Venus Williams’ Net Worth
Venus Williams is an American professional tennis player, who is famous for being the first American black woman who has been ranked World No. 1 in singles on three different occasions.
What is Venus Williams’ net worth?
At the time this article is written the American professional tennis player, Venus Williams has a net worth of $95 million.
Childhood
Going by her full name, Venus Ebony Starr Williams was born on June 17, 1980, in Lynwood, California to be a superstar. This happened in a time of tennis when Steffi Graf was unstoppable, Chris Evert was already retired for some time, and American tennis fans were enjoying the men’s circuit, where Sampras and Agassi shared the titles. But in the second half of the 90s, the Williams sisters began to take center stage in the women’s circuit with extremely powerful shots and unreturnable serves.
Career
On October 31, 1994, Venus Williams made her professional debut. 28 years ago, a 14-year-old athlete was playing her first professional match in California, at a tournament now called the Silicon Valley Classic. Venus Williams was winning her debut match against compatriot Shaun Stafford, a player who had reached the round of 16 at Roland Garros that year, 6-3, 6-4. In the second round, Williams lost to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, who was to win the competition after a final with Martina Navratilova.
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In 1995, Venus Williams won her first match against a top 20 player. At the same tournament in Oakland, Venus defeated Amy Frazier, ranked 18th at the time, then lost in the quarterfinals to Magdalena Maleeva, who would win the tournament. In 1996 she played with world number 1 and the best player at that time, Steffi Graf.
She made her debut in a Grand Slam competition in 1997, at the French Open. She lost there in the second round on her least favorite surface. At Wimbledon, she was eliminated in the first round. However, she had the first big moment in her career at the US Open. Also then, she had her first controversy, after an unpleasant moment in the semi-final played against Irina Spîrlea, when the two players collided during a change of court.
The year 2000 was perhaps the best year of her career, although it got off to a terrible start. She missed the first five months with tendinitis in both wrists. After losing in the quarter-finals in Paris, she went on a 35-game winning streak during which she won 6 trophies.
So, 28 years have passed since the first match on the women’s circuit for Venus Williams. Marion Bartoli retired after 28 years of activity. Williams is still theoretically on the circuit in 2022. A career so long and successful that if you split it in two, you could have two different Hall of Fame careers.
The first titles at the Grand Slam tournaments
In their Australian Open debut in 1998, the two sisters met for the first time on the professional circuit. Venus, the eldest, managed to prevail against the younger sister. Her first Grand Slam tournament win was in mixed doubles in 1998 at the Australian Open, and a few months later came her second at the French Open. She won the first tournament in Oklahoma, where she defeated Davenport in the semifinals. In March, she became one of the top 10 players in the world for the first time.
Impressive figures
- The only tennis player with 4 Olympic medals
- Most appearances in Grand Slams, 91
- Unbeaten with Serena Williams in major doubles tournaments
- 90 wins at Wimbledon, fourth in this ranking
- 79 wins at the US Open, fourth in this ranking
- 58 wins at the Australian Open, fourth in this ranking
- 48 victories at Roland Garros, tenth in this ranking
Career earnings
Venus Williams has made $38 million on the court through 2017. This amount was enough to transform her into the second highest-earning female tennis player in history, putting her behind her sister Serena Williams who earned $85 million, and topping Maria Sharapova, who made $36.5 million.
In 2020 Venus Williams earned $40.5 million.
Besides the court, from endorsements, Venus Williams earns anywhere between $5 and $10 million per year.
Venus Williams earned $42 million from her tennis career.
How did Venus Williams’ father get the idea to turn his two daughters into tennis players?
In an interview with CNN, Richard Williams revealed how he came up with the idea of transforming his two daughters, Venus and Serena, into tennis players. It was in Compton that he first saw former Romanian player Virginia Ruzici receive a big check after the win. He saw it on TV and immediately told his wife that they would be rich soon.
“I watched it (tennis) on TV in Compton. The TV I had had a remote control. A guy named Budd Collins gave a check to a girl named Virginia. I can’t remember now what the check was. But I thought it was a lot of money for four days.” I went to my wife and told her we were going to have two children and we were going to get rich.” Richard told the reporter in the interview. Surprisingly, that’s exactly what happened.
In the same interview, Richard explained that even though his wife didn’t agree with him at first, she stuck with his plan. He later revealed that he had written a complete plan for his two daughters and designed their careers.
Real estate
In 2019, Venus Williams paid around $10 million for a waterfront “retirement house” located in the exclusive Jupiter Island, Florida.
Off the pitch
Venus Williams was a fighter for equal income in tennis when the majors rejected the concept. In 2005, both Roland Garros and Wimbledon met with Venus to change the situation regarding the unequal distribution of money. The tournament she loved the most, where she won 5 singles and 6 doubles trophies, was against her. Days before the 2006 edition, Venus published an essay in The Times denouncing the London tour, saying it was “on the wrong side of history”. Even the prime minister of England at the time supported the sportswoman’s arguments. Wimbledon was on the corner.
In February 2007, a day apart, both Wimbledon and Roland Garros announced that the money split would be equal from now on. Williams’ effort was seen as the main reason for this change, as she was also the first to benefit from the change, winning the 2007 edition.
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