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"    Photo: Courtesy of ESPN Films   Tennis fans are in for a treat as Venus Vs., ESPN&amp;#039;s inspiring story of Venus Williams&amp;#039; ground-breaking efforts to overcome hurdles, from racism to gender inequality, debuts tonight. The show kicks off ESPN&amp;#039;s Nine for IX series, which are documentaries about female athletes in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Title IX. Expect some sweet cinematic moments as it was directed by Ava DuVernay, who won Best Director at Sundance in 2012 for Middle of Nowhere.    &amp;quot;Equality for men and women, across the world, not only in sports, is the goal,&amp;quot; Williams said when we spoke with her. &amp;quot;We obviously have a long way to go, but every little bit helps. Sports are a great place to show that equality can happen.&amp;quot; With her power, speed, and 6&amp;#039;1&amp;quot; height, Williams\u2013who had learned tennis not in a country club but on a South Central L.A. public court\u2014transformed women&amp;#039;s tennis, which had an elitist reputation. &amp;quot;I think there were a lot of people who wanted to see [Venus and Serena] fail,&amp;quot; said pro tennis player John McEnroe, who was interviewed for Venus Vs. &amp;quot;Their sort of them-against-the-world attitude rubbed people the wrong way.&amp;quot; Williams was viewed as an interloper, not fitting in.  Early on, Williams wore her hair in braids with intricate beading. When a bead broke and flew onto the court during an Australian Open match, Williams was penalized a point. The question remains: Would a white player have been penalized if she lost a barrette? &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m still fired up,&amp;quot; Williams said during the phone call. &amp;quot;[Watching the footage], I was like &amp;#039;Wait a minute, I want my point back!&amp;#039;&amp;quot; Williams admitted that it sometimes felt like her against the world. &amp;quot;That&amp;#039;s part of sports; it&amp;#039;s you against everyone. When you are in the public eye, you have to protect yourself. There are so many people judging you. I just try to be myself.&amp;quot; The criticism of her style in the series came across as a judgement of her identity, of who she was. Williams silenced her haters by winning, relentlessly and ferociously. But even as she dominated her sport, Williams felt that the disparity between men&amp;#039;s and women&amp;#039;s prize money treated women as second class citizens. As seen in the documentary, ticket sales and television ratings were similar for both genders; yet male players called women players greedy, saying women should just be happy with what they get.  After watching an ESPY video of women in Afghanistan who endured great risks just to be able to play soccer, Williams was inspired to work with UNESCO to advocate for women&amp;#039;s rights internationally. Her growing empowerment led Williams to write an op-ed piece for the London Times on June 26, 2006. Prime Minister Tony Blair endorsed her efforts and consequently, when Williams won her fourth Wimbledon championship in 2007, her prize was identical to Roger Federer&amp;#039;s, the men&amp;#039;s champion.  Williams is not competing at Wimbledon this year, having injured her back. &amp;quot;I watch the matches and I&amp;#039;m working really hard to get back on tour. Of course I&amp;#039;m rooting Serena on every step of the way.&amp;quot; She told us that she expects to play at the U.S. Open in August. When Williams is ready to retire, she will continue her activism: &amp;quot;I think I&amp;#039;ll be involved with equality rights around the world.&amp;quot; And fashion will always matter to Williams. We asked about the evolution of her style. &amp;quot;Gosh, that&amp;#039;s a long story. I was a teenager with braces and into sporty dresses with bright colors and cut-outs. For awhile I really experimented with what I wanted to do. Some really extreme things, I recall,&amp;quot; she said, with a laugh. &amp;quot;That lasted a couple of years.&amp;quot;  Williams, who has an associate&amp;#039;s degree in fashion design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, plans to earn an MBA. She has her own sportswear label, EleVen. &amp;quot;EleVen is about classic, fun styles in your closet forever. If I like something so much, I&amp;#039;ll buy two and they&amp;#039;ll last for the next ten years. We do a lot of prints per season, because that&amp;#039;s my passion.&amp;quot;  Photo: Courtesy of ESPN Films "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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