Venus Williams, who has reached the Wimbledon women’s singles final for the first time since 2009, has been fined $7,500 by the Grand Slam supervisors for an offense listed as “Media Conference.”
Williams was fined for failing to do a mandatory 1-on-1 post-match television interview after her quarterfinal victory Tuesday. She did the required interview after her semifinal victory on Thursday, and she has appeared for all of her post-match news conferences during the fortnight.
It is not the first time that Williams has been fined for avoiding media obligations at a Grand Slam event. She was fined $5,000 at the 2016 Australian Open for skipping the news conference after her first-round loss.
She also was fined for skipping news conferences after a first-round loss at the 2015 French Open ($3,000) and a doubles loss in 2010 at Wimbledon ($4,000).
Williams, a five-time singles champion at the All England Club, plays Garbine Muguruza for the championship on Saturday.
Five facts on Wimbledon finalist Venus Williams
US player Venus Williams arrives to attend a practice session on the eleventh day of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 14, 2017, on the eve of her women’s final match against Spain’s Garbine Muguruza. / AFP PHOTO / Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS /
Five facts on Venus Williams, who faces Garbine Muguruza in the Wimbledon final on Saturday:
Power play
— Venus holds the record for second fastest serve in the history of women’s tennis at 129 mph in the 2007 US Open. Only German Sabine Lisicki has hit a faster delivery, while Serena, regarded as the best female server of all time, is in fourth place. By the age of 10, Venus’s serve topped 100 miles per hour.
Rankings regret
— Although Venus held the world number one position on several occasions in her most dominant period over a decade ago, the seven-time Grand Slam champion has never finished a calender year in pole position. She first went to number one in February 2002, the first African American woman to do so in the Open Era.
Fashion passion
— As well as sparkling on court, Williams cuts a dash off it. She received her fashion degree from the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale and designs much of the clothing for her fashion line EleVen.
Sister act
— With six titles and eight final appearances, Serena has been virtually untouchable at the US Open, except when she faces Venus. The elder Williams is the only person to beat Serena twice in New York. She first did it in 2001 in the first Grand Slam singles final contested by two sisters during the Open era. Four years later, she won when the sisters met in the fouth round.
Changing places
— Although the story of Venus and Serena being taught to play tennis by their father Richard on bullet-scarred courts in the tough Compton district of Los Angeles is well known, the family actually moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, when Venus was 10, so the sisters could attend the tennis academy of Rick Macci.
