Celebrity Movie Blog

Who is Venus Williams?

Venus Williams was born June 17th, 1980 in Lynwood, California. She is history and game changing tennis champion who has helped bring gender equality to her sport, the older sister of fellow tennis star, Serena, and CEO of her own interior design firm V Starr Interiors. Williams tennis credentials come from 4 Wimbledon titles, an Olympic Gold medal at Sydney, 10 other Grand Slam titles, and often holding the number 1 ranking. She and sister Serena have a well known friendly rivalry, but working together as Womens Doubles partners has brought them 6 Grand Slam wins and the Gold Medal from the Sydney Olympics 2000 bringing Venuses Olympic medal count to 2. At 6 ft. 1 inches tall (1.85m) with the fastest serve clocked in womens tennis history, 129 mph recorded at the 2007 French Open, Williams is one of the foremost power players who made todays game what it is. But tennis history was changed by Venuses lobbying of officials from the French Open and Wimbledon in 2005 for womens pay to be made equal to mens. When nothing came of it, she wrote an eloquent open letter to The Times in 2006 with arguments that swayed then Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Womens Tennis Association and UNESCO to all begin pressuring tennis for gender equality. Wimbledon finally gave in, followed by the French Open, the U.S. Open and numerous other tournaments. Williams cites Billie Jean Kings decades of lobbying as setting the stage for this accomplishment, but generations will benefit from both their efforts.