The braids.
The outfits.
The outbursts.
The diva attitudes.
The karaoke.
The famous rapper boyfriends.
The Hello Kitty backpack.
Venus and Serena Williams are like no others. They’re superstars and they’ve transcended the sport of tennis.
When Venus and Serena were just little girls growing up in Compton, Calif., — “girls from the ghetto” as their father and first coach Richard Williams likes to say — he told them that they were going to be the best tennis players in the world.
Venus and Serena did what they were told.
Combined they have 23 Grand Slam singles titles, 13 Grand Slam Doubles titles, five Olympic Gold Medals, and over $73 million in prize money.
“We refuse to let each other down,” Venus said with a laugh on a conference call with reporters just 48 hours after her younger sister’s French Open win. “If one of us makes one mistake, we apologize profusely. Even as sisters we hold the other one up.”
For over a decade the Williams sisters have held each other up, through the good and the bad.
2011 was a bad year for the Williams’ household. Serena had a blood clot that almost ended her career. Venus was diagnosed with Sjogren’s Syndrome, an autoimmune disorder which manifests itself in different ways including fatigue, joint pain and stiffness.
And despite their age, creeping into and above the senior citizen years of a tennis player, neither has given up. Despite their impressive resumes, they both still want more.
“The philosophy for tennis players has changed a lot,” the 32-year-old Venus explained. “We would see players retire at 27 and that’s just a period of time that you’re really starting to understand the game and get better and get wiser as you get older. I think by a lot of players playing longer, it’s going to change what people think of the lifespan (of tennis players).”
Just days away from her 33rd birthday, Venus’ body is failing her and her tennis has struggled. She lost in the opening round of the French Open this year and she hasn’t won a Grand Slam in five years.
“I’ve been having some back problems since March and I haven’t really had the time to address them,” Venus said.
But after her early departure at Roland Garros she’s taken the time to rest and says she’s looking forward to Wimbledon.
Serena, however, is playing arguably the greatest tennis of her career. She’s 31 years old, No. 1 in the world and as Venus said she is “still improving.” What a scary thought that must be for Serena’s opponents.
For years we were in awe of Serena’s powerful serve and strong groundstrokes, which would leave her opponent standing in shock at the baseline watching the balls blast by.
But just last year, Serena’s power wasn’t enough, as her run at Roland Garros ended after the first round when she lost to Virginie Razzano. Courtside after the match, Serena bowed her head and cried.
One year later, and Serena is back on top, capturing her second French Open title, 11 years after she won the first.
“It was inspiring for so many people — it was inspiring for me,” Venus admitted.
To everyone’s amazement, Serena’s game is still evolving. In her French Open final against Maria Sharapova, she slid, showed off her soft hands and didn’t just rely on winners. She’s become more creative on the court and it looks like she’s having more fun.
Serena has won 31 matches in a row, which marks the longest win streak of her career. And despite her now 16 Grand Slam singles titles, her dominance is harder to keep up than it looks.
“It takes a lot to win those Majors,” Venus explained. “Even though she’s playing great, playing well, hasn’t had any losses, no one gives it to you. Even though you’re the favourite and everyone says you’re going to win, she works for it.”
And to think, in the sisters’ documentary Venus and Serena, Serena says she was never supposed to be good, but she worked hard because she “didn’t want to be a statistic,” and she wanted to be just like her older sister Venus.
Lucky for us, those two little girls pushed each other on the public courts in Compton.
With no Venus, or with no Serena, neither sister would have been the as good as they are now. Or as good as they still could be.