An eye for design.
A fight for equal pay.
A battle with a mysterious disease.
You may think you know who Venus Williams really is — but you have no idea.
Keep watching for all the details.
Venus Williams is a Jehovah's Witness, as are her sister Serena and their mother Oracene
Price.
Venus opted to convert after her mother decided to do so in the 80s, and she takes the tenets
of her faith very seriously.
For example, she doesn't celebrate most holidays, including her own birthday.
Venus hasn't spoken publicly about her religion very much, but she and Serena did once discuss
the topic during a 2002 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Serena noted that the two of them have a "strong spiritual background," while Venus shared
that she aspires to always be an honest person more than just about anything, and her religion
is a big reason why.
As she put it,
"I've never had a reason to lie, and I want to keep it that way.
I want to be a good example for my family and of my religion.
I also want to be proud of who I am and to know exactly what I want."
Venus Williams has been dominating the tennis world for almost as long as she's been playing
the game.
She made her professional debut in the sport when she was only 14 years old, with her first
pro match taking place at the Bank of The West Classic in Oakland, California on October
31, 1994.
In her first match, she defeated Shaun Stafford, who was then ranked 59th in the world.
In her next match, she very nearly beat Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain, who was then ranked
number two, which instantly vaulted Williams to international acclaim.
In its reporting of the match, The New York Times was especially complimentary, describing
Williams as:
"The most unorthodox tennis prodigy her sport has ever seen."
Williams' path toward professional tennis was an untraditional one.
Instead of the typical route of initially playing matches at the junior level, she leapt
right onto the sports' biggest stages.
"I was a little surprised at how I wasn't nervous at all."
Venus Williams has always made sure to cultivate a number of interests and opportunities outside
of tennis.
For example, in August 2009, she and her sister Serena decided to become part owners of the
NFL's Miami Dolphins.
At the time, the sisters both lived roughly an hour from the stadium where the Dolphins
play their home games.
Venus explained to ESPN that the move just made sense, as both sisters feel a strong
connection to Florida.
As she put it,
"To have this opportunity is really where our heart is.
We're South Florida girls.
When we get off the road, this is where we come home to.
When we come home to Dolphins games, it's going to be exciting."
Venus also noted that part of the appeal of going to football games for her is that she's
not the one playing.
When she's on a tennis court, it's difficult to really take in the experience, but when
she's at a Dolphins game, she's a fan just like anyone else in the stands.
As a professional athlete, Venus Williams understandably makes sure to focus on putting
healthy food into her body.
She credits her plant-based diet as the reason that she's been able to play tennis into her
40s.
As she revealed to Women's Health in 2020,
"I started eating raw and vegan for health reasons.
I needed to fuel my body in the best way possible.
Knowing how important a role my diet plays keeps me on track."
Despite her devotion to keeping it plant-based, Williams does sometimes deviate from the path.
As she admitted,
"I’m only human and am known to cheat a little bit.
I joke that I’m a 'chegan' because sometimes I’ve been known to stray."
Williams also talked with Women's Health about the details of her diet, as she noted that
a big meal in the morning isn't really her thing, so she often opts for a protein shake
instead.
Furthermore, she focuses on foods with nutrients that will help her stay strong, like protein,
and ones that will give her energy boosts, like carbs.
Her go-to while on the road at tournaments is a simple vegan Caesar salad.
These days at Wimbledon, the women receive the same prize money that the men do, but
that wasn't always the case.
And Venus Williams is a big reason that equity now exists at this major tennis tournament.
As she explained in an essay for British Vogue in 2021, she first became aware of the monetary
discrepancy back in 2000, when she learned that the Wimbledon gentlemen's champion received
$477,500, while the ladies' winner went home with $430,000.
So Williams then began lobbying the tournament for equal pay, and in 2007 she became the
first female tennis player to win the tournament and receive the same amount of prize money
as her male counterpart.
She explained why this mattered so much to her in the essay, as she declared,
"I firmly believe that sport mirrors life and life mirrors sport.
The lack of equality and equal opportunities in tennis is a symptom of the obstacles women
face around the world."
"Fighting for equality, I'm very passionate about.
Equality for all people, of course."
In 2007, Venus Williams launched her own activewear brand, EleVen, and she's quietly been building
quite the successful company ever since.
As she revealed to Racked in 2016, her interest in fashion design began when she was 18 years
old and was accepted into a program at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.
As she put it, when it was time to launch her own line, activewear was a clear fit,
considering her successful tennis career.
Williams is incredibly hands-on with the brand, as she involves herself with nearly every
aspect of the company.
From picking color stories, to understanding what goals the sales team has, to bringing
her sketchbook out on the road from tournament to tournament, she prides herself on making
sure she's up to date with everything EleVen hopes to accomplish.
Ultimately, what Williams loves the most about being a designer is seeing people wear what
she's helped bring to life.
She told Sports Illustrated Kids in 2018,
"My proudest moments as a designer have been seeing someone actually wearing my clothes!
You don't always know if someone will love what you design as much as you do.
It's satisfying to see people working out, doing something positive in EleVen."
"I never wear anything I don't like or don't look pretty good in."
Even though Venus Williams has spent most of her adulthood playing tennis, she's also
found the time to make good on her educational goals as well.
In August 2015, she graduated from Indiana University East.
She completed her bachelor's degree online and only visited the campus for the first
time on the day of her graduation.
This was her second degree, as she had completed a fashion design program in Fort Lauderdale,
Florida back in 2007.
She selected the program at Indiana University East because she loved how the college made
her feel.
As she explained in an article posted on the school's website,
"One of the main reasons that I chose IU East was because I felt so at home.
It was like family, like it was my school, and I was so excited."
Williams was also the first person to graduate under an agreement with the school and the
Women's Tennis Benefits Association.
The program makes it possible for professional tennis players to also enroll in classes,
and at the time of Williams' graduation, there were 15 other players enrolled in programs
at the school.
"So it's given women choices, and women the opportunity to also expand their horizons
and give back in the world."
Fashion isn't the only type of design that has captured the heart and imagination of
Venus Williams.
In 2002, she founded V Starr Interiors in Florida, and the company has been coming up
with its own unique style of interior design ever since.
Williams has been passionate about design for a long time, as she traces her interest
all the way back to her childhood.
As she told Elle Decor in 2019,
"Our parents always encouraged who we were outside of the court and I started to understand
when I was a teenager that I absolutely loved design.
From there, I found my passion and pursued it."
Williams' parents actually mandated that she have strong interests in something besides
tennis, as she would then have other avenues to explore if the game didn't pan out.
Despite how tricky starting a business might seem, it was actually pretty ideal for Williams
while she was in the thick of her tennis career.
As she put it,
"The best way to do things is to challenge yourself and I'm always up for a challenge."
Venus Williams has set numerous records throughout the years, and one stood the test of time
for quite a while.
Back in her second round match of the 2007 French Open, she blasted a serve at a whopping
129 miles per hour, a speed that wouldn't be matched until Alycia Parks tied it during
the 2021 US Open.
According to the Women's Tennis Association, it was the fastest serve ever in a main draw
event.
Williams' serve broke a record that had previously been held by her sister Serena, who hit a
127-mile-per-hour serve in Cincinnati back in 2006.
The speed made Venus pause and laugh, and she later said,
"I loved it.
I just lost a bit of focus there, for sure."
Venus seemed pretty amused by the entire experience, as she used to try to hit the ball very hard
when she first began playing.
However, that wasn't her goal when she hit her record-setting serve, but it nevertheless
happened.
As she put it,
"When I was younger, I was always trying to serve harder and harder, and now I'm not trying
to serve hard.
It comes hard."
In 2017, Venus Williams did something that few athletes have ever managed to do before,
or since.
That was the year she turned 37, and it was also one of the most memorable years of her
professional career.
She even made it all the way back to the Wimbledon final a full nine years after she'd last won
there, proving that when she sets her mind on achieving a goal, she can pull it off.
As she explained to Elle in 2018,
"I would just like to win tournaments and majors.
I set the goals in practice and have to execute them."
Williams also expressed her hope to return to England once again for Wimbledon, as she
shared that she always looks forward to visiting the country and playing in the matches.
As she put it,
"I first went to Wimbledon wanting to win so badly, so when it happened, it was a feeling
that was mine and nobody else's.
I just want memories like that to continue for as long as possible."
Even though Venus Williams is one of the most successful tennis players of all time, that
hardly means that every step of her journey has been easy.
In fact, it takes a tremendous amount of work and sacrifice to make it as far as she has.
Furthermore, she's also lived with an autoimmune disorder for years that has at times impacted
her on the court.
She first started experiencing symptoms of Sjögren's syndrome back in 2004, and at first,
she couldn't figure out what was going on.
As she explained to Prevention Magazine in 2019,
"No matter how hard I worked, I was exhausted, short of breath, and never felt in shape.
It was really frustrating.
My symptoms got progressively worse, to the point where I couldn’t play professional
tennis anymore."
After a series of frustrating doctor visits where nobody could figure out what was going
on, Williams eventually received an answer seven years later.
She will likely battle the condition for the rest of her life, but the symptoms are now
mostly manageable, as she has found medication that works for her.
As she admitted to Prevention,
"Before I was on medication, the quality of my life wasn’t as good because I was extremely
uncomfortable.
Just being alive was very uncomfortable.
I was exhausted to the point that I was just always uncomfortable or in pain."
"It makes me get up and want to fight even harder every day."
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