Venus Williams

Seven-time Grand Slam singles champion and pioneer of power tennis in the women's game. Won five Wimbledon titles and was the first Black woman to reach world number one in the Open Era. Alongside sister Serena, she won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles and four Olympic gold medals. Her campaign for equal prize money at Wimbledon succeeded in 2007 and transformed the economics of women's professional sport.

Venus Ebony Starr Williams was born in Lynwood, California in 1980 and turned professional in 1994, winning 7 Grand Slam singles titles — 5 Wimbledons and 2 US Opens — and 49 WTA titles across a career spanning three decades. She reached world number one in 2002. She served 3,900+ career aces. Her Wimbledon record of 5 titles places her equal third in the Open Era for women. She won Olympic singles gold at Sydney 2000 and Olympic doubles gold 3 times alongside Serena. Her career win percentage of 76% across 900+ matches represents sustained elite performance through a career marked by health challenges — she was diagnosed with Sjögren's syndrome, an autoimmune condition, in 2011. Despite the condition she continued competing at Grand Slam level into her forties. She was a pioneer in the campaign for equal prize money — her lobbying contributed to Wimbledon equalising prize money for men and women in 2007. She reached Grand Slam finals at the Australian Open (2003, 2017), French Open (2002) and US Open (2017) in addition to her 7 titles. Her 2017 Australian Open and Wimbledon finals appearances came at 36 — among the oldest Grand Slam finalist performances in the Open Era.

• Wimbledon 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008 (5 titles)
• US Open 2000, 2001
• Olympic Gold 2000 (Singles), 2000, 2008, 2012 (Doubles)
• WTA Elite Trophy 2017
• Equal prize money advocate at Wimbledon 2007
• Diagnosed with Sjögren's syndrome 2011