Who is the Better Tennis Player of the Williams Sisters?
Contents
A competitive analysis of Serena and Venus Williams’ performances on the tennis court.
Serena Williams
Serena Williams has won more Grand Slam singles titles than any other player in the Open Era, and is regarded by many as the greatest tennis player of all time. She has also won more Olympic gold medals than any other tennis player, male or female.
Her early life
Serena Jameka Williams was born on September 26, 1981, in Saginaw, Michigan, to Oracene Price and Richard Williams. When the family moved to Compton, California, shortly thereafter, Richard took over coaching Serena and her sister Venus. The girls had played tennis together as youngsters but had never received formal training. By the time they were in their early teens, however, both girls had developed into top-ranked junior players. In 1995 Serena turned professional.
Her professional career
Serena Williams has been a dominant figure in women’s tennis for over a decade and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, more than any other man or woman in the Open era.
Williams began her professional career in 1995, but it was not until the following year that she attained significant success, when she reached the final of the US Open, losing to Steffi Graf. She then reached the semifinals of Wimbledon and the Australian Open in 1997. Williams received considerable attention when she announced that she would wear a catsuit at the 2002 French Open; however, she was forced to retire from her fourth-round match against Justine Henin due to an injured hamstring.
The following year, Williams won her first Wimbledon singles title, defeating her sister Venus in the final. She then followed this up with victories at the US Open (beating Venus in the final) and Australian Open (beating Kim Clijsters in the final). Williams’s 2003 season is considered to be one of the best in tennis history; she became only the second woman (after Graf) to hold all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously, and is one of only three women (along with Margaret Court and Martina Navratilova) to have won two Grand Slam singles titles in a row on three separate occasions.
Williams’s dominance continued into 2004, when she won her fourth consecutive Wimbledon singles title and successfully defended her US Open crown. She also won Olympic gold medals in both singles and doubles at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. In 2005, however, Williams was forced to miss several months of competition due to injury; as a result, she was ranked World No. 2 behind Maria Sharapova at the end of that year. The following year, Williams reclaimed the World No. 1 ranking with victories at both Wimbledon and the US Open; she also won Olympic gold for a second time in doubles, teaming up with sister Venus.
Williams maintained her position at the top of women’s tennis over the next few years, winning both Wimbledon and the US Open in 2007 – defeating Venus in both finals – and successfully defending her Wimbledon title in 2008. In 2009, however, Williams was beaten by unseeded player Klara Koukalova in third round of Roland Garros; this was Serena’s earliest exit from a Grand Slam tournament since 2003. After struggling for form during much of 2010, Williams regained some measure of consistency by reaching back-to-back finals at Wimbledon (losing to Petra Kvitova) and then at Roland Garros (beating Li Na). In 2012, Serena recaptured both Wimbledon and Olympic gold; she also claimed her fifth US Open title later that year – becoming only the fifth woman ever to win all four Grand Slam singles titles on multiple occasions – before finishing 2013 ranked World No. 1 for a second consecutive year
Why she is the better tennis player
Serena Williams is the better tennis player of the Williams sisters because she has more Grand Slam titles, she has a higher winning percentage, and she has been ranked number one more times.
Venus Williams
Her early life
Venus Ebony Starr Williams was born on June 17, 1980, in Lynwood, California, the youngest of five sisters: Yetunde, Lyndrea, Isha, and Serena. Her father, Richard Williams, is African American, and her mother, Oracene Price, is of African and Chinese descent. The family moved to Compton when she was an infant. Richard gave up his job as a truck driver to stay home and coach the girls while they were growing up.
Richard Williams had always been interested in tennis and had dreamed of having a champion daughter. He taught all his daughters how to play the game. Venus Williams began playing tennis when she was four years old and soon showed great promise. When she was 10 years old, her father took her and Serena out of school so that they could focus on their tennis careers. The girls entered their first professional tournament when Venus was 14 years old.
Her professional career
Williams has been ranked world No. 1 by the Women’s Tennis Association on three occasions, for a total of 11 weeks. She first became the world No. 1 on February 25, 2002, the first African American woman to do so in the Open Era, and the second all-time since Althea Gibson. On June 8, 2009, Williams regained the ranking for the third time. Williams has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, more than any other active female player except her sister Serena. With 49 singles titles, she is also behind Serena among active players on the WTA Tour (eclipsed by her sister’s total of 73 as of 2017). Williams is also a five-time winner of the WTA Tour Championships in the singles division.
Williams has won four Olympic gold medals: one each in doubles and mixed doubles at the 2000 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics, and one in singles at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Along with her sister Serena, she is credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on
Why she is not the better tennis player
Venus Williams is not the better tennis player of the Williams sisters because she has not won as many titles as her sister Serena.
