Venus Williams An American Tennis Champion

Venus Williams kicked off her defence of the WTA Acapulco Open title with a comfortable straight sets victory over Mathilde Johansson.

The top-seeded American was simply to strong for her Swedish rival as she raced to a 6-2 6-3 victory in the opening round.

And having arrived to the clay court tournament fresh from her hard court title success in Dubai, Williams was pleased to have come through the match unscathed.

""It was a really good first match,"" Williams said.

""I was just trying to get my rhythm on the clay and make the transition.""
Venus Williams was born on June 17, 1980 in Lynwood, California. She is an American professional tennis player. As of July 2007, she is the reigning Wimbledon ladies' singles champion.

She was formerly ranked as the World No. 1 tennis player. Venus has won the Olympic gold medal in women's tennis and 14 Grand Slam titles, including six singles (four at Wimbledon), six women's doubles, and two mixed doubles titles. Williams is the older sister of fellow former World No. 1 tennis player Serena Williams. The Williams sisters are noted for their power games: Venus holds the record for the fastest serve ever recorded by a female player in a main draw match (129 mph).


Early career

Already well-known at age 14, Venus Williams turned professional on October 31, 1994. In the second round of her first professional tournament in Oakland, Williams was up a set and a service break against top seed Arantxa Sanchez Vicario before losing the match. That was the only tournament Williams played in 1994. She remained a part time player on the tour during the next two years, playing only three tournaments in 1995 and five tournaments in 1996.

Venus Williams began to play regularly on the tour in 1997. The highlight of her year was her debut at the U.S. Open, where she lost in the final to Martina Hingis 6-0, 6-4 after defeating Irina Spirlea in a semifinal famous for "the bump" in which Spirlea and Williams collided during a changeover. Richard Williams later claimed that this incident was racially motivated.
In 1998, Venus Williams teamed with Justin Gimelstob to win the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open and the French Open. Her sister Serena Williams won the other two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles of the year, completing a "Williams Family Mixed Doubles Grand Slam." In singles, Venus won the Grand Slam Cup and the tournaments in Miami and Oklahoma City. She also reached at least the quarterfinals at all four Grand Slam tournaments. She ended the year ranked fifth in the world.