Serena Williams has been part of numerous memorable matches throughout her career, many against her sister Venus Williams. But the one that stands out for her, is a match from two decades ago that made Serena a superstar. She believes Venus should’ve won that match, had she not made an uncharacteristic, unforced error.
In an interview with The Hot Ones recently on First We Feast, Serena was asked by host Sean Evans to talk about one match which she found the toughest to beat Venus in. The 23-time Grand Slam champion named the 2003 women’s singles Australian Open final, because of which she achieved the famous ‘Serena Slam’.
Serena won that match 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-4. Tennis is about winning those big points and moments in a match. Venus knew she messed up badly in one of the points which had poured water to all the hard work she put in, to bounce back strongly in the second set.
Serena admitted that she too, was in shock when Venus made that error and actually gave her a look on the court, as if to say, “How could you miss that?!” The sisters knew each other’s game inside out, so Serena sensed that it was her opportunity to grab from then on.
Had Venus won that point, perhaps Serena would not have made history as well as gone on to win as many as 23 Grand Slams. With that win, Serena Williams won the ‘Serena Slam’ since she won 4 back-to-back Grand Slams, i.e. the 2002 French Open, 2002 Wimbledon, 2002 US Open, and 2003 Australian Open.
Regardless, their father Richard will be a proud man seeing how big both of them made it and despite their love for each other, Serena and Venus had quite the feisty rivalry on court.
Serena and Venus fulfilled Richard’s prophecy that both of them would become the world’s top 2 players someday.
Remarkably, as shown in the Oscar-winning 2021 film King Richard, Venus was a better player than Serena at the junior level. That was why more coaches wanted to grow Venus more than Serena. Therefore, realizing that Serena must’ve felt left out, Richard used to assure her for motivation that she would overtake her elder sister someday. Little did he know that she would turn those motivational words into reality.
According to their childhood coach Rick Macci, Serena and Venus is the greatest-ever American sports story, even beyond other top athletes of color who made it big in other sports.
In an interview with The SportsRush, Macci said that it is a rarity that two sisters from the same household who do not come from a well-off family and are of a different race, go on to not only become professionals in the same sport, but become the world’s top two players in it for a long time. For that, Macci continues to give a lot of credit to Richard, who has set an example for tennis parents when it comes to supporting their children’s dreams.
