1994 31 OCTOBER Venus Williams made her professional tennis debut at 14.

The older sister of tennis ace Serena made her breakthrough in Oakland, California, three years after being withdrawn from junior tournaments by her father Richard because of worries about the pressure.

After she beat her opponent, world number 59 Shaun Stafford, 6-3, 6-4, the New York Times described her as “the most unorthodox tennis prodigy the sport has ever seen”. She went on to become world No1 in both singles and doubles.