Word: venus
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...resentment of a dominant pro athlete's braggadocio, seen as unseemly in a woman. Maybe it's simple racism. Or maybe it's just that the Williams sisters, as good as they are, are kind of arrogant and aloof and unfocused on tennis. "People criticize me as being arrogant," Venus said last Monday during a tournament in New Haven, Conn., her toy Yorkshire popping out of her Kate Spade bag. "Maybe because I'm a little smarter than the others. Maybe it's because when they ask me a silly question, I refuse to answer it and make myself look...
...Williams sisters make up their own rules--that's both the appeal and the repellent. They pulled out of junior tennis when Venus was 11, reappearing out of nowhere in 1994 and 1995, respectively. They rarely compliment or congratulate an opponent, and they turned down many endorsements until the stakes got higher--they raked in $17.5 million last year between them--and often ignore the media. When Venus won the U.S. Open last September and President Clinton made his congratulatory phone call, she asked for a tax cut, complained that his motorcade had held up New York City traffic...
...Williams sisters draw most of the unfriendly fire because they are the kids in class who never let anyone see them study but show everyone their straight A's. They are huge women (Venus, 21, at 6 ft. 1 in.; Serena, 19, an even more muscled 5 ft. 10 in.) who learned the game at home in inner-city Compton, Calif., under an amateur coach, their father--not at the boot camp of coach Nick Bolletieri, where most promising kids are sent. They dominate through their athleticism. Venus, who can serve a ball at 127 m.p.h., is actually less powerful...
...attend a fashion design school located next to a strip mall in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Because the ranking system of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) adds up the best 17 events over the previous 52 weeks, neither sister has a realistic shot at a No. 1 ranking. Still, Venus, who won Wimbledon in July, is ranked fourth, while Serena, who has played even less, is 10th. They are part-time players with a full-time presence...
...Fireman's shoe company, for which Iverson happens to be top pitchman. And the combination is just one reason why Reebok, written off two years ago as a dead maker of fad sneakers, is back. Since signing Iverson, Fireman has pulled down endorsement agreements from women's tennis giant Venus Williams, sponsored two seasons of Survivor and inked a deal with the National Football League to be its exclusive supplier of uniforms and sideline apparel. But the real victory came this month when Fireman and NBA commissioner David Stern announced a 10-year arrangement that makes Reebok the official outfitter...