Claim: Venus Williams plays professionally in singles tennis.

Venus Ebony Starr Williams -LRB- born June 17 , 1980 -RRB- is an American professional tennis player who is generally regarded as one of the all-time greats of women 's tennis and who , along with younger sister Serena Williams , is credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on the women 's professional tennis tour .   Ranked World No. 11 in singles as of January 28 , 2017 , Williams has been ranked World No. 1 by the Women 's Tennis Association on three occasions , for a total of 11 weeks . She first became the World No. 1 on February 25 , 2002 , the first African American woman to do so in the Open Era . On 10 June 2002 , Venus and Serena became the first sisters to hold the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the singles rankings , respectively . On 7 June 2010 , Venus became co-No . 1 in doubles with Serena after they won their 4th consecutive grand slam doubles title at Roland Garros . By virtue of that doubles ascension , Venus became one of seven women to reach No. 1 in singles and No. 1 in doubles . On 21 June 2010 , Venus and Serena again occupied the No. 2 and No. 1 spots in the singles rankings , respectively . This came almost exactly 8 years after first accomplishing this feat . At the time , Venus had just celebrated her 30th birthday and Serena was three months shy of her 29th birthday , both ages at which many of their peers had retired .   Her seven Grand Slam singles titles ties her twelfth on the all-time list , more than any other active female player except sister Serena . She has also won fourteen Grand Slam doubles titles and two mixed doubles titles . Her five Wimbledon singles titles ties her with two other women for eighth place on the all-time list . Williams is one of four women to have won five or more Wimbledon singles titles in the Open Era . From the 2000 Wimbledon Championships to the 2001 US Open , Williams won four of the six Grand Slam singles tournaments held . She is one of only six women in the Open Era to win 200 or more main draw Grand Slam singles matches . At the 2017 French Open , Williams extended her record as the all-time leader , male or female , in Grand Slams played , with 74 . Furthermore , Williams ' run to the 2017 Australian Open Women 's Singles final set the record for longest span between singles slam finals in the open era at 20 years , the beginning of which was marked by her appearance in the singles final at the 1997 US Open .   Williams has won four Olympic gold medals , one in singles and three in women 's doubles , along with a silver medal in mixed doubles .  She and Serena have won more Olympic gold medals than any other tennis player , male or female . Venus also holds the record for the most Olympic medals won by a male or female tennis player , shared with Kathleen McKane Godfree . She is the only tennis player to have won a medal at four separate Olympic Games . At the 2000 Sydney Olympics , Williams became only the second player to win Olympic gold medals in both singles and doubles at the same Olympic Games , after Helen Wills Moody in 1924 .   With 49 singles titles , Williams is behind only Serena among active players on the WTA Tour . Her 35-match winning streak from the 2000 Wimbledon Championships to the 2000 Generali Ladies Linz tournament final is the longest since January 1 , 2000 . She is also one of only three active WTA players to have made the finals of all four Grand Slams , along with Serena and Russian Maria Sharapova . By winning her 49th career singles title at the 2016 Taiwan Open , Williams became the 5th oldest WTA Tour titlist in the Open Era , at 35 years , 7 months and 28 days .   Williams has played against her sister in 27 professional matches since 1998 , and won 11 . They have played against each other in nine Grand Slam singles finals , with Venus holding a 2-7 record . Venus has 8 runner-up finishes in grand slam singles events with Martina Hingis being the only player other than Serena to beat Venus in a major final at the 1997 US Open . Beginning with the 2002 French Open , they opposed each other in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals , the first time sisters had so met in the Open Era . On the other side , the pair have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles playing alongside each other and are undefeated in Grand Slam finals .