Tennis Betting - Famous Players
Venus Williams
Venus Williams is an American tennis player with vast experience in the professional circuit. Venus is the older sister of Serena Williams. Venus is a skillful player, who is known for her powerful two-handed backhand.
Venus started playing tennis when she was a very young girl, mostly because of the influence of her father. This helped her become one of the best younger tennis players in California.
She began her professional career in 1994 at the Bank of the West Classic, the only tournament where she participated in that year and in which she reached the second round losing against Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.
In 1995 she participated as a wildcard in three events. In the East West Bank Classic she was eliminated in the first round. She ran the same fate in the Rogers Cup. In Oakland she advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Amy Frazier. In the semifinals she lost against Magdalena Maleeva.
In 1996, Venus was able to participate in five events. She was eliminated in four of these and reached the third round in the tournament of Los Angeles.
Venus Williams started the 1997 season by playing regularly in the WTA Tour. In the Tier I tournament in the State Farm Evert Cup, she reached the fourth round after beating Iva Majoli. In the quarterfinals she met Lindsay Davenport, who eliminated her.
Her big debut in a Grand Slam tournament came in the French Open, where she reached the second round. At Wimbledon she didn’t make it pass the first round after losing against Magdalena Grzybowska.
At 17 Venus was ranked as No.66 on the WTA Tour. Venus played her first U.S. Open, where she was the runner-up after falling against the world No. 1 during that time, Martina Hingis. After reaching the quarterfinals in two Tier I tournaments, Venus Williams finished the season as world No. 22nd.
The 1998 Medibank International at Sidney, Venus obtained the runner-up position after been unable to beat Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the final. In her participation during the Australian Open, Lindsay Davenport beat her in the quarterfinals.
The first career title that she obtained was at the IGA Tennis Classic, by defeating Joannette Kruger in the final. Her second title was won in the prestigious tournament, Lipton International Players Championships, after eliminating Anna Kournikova in the final. In this way, she was placed in the top 10 of the WTA rankings.
Later in the Italian Open and the French Open, Venus faced again Hingis, who eliminated her in these two competitions in the semifinals and the quarterfinals respectively.
At Wimbledon she reached the quarterfinals, where she lost against who eventually won the tournament, Jana Novotna. This result put at risk the permanence of Venus in the top five world rankings.
In the U.S. Open her greatest achievement was reaching the semifinals, where she was beaten by Davenport. In the Grand Slam Cup she obtained the third title of the year after beating Patty Schnyder in the final. Another good result for Venus came when she finished the tournament as runner-up in the Tier I of Zurich.
This, along with the doubles title at the Australian Open and the French Open, helped her to get a good amount of points that situate her in fifth place of the world rankings at the end of the season.
At Wimbledon and in the Australia Open of 1999, Venus Williams reached the quarter-finals. Later, she defended and retained her title victories in Oklahoma City and Miami.
Her first clay court title was awarded at the Betty Barclay Cup, after winning the final against Mary Pierce. Then, in the Italian Open she won her second clay court title after beating Pierce once again.
In the French Open she reached the fourth round and with her sister Serena, she won the doubles title. At Wimbledon, she reached the quarterfinals for the second consecutive year. In this occasion she was beat by Steffi Graf.
Following that season she was awarded with a pair of runner-up trophies: one in Stanford and one in the TIG Tennis Classic. She also won in the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament. This helped her place among the top three of the WTA.
In the U.S. Open she was eliminated in the semifinals, but won the doubles title with her sister. In the Fed Cup she obtained the victory in singles and doubles, finishing the year as the world No. 3.
Williams had a bad start in 2000, suffering from tendinitis in both wrists. She left competition during the first four months. This affects her participation in the French Open, where she won only two games of the four played, being eliminated in the quarterfinals by Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario.
She recovered, and her good moment came at Wimbledon, where she won her first Grand Slam title after beating the defending champion Lindsay Davenport. She also won the doubles title once again with her sister.
Venus continued her winning streak on hard courts by claiming the title in the Bank of the West Classic. She added victories at the Acura Classic and the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament, where she beat Monica Seles in both finals. In the U.S. Open she won her second Grand Slam title, after beating Davenport in the final.
Venus took a big jump in her career after winning the gold medal in both, singles and doubles during the Sydney’s Olympic Games in 2000. During this year, she won six titles and finished in third place in the WTA World Rankings.
In 2001, Venus reached the semifinals of the Australian Open. Hingis stopped her in the road, but along with her sister she won the title in doubles. In Miami, Williams won her third Tier I Ericsson Open after defeating the world No.1 Martina Hingis. This result placed her second in the world rankings.
Venus retained her Wimbledon title by beating Justine Henin in the final. In the U.S. Open she obtained her fourth Grand Slam of her career after defeating her sister Serena. With this she became the sixth tennis player in the world to win both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in the individual category in consecutive years. Venus didn’t played more matches during 2001.
Venus began the 2002 season with a victory at the Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts. In the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, she lost for the first time in her career, against Monica Seles. With her victories in the Open Gaz of France and the Proximus Diamond Games, Venus occupied the first place of the world rankings.
In the French Open, Venus obtained the title after beating her sister. In Wimbledon’s final, the Williams sisters met again and the triumph was for Serena, who displaced her sister from the first position of the WTA rankings. Together, these two talented sisters won the doubles title in that event.
For the third consecutive year, Venus retained the titles she won in San Diego and New Haven. In the U.S. Open, she reached the final, where she repeated the story with her sister by betting her again. With seven titles won during the year, Venus finished No.2 in the WTA.
In 2003, Venus was able to reach the final in the Australian Open for first time, where again her sister Serena beat her. This was the fourth consecutive Williams-sisters battle in a final of a Grand Slam. It was also the sixth time that together they won a doubles title in the Major Events.
At Wimbledon, Venus reaches her fourth final in the tournament, but once again Serena keeps her out from winning the title. Following her participation at Wimbledon, Williams didn’t compete the rest of the year due to an abdominal injury.
In 2004, she returned to the pro circuit but had to deal with irregular results. Lisa Raymond eliminated her in the third round of the Australian Open. Then in her next three tournaments, she did made it pass the quarter-finals.
Williams recovered her game during the clay court season after winning the tournament Tier I Family Circle Cup. This was her first title for nearly a year and the second Tier I on clay in her career.
At Wimbledon, she was eliminated during the fourth round due to a controversial result, which gave victory to Karolina Sprem. This was the first time since 1997 that Williams was eliminated before reaching the quarterfinals in Wimbledon.
In the Athens Olympics, she could not hold her gold medal after been defeated by Mary Pierce during the third round. Then, at the U.S. Open she was eliminated in the fourth round by Davenport. Venus finished the year as the world No.9.
In 2005, Venus' participation in the Australian Open was completed in the fourth round after been defeated by Alicia Molik. In the quarterfinals of the NASDAQ-100 Open, she defeated, for the first time since 2001, her sister Serena and then lost to Sharapova in the semifinals.
Despite the rough start, Venus did not lower her competitive play. This led her to beat Davenport in the final of Wimbledon. This was her third singles title in Wimbledon, her fifth Grand Slam and her first Grand Slam title since 2001. This excellent result placed her in the top 10 of the WTA.
In the U.S. Open, she defeated her sister for the second consecutive time during the fourth round. In the quarterfinals, Kim Clijsters eliminated her. Due to an injury, she did not qualify for the Sony Ericsson Championships, finishing tenth in the world rankings.
In 2006, Tszvetana Pironkova eliminated Venus in the Australian Open in the first round. After this defeat she suffered an injury in one of her wrists, so she had to stay away from the courts for over three months.
She returned in late April at Warsaw, on clay surface. There Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated her in the quarterfinals. In the French Open, she also reached the quarterfinals.
Venus Williams could not hold her singles title at Wimbledon after losing against Jelena Jankovic in the third round. Once again she was affected by a wrist injury, so she could not compete at the U.S. Open Series or the U.S. Open. After almost three months of inactivity, she competed in the tournament at Luxembourg, where the hand discomfort did not allowed her to qualify to the second round. She ended 46th in the WTA rankings.
Venus did not compete in the 2007 Australian Open due to her wrist injury. Her return came at the Cellular South Cup, where she won her first singles title since her victory at Wimbledon in 2005.
She won her fourth Wimbledon title in 2007 after defeating Marion Bartoli. This victory led her to the top 20 of the WTA. In the U.S. Open, she reached the semifinals, where Justin Henin eliminated her. This immediately led her to rise to the world No. 9.
The victory at the Hansol Korea Open Tennis Championships gave her enough points to rise to the world No.8 on the WTA rankings at the end of the season.
In 2008 she began the season by getting into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. This year, Venus Williams won her fifth Wimbledon title after defeating her sister without losing a set. This was the seventh Grand Slam singles title of her career.
In the Beijing Olympic Games of 2008, Venus won the gold medal with her sister in the doubles category. Then, in the U.S. Open Serena beat Venus in the quarterfinals.
In the 2008 WTA Tour Championships, Venus beat Vera Zvonareva winning her last tournament of the year with which she climbed to the world No.6.
In the 2009 Australian Open, Carla Suarez Navarro eliminated her in the second round. At Wimbledon she was awarded the runner-up position after losing against Serena, with whom she won the doubles title. In the U.S. Open, she was eliminated in the fourth round by Kim Clijsters, but again won the doubles with her sister.
She finished the year ranked world No.6 in singles and No.3 in doubles with her sister Serena.
In the 2010 Australian Open, she had a good performance during the early rounds, but in the quarterfinals she lost to China's Li Na 6-2, 6-7, 5-7. Along with Serena, she won another doubles title in this event.
In 2010 she defended her title at the Dubai Tennis Championships by playing the final against Victoria Azarenka, who she defeated 6-3, 7-5. In the 2010 the Sony Ericsson Open she obtained the runner-up position after losing against Kim Clijsters. This result lifted her to the fourth place of the WTA rankings.