Tennis-Australian Open finalist Venus Williams

MELBOURNE, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Factbox on American Venus Williams, who plays sister Serena in the final of the Australian Open on Saturday: Born June 17, 1980 in Lynwood, California. (Age: 36) GRAND SLAM CAREER: Seven (Wimbledon 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008 U.S. Open 2000, 2001) * Williams also owns 14 women's grand slam doubles titles with younger sister Serena. * Learned to play the game with Serena in Compton, California. Both were coached by their father Richard. * Turned professional in 1994 at the age of 14 and won her first WTA Tour title in Oklahoma City in 1998. * In 1997, became the first woman since Pam Shriver in 1978 and first unseeded female since 1958 to reach the U.S. Open final on her debut before losing to Martina Hingis. * Began a hugely successful doubles grand slam career, winning the Australian and French Open mixed doubles with compatriot Justin Gimelstob in 1998 and the French and U.S Open doubles with sister Serena in 1999. * Captured her first grand slam singles titles in 2000 at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, also winning the grass court doubles title. * Won a gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in singles and doubles, with Serena, joining Helen Wills (1924) as the only woman to take both medals in the same Games. * She has won four Olympic gold medals: singles (2000), doubles (2000, 2008, 2012) * Repeated her grand slam success in 2001, successfully defending her Wimbledon title against Justine Henin and defeating Serena in the U.S. Open final. * Reached world number one for the first time in her career in February 2002 but then became the first woman to lose five successive grand slam finals from Wimbledon 2002 to Wimbledon 2003. Four of the losses were to Serena. * Captured her first grand slam title in almost four years, when seeded a lowly 14th she came through to beat Lindsay Davenport 4-6 7-6(4) 9-7 in the 2005 Wimbledon final. * Bettered her own record of being the lowest seed ever to win Wimbledon when two years later, seeded 23, she defeated Marion Bartoli to become only the sixth woman to capture four or more Wimbledon titles. * Won fifth Wimbledon singles title in 2008 with victory over her sister Serena Williams. * Announced at the 2011 U.S. Open that she was suffering from Sjogrens Syndrome and withdrew from her second round match. * Dropped out of the top 100 for the first time since 1997 in September 2011. * Returned to the top 20 in 2014 and was in the top 10 at the end of 2015. * With 49 WTA singles titles, is second among active players after Serena and 11th in the professional era. * Is third on the all-time prize money list with $34.4 million, behind Serena ($81.8 million) and Maria Sharapova ($36.5 million) (Compiled by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Greg Stutchbury)