Venus Williams battles autoimmune dysfunction and nonetheless searching for love

When Venus Williams rocks up at Wimbledon subsequent week for what shall be her twenty fourth look on the Grand Slam, she is assured a hero’s welcome. One of tennis’ all-time greats, she gained her first title on the All England membership when she was simply 20 and went on to raise one other 4 in SW19, successful seven singles Slams throughout her excellent profession.

Success at Wimbledon shouldn’t be restricted to particular person pursuit both. Alongside sister Serena, the pair have gained six doubles titles in South London alone and an unbelievable 14 in whole. No marvel she is cherished a lot within the UK.

Although Serena has now retired, Venus shouldn’t be prepared to hold up her racket simply but and having simply turned 43, she will definitely be probably the most skilled ladies’s singles participant at Wimbledon this yr.

Staying in ok form to maintain competing on the highest stage in your 40s takes dedication and self-discipline and that very same method is clear in Williams’ life away from the court docket.

Like her mom and sisters, she is a religious Jehovah’s Witness, one thing she credit to giving her and her household stability when she was rising up within the crime-ridden streets of Compton, earlier than transferring to Florida on the age of 13.

Williams has enterprise pursuits away from tennis. She is the CEO of her personal inside design enterprise V Starr Interiors and has her personal clothes line referred to as EleVen. She was named as one of many 30 strongest ladies in America by Ladies Home Journal in 2001.

In 2009, alongside her sister Serena, Williams grew to become a minority proprietor of the Miami Dolphins, making the siblings the primary African-American ladies to turn out to be homeowners of an NFL franchise.

Combined together with her staggering tennis profession earnings of £33.3million to this point, Venus has a web price of round £79m at present. Success on the court docket doesn’t at all times come straightforward, nevertheless.

In 2019, she revealed in an interview with Prevention that she has suffered from the signs of an autoimmune dysfunction referred to as Sjogren’s syndrome since 2004. “No matter how hard I worked, I was exhausted, short of breath, and never felt in shape. It was really frustrating,” mentioned Venus.

She finds it troublesome to eat early within the morning however does so anyway as she wants the vitality for her morning court docket exercises and tries to dwell on a vegan food plan to assist handle her situation. She is more likely to endure from the signs for the remainder of her life however has discovered a medicine that makes it extra manageable.

Always searching for to raised herself, she acquired a Bachelor of Science diploma in Business Administration from Indiana University East in 2015.

In 2017, Williams was concerned in a car collision in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida which resulted within the loss of life of a 78-year-old man. Police had initially mentioned that Williams was “at fault”, however authorities finally decided that the crash had been brought on by an unidentified third driver.

If there’s one factor nonetheless lacking from the tennis nice’s life then it’s maybe the presence of a long-term associate and kids of her personal. Venus Williams is presently single and has been since 2019.

Previous boyfriends embody her former bodyguard Davide Tomassoni, ex-PGA golfer Hank Kuehne, Cuban mannequin Elios Pis and Nicholas Hammond, however after splitting with the publishing inheritor 4 years in the past she has been single ever since.

Despite dwelling on her personal, she insists that she is completely comfy together with her life the way in which it’s. In an interview with Cosmopolitan in 2021, she mentioned: “I have a lot of friends who don’t believe me when I say that I like my life and I don’t want to change it for any reason. I’m not desperate and they don’t believe me.

“They say things like, ‘You’re going to miss your window.’ I’m like, ‘Please, relax. You might feel this way, but I don’t. I promise you I don’t.’”