6-2 6-4
|- bgcolor="#dfe2e9"
| 30.
| 2004-04-12 
| Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston, USA
| Clay
| Conchita Martinez (Spain)
| 2-6 6-2 6-1
|-
| 31.
| 2004-04-26 
| Warsaw, Poland
| Clay
| Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia)
| 6-1 6-4
|-
| 32.
| 2005-05-15
| Istanbul, Turkey
| Clay
| Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic)
| 6-3 6-2
|- bgcolor="#e5d1cb"
| 33.
| 2005-06-21
| Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon, London, Great
Britain
| Grass
| Lindsay Davenport (USA)
| 4-6 7-6 9-7
|}

===Singles Finalist (21)===
Grand slam events in boldface.
{| width=100%
| valign=top width=33% align=left |
*1997: U.S. Open (lost to Martina Hingis)
*1998: Sydney (lost to Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario)
*1998: Rome (lost to Martina Hingis)
*1998: Stanford (lost to Lindsay Davenport)
*1998: Zurich (lost to Martina Hingis)
*1999: Hannover (lost to Jana Novotna)
*1999: Stanford (lost to Lindsay Davenport)
*1999: San Diego (lost to Martina Hinghs)
*1999: Munich (lost to Serena Williams)
*2000: Linz (lost to Lindsay Davenport)
| valign=top width=33% align=left |
*2002: Hamburg (lost to Kim Clijsters)
*2002: Roland Garros (lost to Serena Williams)
*2002: Wimbledon (lost to Serena Williams)
*2002: U.S. Open (lost to Serena Williams)
*2003: Australian Open (lost to Serena Williams)
*2003: Warsaw (lost to Amelie Mauresmo)
*2003: Wimbledon (lost to Serena Williams)
*2004: Berlin (lost to Amelie Mauresmo)
*2004: Stanford (lost to Lindsay Davenport)
*2005: Antwerp (lost to Amelie Mauresmo)
*2005: Stanford (lost to Kim Clijsters)
|}

===Performance timeline===
{| bgcolor="#f7f8ff" cellpadding="3"
cellspacing="0" border="1" style="font-size: 95%;
border: gray solid 1px; border-collapse:
collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! Tournament !! 2005 !! 2004 !! 2003 !! 2002 !!
2001 !! 2000 !! 1999 !! 1998 !! 1997 !! Career
|-
|Australian Open
|align="center"|4r
|align="center"|3r
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|QF
|align="center"|SF
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|QF
|align="center"|QF
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|0
|-
|French Open
|align="center"|3r
|align="center"|QF
|align="center"|4r
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|1r
|align="center"|QF
|align="center"|4r
|align="center"|QF
|align="center"|2r
|align="center"|0
|-
|Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|2r
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|QF
|align="center"|QF
|align="center"|1r
|align="center"|3
|-
|U.S. Open (tennis)|US Open
|align="center"|
|align="center"|4r
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|SF
|align="center"|SF
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|2
|}

===Doubles (10)===
Grand slam events in boldface. Doubles
partner sister Serena Williams.
*1998: Oklahoma City
*1998: Zurich
*1999: Hannover 
*1999: French Open
*1999: U.S. Open
*2000: Wimbledon
*2000: Summer Olympics-Sydney 
*2001: Australian Open 
*2002: Wimbledon
*2003: Australian Open

==External links==
*http://www.venuswilliams.com/ Venus Williams
Official website

Tennis World Number Ones (women)
Footer Olympic Champions Tennis Women