20 year old Venus Williams is the amazing American athlete who blazed her way up the ranks of Women's Tennis in 1998 at the age of 18. She made a sensational debut in November 1997 with impact for her powerful service and bounding returns. In 1998 she defeated World Champ Martina Hingis twice, getting a taste for winning tournaments.
Venus and her 15-month younger sister, Serena are both top-ranked players, Venus in the Top Ten and Serena in the Top 50 by 1998 and moving ahead. The girls were brought up in a supportive environment to prepare them for such pressures as the media and competition bring to bear during the tennis tours.
Their dad Richard has been called both a genius and a racist who is keeping his gifted kids wrapped in the bosom of their family. He groomed his five daughters to play tennis, but it was the two youngest who paid off, with Venus winning $1.2 million in career prizes and Serena already winning $242,000 by the time she was 16. Venus was the fourth of five girls and Serena the youngest.
During their early professional days, the girls had a reputation of being combative and confrontational, with the media taking notice of tantrums and boasting. They had to learn to match their talent with professional behavior. Venus at 18 is 6' 1 1/2" tall and 169 lbs. She slams the ball with incredible power, a faster serve than any woman in history and faster than many men. Her style has won her a $12 million contract to represent Reebok.
Off the court, the sisters are like teenagers everywhere, giggling about boys and talking about clothes and movies.
On 9/11/1999, her sister Serena surged ahead to the No.1 spot in tennis by defeating Martina Hingis at the U.S. Open in New York City. Two years before, Venus had reached the finals of the U.S. Open only to lose badly to Hingis.
The sisters have remained extremely close, even through competitions and are building a house not far from their parents to move into late 1999.
Venus won her first Grand Slam crown on 7/08/2000, copping the Wimbledon Title against Lindsay Davenport. The one-hour and 23-minute final became dicey as she double-faulted and hit a pair of wild shots, but she held for a 6-5 lead. The first African American woman to take the Wimbledon title since 1957 and 1958, she had already dealt with a tough but necessary confrontation, defeating her younger sister, Serena, in the finals elimination. Fittingly enough, the tournament ended on a family note of harmony with the sisters taking the ladies' doubles crown on 7/10/2000.
The bonded sisters have splurged some of the $45 million earnings on a new $2.7 million mansion that they share, along with $3.2 million to buy a house for their folks, Oracene and Richard 
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