‘We had to keep so many things distant’: Serena Williams admits secrets were kept despite close relationship with Venus
By Serena Williams,TennisUpToDate.com
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Former world number one Venus Williams and her sister Serena Williams have opened up about their relationship. The two Williams
sisters dominated women’s tennis for a good part of two decades. Serena was the
one who took the lead on the court and won many accolades.
She finished her career with 23 Grand Slam titles, most
by a women’s player in the Open era. On the other hand, with Serena winning so
many majors in her career, it almost seems that people have forgotten Venus did
incredibly well on the court as well. Venus, who is still an active tennis player,
has won seven major titles in her career.
Both sisters faced off against each other 31 times in
professional tennis as well. Serena held the edge with 19 wins, whereas Venus
ended up winning 12 times. They competed many times in the final of the Grand
Slams as well, and Serena was the clear winner in those contests.
Venus and Serena recently featured in an interview with The
Hollywood Reporter, where they both discussed their relationship off the court.
Venus shed light on how the two Williams sisters remained competitive
throughout their careers on the court and highlighted that one of the primary reasons
was their upbringing. “We don’t necessarily coddle each other,” said Venus. “We
weren’t coddled in life. And we want to give that sort of tough love, not only
to each other, but that we had to give to ourselves. Life is very real. So the
message has to be real.”
Two ultimate champions
Serena then added that despite being sisters, both
had to keep their secrets from each other, largely because they were both competitors
on the court as well. “As close as we are, we had to keep so many things
distant because of our jobs,” said Serena. “As much as she’s my sister, she’s
also my opponent, and you can’t be as open as you want to be. So this a real
opportunity to do something that we’ve been trying to do, and also just a
discovery thing as well.”
Venus recently returned to the court after taking a break
of more than one year. She secured a shocking win over America’s Peyton Stearns
in the round of 32 of the DC Open in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-4. Her
journey in the competition ended in the second round, where she lost to Magdalena
Frech of Poland. Venus then appeared in the Cincinnati Open, where she lost in the first round to Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in straight sets.
After that, Venus featured in the US Open in three different
categories. In the mixed doubles, she partnered with Reilly Opelka, and the two
suffered a defeat in the round of 16 to the pair of Russia’s Andrey Rublev and the
Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova. In the doubles category, Venus partnered
with Canada’s Leylah Fernandez as the two produced some incredible
performances.
They managed to go on and play in the quarterfinal, where they
eventually lost to the pair of America’s Taylor Townsend and the Czech Republic’s
Katerina Siniakova in straight sets with a score of 6-1, 6-2. Venus featured in
the singles category of a Grand Slam for the first time in two years, and she suffered
a defeat in the first round to Muchova in a hard-fought contest with a score of
6-3, 2-6, 6-1.
Talking about her experience of playing at a Grand Slam
after a long time, Venus stated that while leaving the court, she had a smile
and that she was ‘delightful’ with how everything went on the court. “It was
delightful,” said Venus. “Usually, if I had lost a match, I walked off the
court, and I forced a smile. It was super fake. But it was real this time. When
I left the court, I smiled. I was happy. I enjoyed the moment.”