Sibling rivalry fuelled Serena Williams to greatness and left Venus in her shadow

Ahead of their US Open quarter-final clash, Ahmed Rizvi looks at the most famous sibling rivalry in sport.

Serena Williams, left, will start the clear favourite when the two sisters meet in the US Open quarter-final. Icon Sportswire via AP Images

Just a random thought, but what if there was no Venus Williams?

Would we still be talking about Serena Williams today, her bid for the calendar grand slam and debating her place among the pantheon of the sport’s greats? Probably not, for Venus is the “reason” she started playing tennis.

“It was very difficult being in shadow of Venus,” Serena, the younger sister by 15 months, says in the documentary Venus and Serena. “Venus was always in the newspapers and media. I was never supposed to be good, the one who was supposed to be a good player. I was a copycat. That’s the reason I played tennis.”

Possibly, that is also the reason she is so good today.

Growing up in California and learning tennis on a municipal court, Serena conceded, she could “never beat her” sister.

Venus, in her own words, was a “giant” and “she (Serena) was really small at the time, so it wasn’t a fair match, really”.

To make up for what she lacked in size, Serena probably started developing a personality trait that is her greatest asset today, and Venus was the first to get a glimpse of it. The sisters first clashed professionally in the second round of the 1998 Australian Open and Venus remembers how Serena “was fighting like there was no tomorrow, like it was her last day on earth”.

That tenacity is still the hallmark of Serena’s tennis today, alongside those icy stares, clenched fists and the screams of conquest. The only time she is not seen in her combat fatigues is when she is playing elder sister Venus, and the lack of visible intensity in their duels has invited a few regrettable insinuations about father Richard deciding the outcome of their matches.

Of course, no one noticed the tears Serena shed after losing the 2000 Wimbledon semi-final to her sister.

Fewer still remember Venus’ gloomy face in those grainy photographs from 1999, when her younger sister beat Martina Hingis in the US Open final to became the first Williams to win a grand slam title.

“Not to win the first major was tough for me,” Venus said in Venus and Serena. “I thought as older sister I should step up. I didn’t know how to fight, it didn’t come naturally to me. It came naturally to Serena.”

Venus must also have a few regrets about the grand slam tournament finals she lost (five in a row) to Serena. If their father was deciding the results, he was certainly not being fair. Remember the first Serena Slam in 2002/03? Venus was the runner-up in all four finals.

For the record, the sisters have met in eight major finals and Serena has won six of them. The younger sister holds a 15-11 head-to-head edge over Venus, including 8-5 at majors.

They last met in the fourth round at Wimbledon in July and Serena was a comfortable 6-4, 6-3 winner. A few pundits, again, expressed their surprise at how easily Venus had lost the match. But how much better did they expect the then-world No 16 to do against the undisputed No 1?

Serena defeated Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-4 in the semis at Wimbledon and no one raised an eyebrow. Nobody accused the Russian of surrendering. Sharapova has now lost 17 matches on the trot to Serena, and only three of those matches have gone to three sets.

BThe American has won two of the 37 sets in those 17 matches without dropping a game (6-0), and another eight sets have finished 6-1. But does anyone complain about the lack of intensity or competition?

On the other hand, 10 of the 26 matches between the Williams sisters have gone the distance, and four of those third sets have finished in tie-breaks.

It is not really as bad as some people make it out to be. The matches are one-sided because Serena is just so good, the greatest female tennis player and one the greatest athletes ever.

If not for her younger sister, Venus could have easily laid claim to a few of those titles.

She will not be around for long, though, and neither will Serena. Fans should savour these clashes between two greats and a rare sibling rivalry.

Remember, the Klitschko brothers, both boxing world champions, never fought against each other in the ring because they had promised their mother not do so. The Williamses, in tennis, could never have that choice.

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @NatSportUAE