Venus Williams
Venus Williams
17.06.1980 (44 years) (Lynwood, California, USA)
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 21 in the WTA singles rankings. She is generally regarded as one of the all-time greats of women's tennis and, along with younger sister Serena Williams, is credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on the women's professional tennis tour.Williams has been ranked world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association on three occasions, for a total of 11 weeks. She first reached the No. 1 ranking on February 25, 2002, the first African American woman to do so in the Open Era, and the second all time since Althea Gibson. Williams' seven Grand Slam singles titles are tied for 12th on the all-time list, and 8th on the Open Era list, more than any other active female player except Serena. She has reached 16 Grand Slam finals, most recently at Wimbledon in 2017. She has also won 14 Grand Slam Women's doubles titles, all with Serena; the pair is unbeaten in Grand Slam doubles finals.[19] Williams also has two Mixed Doubles titles. Her five Wimbledon singles titles tie her with two other women for eighth place on the all-time list, but gives her sole possession of No. 4 on the Open Era List, trailing only the nine titles of Martina Navratilova and the seven of Serena and Steffi Graf. From the 2000 Wimbledon Championships to the 2001 US Open, Williams won four of the six Grand Slam singles tournaments in that span. At the 2018 US Open, Williams extended her record as the all-time leader, male or female, in Grand Slams played, with 80. With her run to the 2017 Wimbledon singles final, she broke the record for longest time between first and most recent grand slam singles finals appearances. Williams has won four Olympic gold medals, one in singles and three in women's doubles, along with a silver medal in mixed doubles, pulling even with Kathleen McKane Godfree for the most Olympic medals won by a male or female tennis player. She is the only tennis player to have won a medal at four Olympic Games. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Williams became only the second player to win Olympic gold medals in both singles and doubles at the same Olympic Games, after Helen Wills Moody in 1924. With 49 singles titles, Williams trails only Serena among active players on the WTA Tour. Her 35-match winning streak from the 2000 Wimbledon Championships to the 2000 Generali Ladies Linz tournament final is the longest since January 1, 2000. She is also one of only three active WTA players to have made the finals of all four Grand Slams, along with Serena and Maria Sharapova.