Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williamsis an American professional tennis player, who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 6 in singles as of July 25, 2016. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three occasions, for a total of 11 weeks. She became the World No. 1 for the first time on February 25, 2002, becoming the first black American woman to achieve this feat during the Open Era...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTennis Player
Date of Birth17 June 1980
CityLynwood, CA
CountryUnited States of America
The big push for me is the Olympics this year. If I'm healthy, I'm not worried about my ranking. I think I can hit the ball. It's just about my body cooperating. It's about being able to play matches in a row. Right now, I'm not sure how much I can do with that, but we'll see.
Sjogren's is something you live with your whole life. The good news for me is now I know what's happening after spending years not knowing... I feel like I can get better and move on.
The thing is, it's not good anyway for eight-year-olds to be out there playing tennis tournaments so soon in their lives. But when I did get to play in a tournament, when I was nine, I was overjoyed.
Serena and I have done some great career planning, and we're playing really at the peak of our tennis right now. I think tennis has been a sport where people play this insane schedule from 14 years old, so of course at 26, it's over. We've really paced ourselves.
I'm very disappointed, obviously. I just couldn't pull my game together.
Injuries are part of sports, but right now, (I'm) solid.
I knew she was watching when Serena won the U.S. Open and she's happy to see another black woman win in her lifetime.
I just wasn't used to getting beaten the way she beat me, ... Every time I step on the court, even if it's against Serena, I still feel like I should be the better player because, really, that's how we were raised to think when you came out on the court. So I guess that was probably a factor.
I'm feeling good, ... I think it was good for me to be away -- I think it extended my career. At this point I prefer to do tennis more than anything else.
I'm definitely in a lot better form than I was last year.
I'm really dedicated to getting my ranking up. I feel like, wow, I'm a very good player. There are all these people ranked ahead of me. After a while, I'm tired of being ranked low.
I'm just looking forward to more, I want to win another title -- starting here in Beijing.
I'm so proud to have followed her achievements and to have done it in her lifetime.
I had some great matches but I didn't play too hot today.