Serena Williams: Venus would have 15 majors if it wasn’t for me
Serena Williams believes her and sister Venus would have another 15 Grand Slam singles titles between them had they not had to compete against each other.
The Williams sisters were both stars of the WTA, with Serena ending her career with 23 majors and Venus seven.
However, with just a year between them in age, it meant they often had to go through each other in Grand Slams to win them – and Serena thinks they also cost each other titles too.
Speaking at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit, Serena Williams said: “We had this rule that if we played against each other before the final, we had to win the title. I think Venus would have had a minimum of 15 Grand Slams if we didn’t play. I would have had 30.”
In the end, Venus Williams carer in terms of winning singles Grand Slams slightly petered out after winning successive Wimbledon titles in 2007 and 2008. She did reach the Australian Open final in 2017, but lost to Serena in the final.
A big part of that was due to her younger sister starting to dominate and take women’s tennis to another level. Ultimately, though, Serena thinks her relationship with Venus was a big part of what made them both so special.
“There was no separation at all. Looking back, I don’t know how we dealt with that,” she said. “We were so close, we grew up so close. My family was like, ‘No fighting, you girls are always going to be sisters and that’s that,’
“But we actually lived together until I got married, which wasn’t that long ago. We just always lived together. I think that helped our relationship.
“We had to figure out a way to work it out. We had to communicate, you know, we had to have those difficult conversations. I think we just, without even realising it, leaned into that. As long as I was winning.”
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