Venus Williams on his 40th birthday - far more than a tennis player
Venus Williams has won seven Grand Slam titles and is a four-time Olympic champion. Serena's high-flyer Serena turns 40 on Wednesday - and she's far from tired of tennis.
by SID
last edit: Jun 16, 2020, 07:34 am
Venus Williams can be quite entertaining. The seven-time major winner can explain in a most amusing way how to survive a karaoke performance despite limited singing skills. Or what desserts she, as a tennis professional, reluctantly removes from her menu: "Apple pie, chocolate cake, cookies, donuts, marshmallows, candies ..."
But in the past few days, Williams wasn't in the mood for jokes. The Black Lives Matter debate after George Floyd's violent death touched the woman from Lynwood, California, who turns 40 on Wednesday. "I am deeply saddened that it took the diverse acts of police violence to painfully point out the racism that is pervading America," Williams said on Instagram.
Five Wimbledon titles in singles for Venus
The older of the two Williams sisters has long been more than an athlete. Actually, it has always been, at least since she played her first match on the professional tour in San Jose in 1994 (!) - and won. The girl with the white pearls in the braids not only paved the way for his sister Serena, his strong voice helped convince the powerful men at Wimbledon to pay women equally.
For a long time, Venus Williams was hard to conquer, especially on the holy lawn of the All England Club. The quarterfinal defeat in 1999 against Steffi Graf was followed one year later by her first Grand Slam title. She won five times in Wimbledon, twice at the US Open, and four Olympic gold medals testify to her passion, which has remained unbroken to this day.
Despite the autoimmune disease Sjögren syndrome, which she has been battling for years, despite opponents who could now easily pass as her daughters, and despite diverse business interests alongside the court, Williams will continue her career after the corona break. How well-trained she is, viewers can marvel on the social networks when Venus and Serena persistently present their fitness program.
No tournament victory since 2016
Venus Williams has a special relationship with her more successful sister. "I love everyone on the tour. But Serena is my best friend, she is my double partner and she has a great service," she says. The fourth joint Olympic victory in 2021 in Tokyo is within reach, with another single title on the WTA tour Venus Williams would also set a record. At 39, Billie Jean King is the oldest tournament winner in history.
In 2017, she showed what Williams can do in almost biblical tennis age: at the Australian Open (against Serena Williams) and at Wimbledon (against Garbine Muguruza), she only lost in the final. Although she has been waiting for her 50th tournament victory since her success in Kaohsiung / Taiwan in 2016 and has lost her three matches this season, the by far oldest player in the top 100 is by no means allowed to write off.
And what happens when the professional tennis Venus Williams is no longer irritating? She has already made a name for herself as a fashion designer and interior designer. As a trainer, on the other hand, she will probably not fuss over the tour. Nobody listens to the coaches, she believes. "You tell the player: win the point. And then he loses it. I can't accept that," she jokes. As I said: Venus Williams can be very entertaining.