Venus Williams serves up interior design

Willie J. Allen Jr/The Washington Post

RENAISSANCE WOMAN: Venus Williams has four full-time professional designers at her V Starr Interiors firm, including, from left, Michelle Koppelman, Sanna Mehlin Tilley and Ariana Ranieri.

This is what you get when you hire Venus Williams as your interior decorator: an enthusiastic designer who has travelled the world, drawing inspiration from Moscow to Beijing, but never quite had time to complete formal training; a team of professionals working with her; and a place on a client list that includes celebrities and professional athletes.

And, of course, you get Venus Williams.

She's one of the great tennis players of all time: seven Grand Slam singles titles, an Olympic gold medal, a woman who changed the face of modern tennis. Her father gave her a racket when she was just 4 years old and told her she was going to become the best player in the world.

"Most people decide what they want to do later in life, and some people know really early," she says. "For me, what I was doing was already decided. Thankfully, I liked it." But that was her father's dream, not hers. "This was like when you get to make your own choice about what you love."

And Williams loves, loves, loves designing. She talks about space planning, construction, lighting and fabric swatches like nobody's business. In fact, it is a business: for more than a decade, she has quietly run an interior design firm in her adopted home of Florida, both capitalising on and overcoming her famous name.

On Friday night, she'll be in the District of Columbia for the unveilling of her latest work: the renovated Southeast Tennis and Learning Centre, an after-school tennis, arts and academic programme created for children. Other people at the gala will see her as the tennis legend; she's there as the person responsible for the look and feel of the space.

"As a designer, you design and it's beautiful and people feel great when they walk in - but how have you changed the world?" she asks. "For us, this sort of project means so much to us because it's going to impact so many lives."

FORMING A BUSINESS

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Venus Williams serves up interior design