Williams sisters

The Williams sisters are two professional American tennis players: Venus Williams (b. 1980), a seven-time Grand Slam title winner (singles), and Serena Williams (b. 1981), twenty-three-time Grand Slam title winner (singles), both of whom were coached from an early age by their parents Richard Williams and Oracene Price. There is a noted professional rivalry between them— between the 2001 US Open and the 2017 Australian Open tournaments, they met in nine Grand Slam singles finals. They became the first two players, female or male, to play in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals from the 2002 French Open to the 2003 Australian Open; Serena famously won all four to complete the first of two "Serena Slams". Between 2000 and 2016, a 17-year span, they collectively won 12 Wimbledon singles titles (Venus won five, and Serena won seven). By winning the 2001 Australian Open women's doubles title, they became the fifth pair to complete the Career Doubles Grand Slam and the only pair to complete the Career Doubles Golden Slam. At the time, Venus and Serena were only 20 and 19 years old, respectively. Since then, they have gone on to add another two Olympic gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics. Nearly a decade later, the duo would go on to win four consecutive Grand Slam doubles titles from 2009 Wimbledon through 2010 Roland Garros, which would catapult them to co-No. 1 doubles players on 7 June 2010. Two weeks later, on 21 June 2010, Serena would hold the No. 1 singles ranking, and Venus would be right behind her at No. 2 in singles. Their most recent Grand Slam doubles titles came at the 2012 Wimbledon and 2016 Wimbledon events. They remain very close, often watching each other's matches in support, even after one of them has been knocked out of a tournament.

Venus and Serena

	Venus	Serena
Highest singles  ranking:	No. 1 (February 25, 2002)	No. 1 (July 8, 2002)
Highest doubles  ranking:	No. 1 (June 7, 2010)	No. 1 (June 7, 2010)
Women's Singles titles:	49	73
Women's Doubles titles:	22	23
Grand Slam Women's Singles titles:	7 (Wimbledon 2000/01/05/07/08, US Open 2000/01)	23 (Aus Open 2003/05/07/09/10/15/17, French Open 2002/13/15, Wimbledon 2002/03/09/10/12/15/16, US Open 1999/2002/08/12/13/14)
Grand Slam Women's Doubles titles:	14 (Aus Open 2001/03/09/10, French Open 1999/2010, Wimbledon 2000/02/08/09/12/16, US Open 1999/2009)	14 (Aus Open 2001/03/09/10, French Open 1999/2010, Wimbledon 2000/02/08/09/12/16, US Open 1999/2009)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles titles:	2 (Aus Open 1998, French Open 1998)	2 (Wimbledon 1998, US Open 1998)
Summer Olympics Singles titles:	Gold (Sydney 2000)	Gold (London 2012)
Summer Olympics Doubles titles:	Gold (Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008, London 2012)	Gold (Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008, London 2012)
Fed Cup titles:	1 (1999)	1 (1999)
Plays:	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career Earnings:	$41,958,284 (2nd)	$93,634,967 (1st)

Both sisters have been ranked by the Women's Tennis Association at the world No. 1 position in both singles and doubles. In 2002, after the French Open, Venus Williams and Serena Williams were ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, marking the first time in history that sisters occupied the top 2 singles spots in the world rankings. During the 2010 French Open, they became the co-world No. 1 players in women's doubles. On 21 June 2010, Serena and Venus again held the No. 1 and No. 2 rankings spots in singles, respectively, some eight years after first accomplishing this feat. At the time, Serena was three months shy of her 29th birthday and Venus had just celebrated her 30th birthday.

Both players have won four gold medals at the Summer Olympics, one each in singles and three in doubles—all won together—the most of any tennis players. Venus has also won a silver in mixed doubles at the 2016 Rio Olympics. As a duo, they have also completed the Career Golden Slam in doubles, twice. Between the two of them, they have completed the Boxed Set, winning all four grand slams in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles. They won all of the mixed doubles titles in 1998 to go along with their titles in singles and women's doubles.

Doubles: 23 (22 titles, 1 runner-up)

Winner — Legend Grand Slam tournaments (14–0) Olympic Gold (3) WTA Tour Championships (0–0) Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (2–0) Premier (2–1) International (1–0)

Finals by Surface Hard (10–1) Grass (7–0) Clay (3–0) Carpet (2–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championships	Surface	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	February 23, 1998	Oklahoma City, United States (1)	Hard	Cătălina Cristea Kristine Kunce	7–5, 6–2
Winner	2.	October 12, 1998	Zürich, Switzerland (1)	Carpet	Mariaan de Swardt Elena Tatarkova	5–7, 6–1, 6–3
Winner	3.	February 15, 1999	Hannover, Germany (1)	Carpet	Alexandra Fusai Nathalie Tauziat	5–7, 6–2, 6–2
Winner	4.	May 24, 1999	French Open, Paris, France (1)	Clay	Martina Hingis Anna Kournikova	6–3, 6–7^(2–7), 8–6
Runner-up	1.	August 8, 1999	San Diego, U.S. (1)	Hard	Lindsay Davenport Corina Morariu	4–6, 1–6
Winner	5.	August 30, 1999	US Open, New York City, U.S. (1)	Hard	Chanda Rubin Sandrine Testud	4–6, 6–1, 6–4
Winner	6.	June 26, 2000	Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom (1)	Grass	Julie Halard-Decugis Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 6–2
Winner	7.	September 18, 2000	Summer Olympics, Sydney, Australia (1)	Hard	Kristie Boogert Miriam Oremans	6–1, 6–1
Winner	8.	January 15, 2001	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia (1)	Hard	Lindsay Davenport Corina Morariu	6–2, 4–6, 6–4
Winner	9.	June 24, 2002	Wimbledon, London, U.K. (2)	Grass	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	6–2, 7–5
Winner	10.	January 13, 2003	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia (2)	Hard	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	4–6, 6–4, 6–3
Winner	11.	July 5, 2008	Wimbledon, London, U.K. (3)	Grass	Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur	6–2, 6–2
Winner	12.	August 17, 2008	Summer Olympics, Beijing, China (2)	Hard	Anabel Medina Garrigues Virginia Ruano Pascual	6–2, 6–0
Winner	13.	January 30, 2009	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia (3)	Hard	Ai Sugiyama Daniela Hantuchová	6–3, 6–3
Winner	14.	July 4, 2009	Wimbledon, London, U.K. (4)	Grass	Samantha Stosur Rennae Stubbs	7–6^(7–4), 6–4
Winner	15.	August 2, 2009	Stanford, U.S. (1)	Hard	Chan Yung-jan Monica Niculescu	6–4, 6–1
Winner	16.	September 14, 2009	US Open, New York City, U.S. (2)	Hard	Cara Black Liezel Huber	6–2, 6–2
Winner	17.	January 29, 2010	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia (4)	Hard	Cara Black Liezel Huber	6–4, 6–3
Winner	18.	May 15, 2010	Madrid, Spain (1)	Clay	Gisela Dulko Flavia Pennetta	6–2, 7–5
Winner	19.	June 3, 2010	French Open, Paris, France (2)	Clay	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	6–2, 6–3
Winner	20.	July 7, 2012	Wimbledon, London, U.K. (5)	Grass	Andrea Hlaváčková Lucie Hradecká	7–5, 6–4
Winner	21.	August 5, 2012	Summer Olympics, London, U.K. (3)	Grass	Andrea Hlaváčková Lucie Hradecká	6–4, 6–4
Winner	22.	July 9, 2016	Wimbledon, London, U.K. (6)	Grass	Timea Babos Yaroslava Shvedova	6–3, 6–4

Team competition finals: 1 (1 titles)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Partners	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	September 18–19, 1999	Fed Cup, Stanford, US	Hard	Lindsay Davenport Monica Seles	Elena Makarova Elena Likhovtseva Elena Dementieva	4–1

Performance timelines

Women's doubles

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

A

P

Z#

PO

G

F-S

SF-B

NMS

NH

(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (P) postponed; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (F-S) silver or (SF-B) bronze Olympic medal; a (NMS) downgraded Masters Series/1000 tournament; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Tournament	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	Career W/L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open	A	3R	SF	A	W	A	W	Absent				QF	W	W	Absent		QF	Absent					36–4
French Open	Absent		W	Absent									3R	W	Absent					3R	A	3R	17–3
Wimbledon	A	1R	A	W	3R	W	3R	Absent			2R	W	W	QF	A	W	A	2R	A	W	Absent		45–5
US Open	1R	A	W	SF	3R	Absent							W	Absent		3R	SF	QF	Absent				25–6
Win-Loss	0–1	2–1	16–1	10–0	10–1	6–0	8–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	9–1	20–1	14–1	0–0	8–1	7–2	4–2	0–0	8–1	0–0	2–1	125–14
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics	Not Held			G	Not Held			A	Not Held			G	Not Held			G	Not Held			1R	Not Held		15–1
Year-End Championships
WTA Finals	Did Not Qualify		A	Did Not Qualify									SF	A	Did Not Qualify								0–1

• Neither withdrawals nor walkovers are included in wins and losses.

Note: Serena Williams did not play at the 2004 Olympics because of injury. Venus partnered with American Chanda Rubin and lost in the first-round to eventual gold-medalists Sun Tiantian and Li Ting.

Boycott of the Indian Wells Masters

During the 2001 Indian Wells Masters tournament in Indian Wells, California, controversy erupted when Venus Williams withdrew four minutes prior to her semifinal match with her sister Serena.[1]

The following day, Serena played Kim Clijsters in the final. Venus and her father, (coach to her and Serena) Richard Williams were booed as they made their way to their seats.[1] Serena was booed intermittently during the final, in which she defeated Clijsters, 4–6, 6–4, 6–2, and even during the presentation ceremony.[1]

Richard accused the crowds at Indian Wells of overt racism, saying, "The white people at Indian Wells, what they've been wanting to say all along to us finally came out: 'Nigger, stay away from here, we don't want you here'". However, no other reports of verbal racism were reported to tournament officials, although Venus has stated without elaboration, "I heard what he heard".[1][2] Oracene Price (mother and coach of Venus and Serena) accused the crowd of "taking off their hoods".[3]

Effects and criticism

After the initial controversy, neither Williams sister played the tournament in Indian Wells for 14 years. The Women's Tennis Association currently classifies the Indian Wells tournament as a Premier Mandatory event for all eligible players.[1] Exceptions are made when players engage in tournament promotions, but Venus and Serena both declined to promote the tournament; WTA Tour CEO Larry Scott agreed he would not, promotionally, "put them in a position that is going to be awkward," and tournament director Charlie Pasarell has stated he would accept the WTA tour's ruling.[1]

Allegations had been made before Venus's withdrawal that Richard Williams decided who won the matches between his daughters.[4] Those allegations continued and increased as a result of her withdrawal.[1]

Richard has said that racial epithets were used against him and Venus as they sat in the stands during the final, but no official complaints were recorded by the tournament. Venus and Serena have been criticized for refusing to discuss the controversy, as some believe that their silence perpetuates racism.[5]

Serena discusses what happened in her view at Indian Wells in detail in an entire chapter titled "The Fiery Darts of Indian Wells" in her 2009 autobiography, On the Line. She says that on the morning of the semifinal, Venus told the tour trainer that she had injured her knee and didn't think she could play and tried for hours to get approval from the trainer to withdraw, but the tournament officials kept stalling.

What got me most of all was that it wasn't just a scattered bunch of boos. It wasn't coming from just one section. It was like the whole crowd got together and decided to boo all at once. The ugliness was just raining down on me, hard. I didn't know what to do. Nothing like this had ever happened to me. What was most surprising about this uproar was the fact that tennis fans are typically a well-mannered bunch. They're respectful. They sit still. And in Palm Springs, especially, they tended to be pretty well-heeled, too. But I looked up and all I could see was a sea of rich people—mostly older, mostly white—standing and booing lustily, like some kind of genteel lynch mob. I don't mean to use such inflammatory language to describe the scene, but that's really how it seemed from where I was down on the court. Like these people were gonna come looking for me after the match. ... There was no mistaking that all of this was meant for me. I heard the word nigger a couple times, and I knew. I couldn't believe it. That's just not something you hear in polite society on that stadium court ... Just before the start of play, my dad and Venus started walking down the aisle to the players' box by the side of the court, and everybody turned and started to point and boo at them ... It was mostly just a chorus of boos, but I could still hear shouts of 'Nigger!' here and there. I even heard one angry voice telling us to go back to Compton. It was unbelievable ... We refused to return to Indian Wells. Even now, all these years later, we continue to boycott the event. It's become a mandatory tournament on the tour, meaning that the WTA can fine a player if she doesn't attend. But I don't care if they fine me a million dollars, I will not play there again.

However, on February 3, 2015, Serena Williams wrote an exclusive column for TIME magazine stating her intentions to return to Indian Wells for a tournament on March 9, 2015. She did indeed return and won her opening match.[6] Williams withdrew before her semi-final match with Simona Halep because of a knee injury.[7]

The WTA announced on January 27, 2016, that Venus would return to Indian Wells for the first time in 15 years.[8]

Best result in Grand Slam singles (combined)

Tournament	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	SR
Australian Open	A	QF	QF	4R	SF	QF	W^S	3R	W^S	3R	W^S	QF	W^S	W^S	3R	4R	QF	4R	W^S	F	W^S	1R	QF	3R	7 / 23
French Open	2R	QF	4R	QF	QF	W^S	SF	QF	3R	QF	QF	3R	QF	QF	A	2R	W^S	2R	W^S	F	4R	4R	3R	2R	3 / 23
Wimbledon	1R	QF	QF	W^V	W^V	W^S	W^S	F	W^V	3R	W^V	W^V	W^S	W^S	4R	W^S	4R	3R	W^S	W^S	F	F	F	NH	12 / 23
US Open	F	SF	W^S	W^V	W^V	W^S	A	QF	QF	4R	SF	W^S	SF	SF	F	W^S	W^S	W^S	SF	SF	SF	F	F	SF	8 / 23

Year-end WTA ranking

Player	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Venus	205	216	22	5	3	3	3	2	11	9	10	46	8	6	6	5	102	24	49	18	7	17	5	40	53
Serena			99	20	4	6	6	1	3	7	11	95	7	2	1	4	12	3	1	1	1	2	22	16	10

See also

• Williams sisters rivalry
• Klitschko brothers - similarly dominant boxing brothers

References

1. "What Happened at Indian Wells?"
2. "Off-court distractions"
3. "A fortnight of firsts at the French"
4. Woolsey, Garth (2009-03-22). "Williams sisters at Indian Wells? Forget it". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
5. Edmondson, p. 91
6. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-03-15. Retrieved 2015-03-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
7. "Serena Williams WDs at Indian Wells". ESPN. 2015-03-21. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
8. "Venus books return to Indian Wells". WTA. 2016-01-27. Retrieved 2016-01-30.

Further reading

• Edmondson, Jacqueline (2005). Venus and Serena Williams: A Biography. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-33165-0