"So important for women and men to step up" - Venus Williams calling for unity over pay gap issues
WTA
Venus Williams recently spoke about pay gap issues, but also about success and her tennis career.
Most recently, Venus Williams appeared on the tennis courts at the US Open. She witnessed her sister's retirement from professional tennis, which was a great celebration of Serena's career.
Venus' performance, on the other hand, wasn't so good. She lost in the first round of the tournament to Alisson Van Uytvanck 1-6, 6-7(5). It seemed that as the match went on, Williams started to improve, and that's also what she confirmed in a recent interview with Entrepreneur, admitting she was a bit rusty at the start.
"I was definitely very rusty, just kind of hitting my stride. I'll be playing next year. I'm looking forward to it. [I'm] putting my work in early, being prepared."
While she still competes on the tennis courts, Venus Williams is already a successful businesswoman. She owns the apparel brand EleVen and the interior design firm V Starr. Venus spoke about her success during the interview, revealing how much work goes into her projects.
"It's all the same, you have to plan ahead, you have to prepare, you have to set goals, you have to reevaluate when it doesn't work out. You have to build the right team ... To see the work that our team can produce and for us to succeed together, it's such a great feeling."
But Williams also spoke about an important topic, the pay gap. She wants women to be aware of it and also try to stop the gap from getting wider.
"There's a lot of work to be done, and it's so important for women and men to step up and put their hands up and say, 'I see this. I want to do something about it.'"
"When you leave the United States that gap gets wider. If we keep up this pace, maybe in the next 100 years we'll be able to bridge that gap, but we need to bridge it sooner."
