Venus Williams

Come to Win: Business Leaders, Artists, Doctors, and Other Visionaries on How Sports Can Help You Top Your Profession

TENNIS PLAYER
FIRST Black woman in the Open Era to be ranked #1
Made her professional tennis debut at only 14 years old
FIRST woman to win prize money equal to male tennis players (thanks to Billie Jean King!)
Won four Olympic gold medals
Ranked #1 IN THE WORLD three separate times
Set a RECORD for the fastest serve (129 mph) that went unbroken for seven years
Appointed Promoter of Gender Equality by UNESCO
Also a fashion designer and certified interior decorator
Cofounded the Williams Sisters Fund with her sister, Serena Williams, which they used to build the Yetunde Price resource center in their hometown of Compton, CA in memory of their sister
Bought an ownership stake with Serena in the Miami Dolphins in 2009, becoming the FIRST Black American women to co-own an NFL franchise

Bibliography: Allen, Kathy. Girls Race! Amazing Tales of Women in Sports. North Mankato: Capstone Press, 2014. Print.Doyle, Caitlin. Girls Can Do Anything: From Sports to Innovation, Art to Politics, Meet Over 200 Women Who Got There First. Buffalo: Firefly Books, 2016. Print.
Harrison, Vashti. Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2017. Print.

Support this organization dedicated to preserving her mission:

Williams Sisters Fund

Books by this Awesome Woman

Venus and Serena: Serving From The Hip: 10 Rules for Living, Loving, and Winning

Biographies for Kids and Young Adults

(picture book)

Sisters and Champions: The True Story of Venus and Serena Williams

(picture book)

Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams

(picture book)

Spread the word!

Raising Tennis Aces - The Williams Story

Meet more Awesome Women like this

Before this woman became a champion, she was called

Swan Lake? Yup. Cinderella? No prob. Giselle? Piece of cake. Every ballet ever? Bring it on.

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Please note that while Awesome Women Library tries to include links only to media from reputable sources, we cannot attest to the quality or content of any media listed on this website. Our mission is to introduce you to these Awesome Women and give you a wide array of resources for learning more. We haven't read everything listed and are not a recommendation site, nor is this meant to be an exhaustive catalog of every book related to this woman -- there's just too much out there! Happy reading!!