Serena Williams offered her hand and received a hug from the two-time U.S. Open women’s champion, the victor looking not at all like a champion but much more the sympathetic big sister.
“I love you, all right?” whispered Venus Williams after knocking the racket out of her little sister’s hand on match point to finish a 6-2, 6-4 victory in 1 hour 9 minutes.
They trudged almost glumly off the court, Venus, 21, taking a chair next to Serena, 19, and making small talk about the wind as little sister nodded.
It was indeed a historic evening, the words repeated over and over again, the first time two sisters had met in a Grand Slam final since Wimbledon in 1884. And with an introduction rivaling a Las Vegas revue, a star-studded crowd of 23,023 at Arthur Ashe Stadium and a prime-time television audience watching from home, the stage was set for greatness.
But what followed couldn’t live up to its buildup, a match that instead followed a script written in previous meetings between the two, a performance that may not have pleased the TV folks hoping for a three-set epic but one to which every sister or brother who ever played checkers could relate.
They tried. And sometimes they succeeded in living up to their wondrous potential. But even at its best, the match looked exactly like what it was–two siblings locked in fierce, often awkward, combat, flailing away in a manner that begged for a grown-up to break it up.
In the end, little sister cried uncle, though not before swiping the checkers to the floor, or rather, throwing down her racket in frustration, big sister ending it mercifully on the very next point.
“There’s some good things and some bad things,” said Venus when asked how special it all was. “I always want Serena to win, so it’s kind of strange. I’m the big sister. I make sure she has everything, even if I don’t have anything. I love her and it’s hard, but I love her too much and that’s what counts.”
Their smiles brightened considerably as they held the winner’s trophy and runner-up plate before a phalanx of photographers, checks for $850,000 and $425,000 tucked away for safekeeping. Between them, the sisters, separated by 15 months 9 days, have won five of the last nine Grand Slam tournaments, but the accolades have been more plentiful for Venus–back-to-back Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles, four majors in all. Serena won her only major at the ’99 Open.
Seeded No. 4 to Serena’s No. 10, Venus did pretty much what was expected Saturday night. She made fewer errors–19 to a whopping 36 by Serena–showed off her wicked backhand and was more mature in both her strategy and her demeanor.
Both sisters looked nervous at first, a slew of errors cluttering the first several games as the two traded seven service breaks in all. But overall, Serena looked more tentative, unsure whether to rush the net, which is her strength, or stay back and try to outslug Venus.
Venus admitted to lapsing into her usual role as adviser, trying to will Serena into playing better. “When I’d find myself doing that, I’d lose a couple points,” Venus said. “[Then] I wasn’t sorry for her anymore.”
Perhaps they were both thinking back to their days in Compton, Calif., when they would throw dirt on a narrow walkway beside their home to simulate the French Open, grass to replicate Wimbledon. They had slept most of the day Saturday, said mom Oracene, and later Serena, as is her wont, went shopping.
“I have a gut feeling both want it badly,” said Oracene before the match. “Venus wants to defend and Serena wants it back. I know they can [play well] if they let go, but I don’t know if they’re going to do it. If they want it badly enough, they will.”
Clearly, they wanted it very badly but simply weren’t able to quite pull it off, a dilemma with which one sister in the crowd could relate. “It was the sickest I ever felt,” said tennis legend Chris Evert, recalling a match against younger sister Jeanne. “I wanted to throw up on the court. I was filled with so much emotion. I didn’t want to lose to her, but I didn’t want to beat her either. It was the type of thing where I just wanted to get off the court.”
Which is exactly how it looked with the Williams sisters Saturday night, the 10th time sisters have met in Grand Slam tournaments in the Open era and the 10th time the older sister has won.
“Serena and I both know that when we come out there, it’s going to be two competitors competing against each other,” Venus said. “That’s just the way it is. When you walk out on the court, if you’re not a competitor, you should just go home. And we both understand that.”
But that knowledge did not make it any easier.
“It was tough out there fighting the wind, fighting myself and fighting Venus,” said Serena, who has now lost five of her six matches with Venus. “It was too many fights going on. . . . But there’s always a next time.”
Aferward in the locker room, the sisters talked. “She said she didn’t feel like she really won because she always wanted to kind of protect me,” Serena related. “I told her, `Well, you won, take it. It’s your victory. If I would have won, I would’ve won. It’s yours.'”
