‘Learn to Separate That’ – Serena Williams Once Explained the Difficult Thing She Had to Endure While Facing Sister Venus

Ever since their childhood, Venus and Serena Williams share a strong sisterly bond. Having trained together, the two made their professional debuts with just a year’s gap between them. Over the years, the two steadily paved their own path to success in the professional tour. However, how to deal when the paths of the sisters collide?

Going back in time, Serena outplayed her elder sister Venus Williams in an impressive straight-set win to clinch her 2nd US Open crown. Following the win, the then rising star Serena Williams appeared on CBS’ renowned, ‘The Early Show’. During the interview, she opened up about a major difficulty she faced while playing sister Venus while also explaining how she rose above it.

How Serena Williams dealt with the difficulty of having her elder sister as an opponent

The on-court rivalry of Venus and Serena dates back to 1998 when the two first played in the second round of the Australian Open. Marching ahead in time, it was finally in the fourth clash between the two sisters that Serena won her first professional match in the head-to-head. However, Venus took no time to avenge her loss in the next two clashes.

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Flash forward to 2002, the year saw Serena outplaying Venus in four consecutive matches, of which, the last win came at the 2002 US Open. During the interview, Serena started by opening about her emotions while playing against Venus. “When I first began to play then it was very difficult because she’s my older sister, she has done so much for me in my life, she has taken care of me,” she said.

Going ahead in the conversation, she elaborated on how she coped with the difficulty and marked her way to many victories. “It’s just that, I had to learn to separate that. Sure, it was a bit difficult at first. But now it’s just, as long as we are in the finals, and as long as we do our best, as long as we give our 100%, whether she wins or whether I win, at the end of the day, I know I have done my best and I’m not disappointed at all.” 

The iconic rivalry of the Williams sisters

Tennis courts have been a birthplace of many great rivalries. One of them is the rivalry between Venus Williams and Serena Williams. Since their debut, the two have faced each other a total of 31 times in their careers. Out of the 31 meetings, 21 have taken place on hard courts, 6 on grass courts, 3 on clay courts, and 1 on carpet court.

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Despite being the younger one, Serena leads Venus on all surfaces. Dissecting the stats, Serena leads 12-9 on hard courts, 4-2 on grass courts, 2-1 on grass court, and 1-0 on carpet court. Overall, Serena leads the head-to-head race 19-12 over her sister, Venus Williams.