William Sisters, a rivalry for the ages
It’s where they met for the first time. It’s where they’ll meet in the 2017 final, an incredible 19 years later. It’s where they created history in between.
The Australian Open is perhaps the tournament most integral to the arc of the Williams’ sisters incomparable, storied rivalry, which Serena leads 16-11.
It was surreal watching them for the first time, duking it out on green Rebound Ace surrounded by blue signage, in the days of the Ford Australian Open at the yet-to-be-named Rod Laver Arena. Fans struggled to side with one sister over the other; both were relatively new to the tour, played high-voltage tennis and wore white beads in their hair. Their striking similarities meant they were less often referred to individually as Venus and Serena – they were more commonly packaged as “the Williams sisters”.
That meeting, which Venus won 7-6(4) 6-1, hardly foreshadowed what was to come. Within a year, they were no longer meeting in the early rounds of tournaments – they were clashing in finals.
The first was in Miami 1999, a match Venus won in three. The next came six months later at the now-defunct Grand Slam Cup, a final Serena won in three to score her first-ever victory over her older sister.
By 2001, they were creating even bigger history and becoming a global phenomenon when they faced off in the final of the US Open, their first meeting in a Grand Slam decider. They were the first sisters to meet at that stage of a major event since 1884.
The final was rescheduled from its traditional afternoon slot to a prime-time evening session to capitalise on the enormous buzz the match generated. Venus won that battle 6-2 6-4, and the US Open women’s final remained a night-time affair for the better part of the next decade.
Six months later, Serena scored just her second win over Venus with a 6-2 6-2 romp in the 2002 Miami semifinals. “I can’t believe I finally beat her. I’m like in shock – this is the most shocked over any win I’ve ever had. I can’t believe it. I won. She’s the best player out there and I can’t believe I won,” Serena gushed.
It was a victory she credited with imbuing her with an enormous dose of confidence and belief, and it showed – at the next four Grand Slam events, beginning with Roland Garros just two months later, Serena won them all.
But what was more incredible about that feat was that Serena beat Venus in all four of those major finals. No two players in the Open Era had met in four consecutive Slam finals. Making it all the more noteworthy, obviously, was that these two players hailed from the same family.
The fourth of those meetings came right here at Australian Open 2003, which was one of their more competitive confrontations. In that historic match, Serena won 7-6(4) 3-6 6-4, helping her achieve the first of her “Serena Slams” – holding all four major trophies at once.
Incredibly, in the 14 years that have followed, they’ve never since met at Melbourne Park – until now.
Injuries to both sisters meant that over the next five years from 2003 to early 2008, they met just three times. But in 2008 and 2009, both back to full health and form, they met nine times in those two years, with Serena winning five to Venus’s four.
Six months after their last meeting in 2009 – a 5-7 6-4 7-6(4) win to Serena in the final of the Tour Championships – the sisters were back in the world No.1 and No.2 positions on the eve of the 2010 French Open.
Yet a series of health complications befell the sisters in the ensuing years. As a result, they went four years before their next meeting. That came in 2013 in Charleston, a match Serena won for the loss of just three games.
Beginning with that match, Serena has won three of their past four meetings as she has continued her dominance of the game and her charge toward history while Venus has struggled to recapture her former heights.
Their most recent came in the quarterfinals of the 2015 US Open; Serena won that match in three sets before sensationally falling in the semifinals to Roberta Vinci, missing her shot at the sport’s ultimate accomplishment – a calendar-year Grand Slam.
Now, they’ll line up in their ninth major final. In a “full-circle” moment, it’s at the same venue where their storied rivalry commenced.
A win would hand Serena an Open-era record 23rd Grand Slam singles title. A win would deliver Venus her first Australian Open trophy, and her first Slam title in almost nine years.
“(Venus is) a total inspiration. My big sister. She’s basically my world and my life, and she means everything to me. I couldn’t be happier with these results, and for us both to be in the final is the biggest dream come true for us,” Serena said after brushing aside Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the semifinals.
“She’s my toughest opponent – nobody has ever beaten me as much as Venus has.
“I just feel like no matter what happens, we’ve won. She’s been through a lot, I’ve been through a lot. A Williams is gonna win the tournament.”
Source: ausopen.com
