It is both a blessing and a misfortune for Venus and Serena to grow up in the same family and share the same tennis dreams.
Luckily, their father had a seemingly odd plan to make them the best players in the world, and they were always able to support and inspire each other.
Unfortunately, they knew as teenagers that they would eventually meet on the field, and they had mixed emotions under the camera.
▲ Serena Williams won after defeating Venus in the 2003 Australian Open final
But even Richard Williams, with his foresight, could not have imagined that his daughters would fight each other 30 times over a period of more than 20 years.
He was sure his two daughters would shine on the pitch before turning to other areas. However, they try to juggle life on and off the court, and their long careers are extremely rare in the history of tennis.
"I think it's really remarkable," Serena Williams said during the 2018 U.S. Open, "I never thought we could still play professional games." ”
On September 1, in the third round of the 2018 US Open, Dawei and Serena met again. In the end, Serena performed well, defeating her sister 6-1, 6-2.
In the 2008 Wimbledon final, Venus defeated Serena to win
More than a decade ago, the sisters were at the same level in terms of personal achievement. But the gap between the two eventually became insurmountable: Serena may have become the greatest singles player of the Open era, winning 23 Grand Slam singles titles and achieving unprecedented success later in her career.
Serena has the advantage in all major competitions, ranking first in the world for 316 weeks, compared to only 11 weeks in contrast to Venus. In addition, Serena also led 17-12 in previous face-to-face encounters, winning 10 of her 15 Grand Slam matches, most recently at the 2017 Australian Open. That day, despite being two months pregnant, Selena won the final, with Venus among the few in the know.
"Two to one," Venus recalled Wednesday night. "At least this time it will be fair."
But tennis, like life, goes back and forth, and the Williams sisters are back in seemingly more egalitarian status ahead of the 2018 U.S. Open. Venus was the 16th seed and Serena was the 17th seed.
Venus, 38, has struggled to catch up with her 2017 glory, but in the first leg of the week, she scored two high-quality wins — beating former U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in three sets and the explosive Camila Giorgi in two sets. Serena, 36, reached the Wimbledon final last month, but a year after giving birth to her daughter Olympia, she is still looking for form and balance.
When confronted with Serena, Venus Williams didn't have much time to get nostalgic
Although Serena traditionally made her career on the hard courts, where she learned to play tennis, since returning to the field in March, the hard courts are no longer her happiest hunting ground. In the four hard-court events before the US Open, she has not won more than two rounds. Her best performance came in March's comeback, the BNP Paribas Open, where she lost to her sister in the third round.
"I think in the semi-finals, or even the quarter-finals or finals, she performed very differently compared to the third round," Serena said at the time.
In their career showdowns, the losing side may use doubles as a way out. After all, the sisters have won a total of 14 Grand Slam doubles titles. However, at this year's French Open, Serena suffered a chest strain aggravated in a doubles match against Venus and withdrew from singles in three rounds.
Her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, is not happy with this, arguing that she should prioritize saving physical strength for singles in Grand Slam tournaments. Serena hasn't played doubles since then, which has worked well at Wimbledon and has so far achieved good results in New York, with the first two rounds unsustainable victory.
After Serena Williams defeated Venus in the 2009 Wimbledon final, she has beaten her sister 10 times in 15 Grand Slam tournaments
But a Williams games will have their own unique charm, and at this time, the audience will also generate a lot of nostalgia — even if Venus is not keen on it.
"I'm the kind of person who looks forward, so I try to learn from the past and try to enjoy the time in the future," Venus said.
Venus was sometimes cheerful and talkative in private, but became reticent at press conferences, increasingly reluctant to show too much personal emotion and to engage in sensitive and dangerous topics.
Although she was once a leading advocate of "equal pay for men and women" at Wimbledon, she completely avoided a topic that was also related to equal treatment at this year's US Open: The French female athlete Alizé Cornet's on-field dress-up caused controversy.
"Can I talk about my game?" Venus said after beating Giorgi 6-4, 7-5. "Have a question? Thank you! ”
But tennis, like any other sport, moves fast. What just happened will soon be replaced by new ones. As a result, the storm was quickly quelled by the clash of the Williams sisters.
"Fortunately and unfortunately, we have to compete differently," Serena said, summing up the confrontation between the two sisters in less than 10 words.
Lazy Bear Sports Translator: Feng Tianyi
Disclaimer: This article was compiled by Lazy Bear Sports from The New York Times and written by Christopher Clarey