With seven Grand Slam titles and four Olympic gold medals under her belt, Venus Williams will, undoubtedly, go down in history as one of the greatest athletes of all time. The American star is the older sister of Serena, with the duo seen as one of the most fearsome doubles act ever seen on court.

As a former world No 1 in both singles and doubles, Venus, along with her seven singles major titles, has also won 14 women’s doubles majors, all partnering Serena, with the pair unbeaten in Grand Slam doubles finals.

Serena was born a year after Venus was in 1981. The two grew up playing tennis together and credit each other with helping to shape their individual careers.

Over the years, the duo have remained unchanged in their devotion to one another, their sisterly love lifting them through personal challenges, public failures and numerous heated battles for on-court bragging rights.

The sisters met a staggering 31 times in professional tournaments between 1998 and 2020, with Serena leading their head-to-head 19-12. Over the course of their decorated careers, Venus would go on to win 49 singles titles, with Serena claiming a whopping 73.

But before their careers took off, though, it was Venus that would lead the way. She learned how to play on the courts of Los Angeles and boasted a serve that reached over 100mph at the age of ten.

Venus would then turn professional aged just 14. Three years later, in 1997, she became the first unseeded player in the Open Era to reach a Grand Slam final, at the US Open, only to be outclassed by Switzerland’s Martina Hingis.

In 2000, Venus would go on to win both Wimbledon and the US Open, earning herself a £48million ($40m) contract with Reebok in the process.

Also that year, at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Venus took home the gold medal in singles and in the doubles competition alongside Serena.

In 2001, Venus and Serena became the first sisters to contest a major tournament final when they faced off at the US Open. On that occasion, it was the elder sibling who came out on top.

In February 2002, Venus was confirmed as world No 1 and would go on to face – and lose against – her sister in a remarkable series of four consecutive Grand Slam finals (from the 2002 French Open to the 2003 Australian Open).

The pair would go on to become a force to be reckoned with on the doubles circuit. But during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, the sisters were forced to retire after an injury to Serena. But it wasn’t long before they were soon on top again in 2008 and 2012.

Their proud record of winning every Olympic women’s doubles competition they entered ended at Rio 2016, where they lost 6-3, 6-4 in the first round to Czech pair Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova. Venus tumbled out of the singles at the same stage, beaten in three sets by Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens.

She gave herself a chance of becoming the first tennis player – male or female – of all time to win five Olympic golds by reaching the mixed doubles final with Rajeev Ram. It was not to be, however, as their compatriots Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock edged them out 10-7 in the final set.

That silver was nevertheless a historic one – it made Venus the most decorated Olympic tennis player of them all.

Venus and Serena’s incredible rise in tennis sees them as subjects in King Richard, which chronicles their upbringing and how their father coached them to their glory.

Released in November 2021, King Richard is a biographical drama that follows the early lives of Venus and Serena as their father, Richard Williams, shaped their tennis skills into a lifelong career.

The film sees Will Smith portraying the role of Richard, and Saniyya Sidney as Venus, with Demi Singleton as Serena.

With their family life put into the limelight, Venus and Serena have been no strangers in speaking of their upbringing. The tennis duo and their four older sisters are all Jehovah’s Witnesses after their mother, Oracene, converted to the faith in the early 1980s.

During an interview with Vogue in 2017, Williams spoke about her faith, as she revealed: “Being a Jehovah’s Witness is important to me, but I’ve never really practiced it and have been wanting to get into it.”

Away from family, religion and sport, Venus has made a name for herself in business. She is the CEO of her interior design company, V Starr Interiors, in Florida.

Not only that, but she also partnered with fashion retailer Steve & Barry’s to launch her clothing line, EleVen, and became a minority owner of the NFL team the Miami Dolphins with Serena.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Venus has an estimated net worth of around £79m ($95m). In terms of tennis, though, Venus recently clarified that she intends to continue playing the sport after many fans thought that she would follow her sister, Serena, and move away entirely.

When and in what capacity the seven-time Grand Slam champion will return is still unknown, but fans will be relieved to hear that Venus Williams has not handed in the towel just yet.