Venus Williams Biography
The following biography
is from
Wikipedia.org
“The
Free Encyclopedia.”
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 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 Summer Olympics in 2000, the 1999 French Open
doubles (with sister Serena as her partner), and five other doubles and
two mixed doubles grand slams. In 2000, she won the Wimbledon
championship and the U.S. Open in singles and defended both titles in
2001. In 2002 and 2003, Venus reached five consecutive major finals, and
lost all of them to her sister 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 what happened to
this link?, 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 16 she served
the fastest serve by any woman (127.4 MPH) to Ace Mary Pierce at the
final of an event in Korea.
Titles (43)
|
Legend (Singles) |
|
Grand Slam (5) |
|
WTA
Championships (0) |
|
Olympic Gold (1) |
|
Tier I Event (6) |
|
WTA
Tour (23) |
Singles (33)
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
9. |
1999-10-11 |
Zurich, Switzerland |
Hard |
Martina Hingis (Switzerland) |
6-3 6-4 |
|
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 |
|
14. |
2000-08-28 |
U.S. Open,
New York, USA |
Hard |
Lindsay Davenport (USA) |
6-4 7-5 |
|
15. |
2000-09-18 |
The Olympics, Sydney, Australia |
Hard |
Elena Dementieva (Russia) |
6-2 6-4 |
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
21. |
2001-08-27 |
U.S. Open,
New York, USA |
Hard |
Serena Williams (USA) |
6-2 6-4 |
|
22. |
2001-12-31 |
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 |
|
30. |
2004-04-12 |
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 |
|
33. |
2005-06-21 |
Wimbledon,
London, Great Britain |
Grass |
Lindsay Davenport (USA) |
4-6 7-6 9-7 |
Singles Finalist (21)
Grand slam events in boldface.
-
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 Lindsay Davenport)
-
1999: Hannover
(lost to Jana Novotna)
-
1999: Stanford
(lost to Lindsay Davenport)
-
1999: San Diego
(lost to Monica Seles)
-
1999: Munich
(lost to Serena Williams)
-
2000: Linz (lost
to Lindsay Davenport)
|
-
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
|
Tournament |
2005 |
2004 |
2003 |
2002 |
2001 |
2000 |
1999 |
1998 |
1997 |
Career |
|
Australian Open |
4r |
3r |
F |
QF |
SF |
- |
QF |
QF |
- |
0 |
|
French Open |
3r |
QF |
4r |
F |
1r |
QF |
4r |
QF |
2r |
0 |
|
Wimbledon |
W |
2r |
F |
F |
W |
W |
QF |
QF |
1r |
3 |
|
US Open |
|
4r |
- |
F |
W |
W |
SF |
SF |
F |
2 |
Doubles (10)
Grand slam events in boldface.
Doubles partner sister Serena Williams.
* * * *
The
above biography has been copied in part or in whole
from an article on
Wikipedia.org
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URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Williams
Date Article Copied:
August 7, 2005
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