COUNTRY OF BIRTH

USA

INDUSTRY

Sports

TOP ACHIEVEMENTS

Venus and Serena Williams ushered in a new era of athletic excellence and female power in women’s professional tennis and are considered two of the greatest players of all time. Their influence has opened doors for female athletes, enforced gender equality in sport, and redefined excellence in women’s tennis.

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) and Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) are the two youngest daughters of Richard Williams and Oracene Price. Growing up in the notoriously rough city of Compton, California, the sisters were homeschooled and began playing tennis by the age of four, coached by their parents. In 1990, the family moved from Compton to West Palm Beach, Florida, so that both sisters could attend Rick Macci’s tennis academy where they trained for six hours a day, six days a week, for four years.

EARLY CAREER

This dedication paid off when the sisters both landed multi-million-dollar sponsorship deals while still in their early teens and quickly turned professional. In 1994, the 14-year-old Venus won her very first professional match against NCAA champion Shaun Stafford, at the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland. In 1997, she became the first ever unseeded finalist at the US Women’s Open. In 2000, Venus won both Wimbledon and the US Open, and successfully defended both titles again in 2001. Meanwhile, in 1995, Serena had also begun entering professional tournaments. At the 1997 Ameritech Cup Chicago, she became the lowest-ranked tennis player (304) to ever defeat two top-10 opponents in the same tournament. By the end of 1999, at the young age of 17, she had won the US Open and was ranked world No. 4 in singles. In 2002, Serena beat Venus in the Wimbledon final, earning herself not just the championship title but also the world No. 1 ranking for the first time.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Between 2000 and 2016, Venus won five Wimbledon singles titles while Serena won seven. Both women have won four gold medals at the Summer Olympics, one each in singles and three in doubles - the most of any tennis player ever. As a duo, they have twice completed the Career Golden Slam in doubles. Between the two of them, they have completed the Boxed Set, winning all 4 Grand Slams in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles. The Williams sisters have met 31 times in professional tournaments, with Serena winning 19 times and Venus 12. Venus has been ranked the number one female tennis player in the world for a total of 11 weeks while Serena has totaled 316 weeks at the top. In 2002, Venus and Serena were ranked first and second in the world, respectively, marking the first time in history that sisters occupied the top two singles spots in the world rankings.

RECOGNITION

Serena is included in TIME Magazine World’s 100 Most Influential People, while Venus is listed on Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women in the World. Both women have been recognized with the WTA Player of the Year Award and BET’s Female Athlete of the Year Award on multiple occasions.

ADDITIONAL FACTS

• Venus Williams holds the record for the fastest serve by a woman, at 130 miles per hour.
• Richard Williams taught himself, his wife, and his daughters how to play tennis after being amazed at how much prize money was available in the sport. Serena Williams is now the richest female athlete of all time in any discipline, with over US $86 million in prize money alone, while the sisters’ current collective net worth is estimated at US $335 million.
• Venus Williams is a leader in the fight for gender equality in sports. As a result of her activism, in 2007, both Wimbledon and the French Open announced that they would award equal prize money to all competitors in all rounds, regardless of gender, for the first time.