What has genetics got to do with tennis? More than what meets the racquet sport. Witness: family ties in the form of Venus and Serena Williams, two sisters who traded skewers and flyspecks not just on their march to the top of women’s tennis, but also on their way up the ladder towards tennis stardom.
That the duo made history twenty-seven years — the first sisters to win WTA tour events on the same day — is what dreams are made of, but seldom fulfilled. The backdrop. When Venus made short work of Amanda Coetzer in straight sets [6-4, 6-0], at the IGA Superthrift Tennis Classic, while defending her title with easy flourish, Serena knocked the stuffing out of Amélie Mauresmo [6-2, 3-6, 7-6 [7-4]], to romp home to a well-deserved victory in the Gaz de France Open. Add to that yet another visage of Serena having procured a new dimension of being the first American to win the tourney and you had a great script for the future — a scroll like no other. This wasn’t all. They also entered the record books by becoming the first players, male or female, in tennis history to win four Olympic gold medals [London 2012].
Serena, after a few ups and downs, during this time, was quite easily the most improved player. She’s not only in a league of her own, she’s no longer the glitzy, brash, inconstant performer — but a feared prospect and opponent. Her brand of consistency and array of ground-strokes had not only improved, but also ‘engineered’ her game with a purpose — to a level of immense strength with a prudent mix of power and dash.
Fast-forward. Not that there’s no rambling in Venus’ tennis armour. Venus, who’s 6-foot-plus, had grown in her intellect and psyche, in spite of the fact that she hadn’t appeared on the tennis court, for over a few months. Blame it on wrist tendonitis, or whatever—and, the mystery that the two sisters had also not played together, for several months, became more than complicated.
Venus was always frank. She admitted, that, there’s a good deal of room for improvement vis-à-vis her tennis skills. In her own words: “I need to improve my serve and come into the net more often. Right now, I deserve to be #2. But, I’m not settling for that. I’m going to do what it takes to be #1.” Yes, the ‘sabbatical’ was one way of recharging her batteries — a statement that was no empty bravado. In the process, her focus energised her archetypal athleticism to striking the fastest serve ever in the women’s circuit — 127.04 mph.
The Venus-Serena tennis euphony, with all its highs, distractions and off-court drama, was the best thing that happened to the racquet sport. Their tennis was not merely a question of sibling rivalry, but also double-trouble for opponents, including their own skills — individually — when pitted against each other. A case in point: Serena’s Wimbledon 2003 triumph — her second in a row — over Venus, who despite being let down by her abdominal pangs, put up a brave front. It was, in the end, just not good enough.
All the same, intense competitors that they are, Venus and Serena relished their tennis ticket to fame, all right, but they were like all siblings — including those you may know in your own neighbourhood. They ‘battled’ over trivialities, quarrelled over garments, albeit they’d often shop together for high-priced adornments and often finish each other’s’ affirmations.
Not that they have fully outgrown their ‘natural’ fancies. Far from it. A classic example — the Williams sisters’ tall claim, during one Australian Open championship, that they could trounce any of the men pros ranked outside of the top 200. It was sufficient ‘stimulus’ for Karsten Braasch, ranked #203, to take up the gauntlet. He beat both Venus and Serena without fuss, after having played golf in the morning, and taken in more than one draught of a spirited brew, not to speak of having smoked half-a-pack of cigarettes into his lungs. All the same, the German’s ‘nicotine‑coated’ skills were just too much of a smoke cloud to the Williams’ wild boast. Not only that. Braasch, it was reported, had served at only half of his accustomed capacity.
It goes without saying that Venus and Serena, the two youngest daughters of Richard and Oracene Williams, have had it in them to make it big in the game — from the time they held the racquet in their gifted hands. That they were as demanding as their doting father, who’s also known for what comes ‘naturally’ to every tennis prodigy’s parents, and in big-time sport today, was a major driving force — a thrust that helped the sisters snap like a coil of steel at every scoring opportunity on court.
But, reports have always had it, that, Richard often behaves funnily; he even attempts to ‘undermine’ what he himself sculpted as careers for his daughters. However, his daughters are not only far too aware of what it takes to be champions, but also realistically perceptive of their own worth. The two have also recognised that a few things in life — more so, the most remarkable — don’t come on a platter. They know they had had a tough job on hand — a job that’s not-difficult-to-do, but for only a select few. That they’re focused and relaxed, at the same time, were positive attributes. It kept them on their toes, because they knew that the court is not just laid with just backhand and forehand winning strokes, or points alone.
Not that Venus and Serena weren’t deriving joy from life — as it were. Yet, they didn’t fit into a slot of what you call — party girls. Venus and Serena are practising Jehovah’s Witnesses. Tennis for them is not just a pursuit, but a dream — a vibrant reality.
The focus was always on Serena, who had a powerful game, a big heart, tennis athleticism and ability. Her dazzling wins and sustained brilliance is a case in point. All she now needs to learn, with age no longer on her side, is how best to hone her powered deftness and spotlight on building points, on a scale — not just go all-out and try to finish a match too quickly, which is now a thing of the past.
The best part — Serena herself thinks that she’s so much like what Pete Sampras once was on the other side of the court. All the same, the Williams duo has the ‘toolkit’ to play with purpose, or bid adieu, to the racquet sport like truly great players, who have always been in a confederation of their own.
That is — if daddy is willing.
PS: Breaking News. The Williams sisters will compete in the Ladies’ Doubles at The Wimbledon Championships 2026.
— First published in Madras Courier
[Williams’ sisters. Photo, Courtesy: Wimbledon on X]