By Bill Simons
LONDON—So what of sisters?
Songwriter Irving Berlin was succinct—he warned us, “Lord help the mister that comes between me and my sister.”
English writer Rose Macaulay gave us far more detail. She noted that siblings “know one another’s faults, virtues, catastrophes, mortifications, triumphs, rivalries and desires.”
And boy does Serena Williams, the greatest 33-year-old female athlete in the world, have desires these days.
If she wins Wimbledon, she’ll claim her second Serena Slam (four major titles in a row). If she prevails at the US Open, she will notch the calendar Grand Slam, a feat that hasn’t been achieved since Steffi Graf did it in 1988, and she’ll tie Graf’s Open-era record of 22 Slams in the process. Plus, she’ll be within striking reach of Margaret Court‘s all-time record of 24.
“Of course, I think Serena will break Graf’s and Margaret Court’s records,” Patrick Mouratoglou told Inside Tennis the other day. “Otherwise, I would tell her, ‘I’m not the right coach for you.'”
Clearly, for years, the Williams sisterhood from the ‘hood has been the right duo for American tennis. “We’d be lost without them,” said an anxious voice in the press room. Not since Jennifer Capriati, 13 years ago, has an American woman other than Venus or Serena won a Slam.
Since then, the Williams’s have collected 19 Slams. They’ve dominated and inspired. Just ask quarterfinalist Madison Keys, who at age four saw Venus in a Wimbledon dress and thus began a career.
Today at Wimbledon, the pre-match chatter was as much about sisters as sets. After all, as Netmums.com told us, sisters are always “arguing, bickering or fighting over every little thing … They have been banded together under pack codes and tribal laws.”
But there’s just one law Venus and Serena live by. Never criticize your sister. Still, in a stroke of journalistic genius, IT managed to pry the slightest of criticisms out of Venus. “Well, we do live together,” she said. “And [Serena] definitely uses the whole house.”
As for Serena, she made it abundantly clear that Venus’s dog got under her skin.
More to the point, you were barking up the wrong tree if you were looking for drama in today’s fourth-round match between the sisters. It was a dog.
In the opening game, Serena sprinted out of the gate to break Venus’s serve at love. She promptly won the first eight points of the match. Big sis did right her ship and soon broke little sis’s serve, but then Serena scored a second critical break en route to winning the first set, 6-4.
So did being Venus’s sister help Serena on court?
“Yeah,” said Serena. “It’s interesting because I’m able to get a little head start on some shots because I kind of feel … what’s going on.”
Sure, no one knew what was going on when clever fans yelled out “Go Williams.” Go figure.
Instead, Centre Court was filled with a leaden sense of inevitability. Time and again, the elder Venus, 35, faltered. The five-time Wimbledon champ was left to stare at her strings, twist her shoulders and accept the moans of a crowd itching for excitement. The crisis-free 6-4, 6-3 verdict—Serena’s 15th win in her 26th encounter with Venus—was also her 25th straight Slam win. But sadly, the intra-family meeting was burdened by the same tame sensibility we saw in their earliest matches.
Maybe high drama just needed the day off. Clearly history took a breath.
Venus may be gone, but Williams family drama may be lurking. Sisterhood is powerful.
