Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 22 as of February 11, 2013 in singles. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate occasions. She became the World No. 1 for the first time on February 25, 2002, becoming the first African American woman to achieve this feat during the Open Era.