THE WILLIAMS SISTER

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 4 consecutive grand slam singles finals from the 2002 French Open to the 2003 Australian Open; Serena famously won all 4 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 5 and Serena won 7). By winning the 2001 Australian Open women's doubles title, they became the 5th 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 4 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 & 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.

At the 2015 U.S. Open, Williams again squared off with her sister in a tough quarterfinal matchup, this time pulling away in the deciding third set. The outcome left her two wins shy of the calendar year Grand Slam, a feat accomplished by just three women in the sport's history. But it was not to be. In a shocking upset, unseeded Roberta Vinci, ranked No. 43 in the world, dashed Williams's quest by pulling out a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win in the semifinals.

Williams opened the next calendar year by advancing to the Australian Open final, where she lost in three sets to Angelique Kerber. After notching career WTA title No. 70 with a win at the Italian Open, she advanced to a French Open final rematch with Muguruza, but this time succumbed to the Spanish player in straight sets.

On July 9, 2016, Williams found her way back to victory, defeating Kerber 7-5, 6-3 at Wimbledon and winning her 22nd grand slam title. With her historic win, Williams tied Steffi Graf for the most major championships in the Open era of professional tennis, which started in 1968.

"I have definitely had some sleepless nights with a lot of stuff, coming so close and feeling it and not being able to get there," Williams told reporters. "This tournament I came in with a different mindset. In Melbourne I thought I played well but Angelique played great, and better. So I knew going into this one I needed to be calm and be confident and play the tennis I've been playing for well over a decade."

Just hours after her singles win, Williams and her older sister Venus won the doubles championship at Wimbledon, their sixth Wimbledon win together.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, the sisters experienced a shocking upset when they were bounced out of the first round of women's doubles at the Rio Olympics by Czech duo Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova. The Williams sisters had originally been seeded as no. 1, had an Olympic record of 15-0, and had won gold three times previously.

Later that year at the U.S. Open, Williams suffered another surprising defeat, leaving the competition early after she was defeated by Karolina Pliskova in their semi-final match. With the loss, she also gave up her #1 ranking which she'd held for 186 weeks.

However, Williams came back with a historic victory, winning her 23rd Gram Slam title after defeating her sister Venus 6-4 6-4. With her 23rd win, she surpassed Steffi Graf's record and captured the world number one ranking. Reflecting on her victory, Williams credited her sister as an inspiration. "I would really like to take this moment to congratulate Venus, she is an amazing person," she said. "There is no way I would be at 23 without her. There is no way I would be at one without her. She is my inspiration, she is the only reason. I am standing here today and the only reason that the Williams sisters exist."

Citatiion Information...Wikipedia