Venus and Serena: Queens of Tennis

We could say beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Williams sisters are not only two of the most well-known tennis stars, but two of the most famous athletes in the world. Therefore, in today’s article, we want to tell you all about Venus and Serena, the Grand Slam queens.

Venus, the older sister

Venus Williams was born in California in 1980. She’s won no less than seven individual Grand Slams: five at Wimbledon and two US Opens. During her career, she’s won 49 individual trophies and 14 doubles trophies from the World Tennis Association.

What’s more, she’s earned four gold medals at the Olympic Games. She participated in the games in Sydney in 2000 (individuals and doubles), Beijing in 2008, and London in 2012. She also won a silver medal in the 2016 Rio games (mixed doubles).

In February of 2002, Venus became the first African American tennis player to come first in the WTA ranking. She held this position for eleven weeks on three separate occasions.

Venus began her professional career in 1994, but one of her most memorable years was undoubtedly 2005. She was someone distanced from favoritism given that she’d only one trophy that season. However, she competed at Wimbledon, which, we could say, is her favorite tournament.

Being in 14th place at the tournament, she defeated Maria Sharapova–world title defender and number two in the world–in two sets. And in the final, she went up against Lindsay Davenport, favorite and number one in the ranking. Venus beat her in three sets, point by point, in what would be the longest final in this tournament–two hours and 45 minutes.

Serena, the younger sister

Born in 1981, just one year after her sister, Serena has won 23 individual Grand Slam titles. She’s the tennis player with the second-highest number of trophies in her power, defeated only by Margaret Court, with 24. She’s taken home seven Australian Opens, three Roland Garros, seven from Wimbledon, and seven US Open trophies.

In all, she has earned 72 individual titles from the WTA and a gold medal from the 2012 Olympic games in London. What’s more, she’s considered one of the best tennis players in history and the only one to complete the Golden Slam–the four Grand Slams–and win a gold medal in the same year, in individual and doubles.

She began her career in 1995. In July of 2002, she became the number one in the world as an individual player and reached number one in doubles in June 2010. In this final category, she’s won four Australian Opens, two Roland Garros, six Wimbledon, and two US Opens. Not to mention her three gold medals from Sidney 2000, Beijing 2008, and London 2012.

Venus and Serena: together they’re unstoppable

When we consider the statistics and doubles winners over the last two decades, it’s amazing to see how many times the Williams sisters appear. All in all, they’ve won 14 Grand Slam titles in doubles between 1999 and 2016. Six from Wimbledon, four Australian Opens, two Roland Garros, and two US Opens.

They played one of these finals against none other than Switzerland’s Martina Hingis and Russia’s Anna Kournikova, in the Roland Garros. The final result was 6-3, 6-7 and 8-6.

As a duo in the Olympic Games, they’ve taken home three gold medals. They won their first in Sydney in 2000 after defeating Kristie Boogert and Miriam Oremans by 6-1 and 6-1. The second gold medal came in Beijing in 2008 after they defeated Spain’s Virginia Ruano and Anabel Medina by 6-2 and 6-0.

And finally, they won their third gold medal in 2012 where they overcame the Czech duo Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka by 6-4 and 6-4. And it’s worth pointing out that less than a month before they’d defeated the same tennis players in the Wimbledon finals.

Venus and Serena most recent years

We can’t fail to mention that, between 2002 and 2017, the sisters competed against one another in singles finals. On most of these occasions, Serena, the youngest of the two, was the champion. Out of the nine finals where they came head to head, Venus won two titles. Her sister Serena took home seven.

Finally, it’s interesting to note that Venus decided to become a vegan in 2011 after being diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disease. Since then, she’s noticed improvements not only in her health but also in her career. And this inspired Serena to “accompany her in this transition”. Now, neither of the sisters consumes meat. As you can see, their bond extends further than just the tennis court.