Whether looking back or looking forward, the view on Venus Williams is equally bright. A Grand Slam champion and world No.1 as a 21-year-old at the start of the century, the American’s long-term influence on the game has also extended powerfully off the court.
Venus’ efforts were most significantly realised when equal prize money was finally awarded at all four Grand Slams a decade ago.
“Oh my gosh. It’s a 10-year anniversary? Bananas,” Venus beamed when asked about that milestone at Indian Wells. “Maybe the WTA, maybe we should do something for that. I hadn’t realised 10 years had gone by.”
Not that Venus – or anybody who’d been a part for it – could forget the brave campaign that saw the then 25-year-old address a gathering of Grand Slam executives without fanfare or notes two years earlier. Asking the high-powered group to close their eyes, Venus simply spoke from the heart.
“Imagine you’re a little girl,” she told them. “You’re growing up. You practice as hard as you can, with girls, with boys. You have a dream. You might, you work, you sacrifice to get to this stage. You work as hard as anyone you know. And then you get to this stage, and you’re told you’re not the same as a boy.”
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With parity achieved at Wimbledon – the last Slam to award it – in 2007, Venus was soon listed alongside the legendary Billie Jean King as a trailblazer for women’s tennis, ensuring a powerful legacy when her pro career eventually ends.
For now, though, Venus is cherishing every moment in her 21st full year on tour. The most senior woman in the WTA’s top 100 at age 37, the American is now one win away from a sixth Wimbledon title.
It points to the remarkable passion that Venus maintains for the game more than two decades since she debuted as a 15-year-old at an indoor carpet event in Oakland, California, in 1994. “To play at this level you have to be passionate,” said the American during a quarterfinal run at the 2016 US Open. “You have to want it. Every point is tough. You have to find that inner-whatever to figure out how to get to this level.”
It’s that enduring passion that helped Venus overcome challenges that would end most other careers. Diagnosed with the energy-sapping disease Sjogren’s Syndrome ahead of the US Open in 2011, Venus dropped outside the top 100 later that year. But Venus, who adopted a strict vegan diet to help manage the condition, not only made her way back to professional tennis, but impressively returned to the world’s top 10 too.
It underlines the hunger that still drives the prolific champion so late in her career. “As an athlete, you’re always aiming for perfection, you want more and more and more,” Venus explained. “It’s never enough. That’s what I’m looking forward to, to peak every time I get on the court. That pretty much doesn’t happen ‘cause I’m always wanting to be better.”
Many players – including former No.1s Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, who are respectively two and three years younger than Venus but have each been retired for years – would happily end their careers with the senior Williams’ record. Among her 49 career titles, there are seven Grand Slam titles and more than USD $35 million in prize money.
But in progressing to a 14th major final, Venus has justified the view that she has further milestones to achieve yet. “I have a lot to give. I have a lot to give to the game,” she said. “I feel like I have a lot of great tennis in me. So any time you feel that way you continue.”
And in Venus’ case, continue with a long-term plan in mind. As she entered spring hard court events in the US, the fan favourite reiterated her intention to contest the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, by which time she’ll be aged 40. “I’m planning on playing tennis for a very long time yet,” she insisted. “That dream is still going strong.”
Venus has never shied away from the hard work required to create such opportunities. “We definitely worked to the bone to here. It’s not necessarily by chance,” she pointed out as she prepared to contest her ninth Grand Slam final against sister Serena at the Australian Open. “But boy is it a blessing.”
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If it’s remarkable that Venus remains one of the biggest forces in the women’s game at age 36, it’s more remarkable still that she manages while juggling many other high-achieving pursuits.
Alongside the growth of her on-court fashion range, EleVen by Venus – which was worn by ballkids and ushers at a recent exhibition event at Madison Square Garden – the American maintains her interior design business and is in the final year of a Masters degree.
Happily, Venus has discovered that many parallels exist between tennis and business. As she commented in a recent interview with Forbes magazine, “Sports prepares you to set goals, to fail and to win in a way that you don’t know when you are doing it. Business and athletics really marry each other. I can only see similarities.”
And whether it’s in her on-court performances or her off-court ones, making progress is simply intrinsic. It showed when the younger Venus so bravely campaigned for equality early in her career and it’s showing even more as she expands on an an already-remarkable longevity.
“I was ready to fight for, like, a number of years and then all of a sudden … we were able to find a common ground and it was a wonderful to see all of the bodies of tennis working together like that, “ she recalled of that early off-court battle.
“My current battle involves me getting closer to No.1. So that’s the biggest battle I’m fighting right now. It’s rather selfish perhaps.”
Selfish? Hardly. Especially considering that such lofty ambitions are accompanied by a down-to-earth approach. She showed as much in her unlikely finals run in Melbourne. “You just have to go for your dreams,” Venus said. “The end result is not as important as the journey.”
This article first appeared in Australian Tennis Magazine.
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