ESPN.com - On-court battles won't challenge unassailable sibling bond

ESPN.com: Wimbledon 2008

Friday, July 4, 2008
Updated: July 5, 10:12 AM ET
On-court battles won't challenge unassailable sibling bond

By Greg Garber
ESPN.com


	When not battling each other in singles, Serena, left, and Venus Williams are stalwart doubles partners.

Growing up in Douglaston [N.Y], John and I had some unbelievable pingpong battles in the garage. When I was 11, John was 18 [coming off a surprising semifinal appearance at Wimbledon], so I couldn't beat him in tennis. But I could beat him in pingpong, and he hated that.
Our garage had stone walls, and John would slam the racket into the wall when things weren't going well. He was always duct-taping the handles back to the paddle.
My father would be upstairs in the kitchen and I can remember him always yelling, "Hey, what's going on down there? Knock it off."
-- Tennis analyst and former pro Patrick McEnroe

WIMBLEDON England -- When they receive serve in a doubles match, Venus and Serena Williams sway in uncanny unison, leaning left, right, left, right, left.

When the ball is in play, they glide almost unconsciously about the court, smooth machinery, almost a single entity. And when they touch left hands after every point, their bond -- to the very depth of their DNA -- is evident.

Venus, 28, and Serena, 26, have won six Grand Slam doubles titles, and on Sunday they will seek their seventh after defeating Nathalie Dechy and Casey Dellacqua on Friday.

"I think the doubles really gets us really amped for the singles, and the next day we're all tuned and ready to go," Venus said.

"I think it helps my singles," Serena added. "It's like we're so intense and so in the moment because we really want to win the doubles and just win our [singles] matches."

To the surprise of many, they have romped through the singles draw here at the All England Club, each winning all 10 of their sets in the process. Venus has won 76 games and lost 41; Serena has won 75 and lost 41.

"We're like two peas in a pod," Serena observed earlier this week

On Saturday, however, they will leave their changeover chairs and walk to opposite sides of the court. And then, the best friends who share a house a few blocks from the bustle of Wimbledon Village, the sisters who have eaten Chinese takeout for the better part of two weeks, will play each other in the Wimbledon ladies' final.

"I think that the opponent hasn't gotten any easier," Serena said on Friday. "It's going to be a battle again. That's just how it is."

Said Venus, "We haven't reached this achievement in a few years now. This is what we're always aiming for, and it's great that it happened."

This is their 16th meeting, the seventh in the crucible of a Grand Slam final. Venus won their first meeting in a major, at the 2001 U.S Open, but Serena has won the past five. The matches have not featured anything approaching aesthetic tennis. They have been disjointed and devoid of emotion.

Really, is it any wonder?

Eighty-two percent of the people in western countries have at least one sibling. Siblings tend to spend more time with siblings than parents, and child psychologists say that when they are close in age and the same sex, the rivalry can be particularly intense.


	Bob and Mike Bryan were forbidden to square off against each other on the tennis court growing up.

This doesn't seem to be the case with Venus and Serena.

"They have a similar relationship to us," said Bob Bryan, who will face twin brother Mike in the mixed-doubles championship. "They don't have a rivalry. I've watched their matches. They're usually flat. They seem disinterested.

"On a bad practice court, we'd go all out, but in a public place?" continued Mike Bryan. "We started playing each other when we were 17, at the Fiesta Bowl, the Copper Bowl, in Kalamazoo. With all those people watching, you just don't want to embarrass your brother."

Concluded Bob, "They don't have that fire, but really, you can't blame them."

We played every day after school on the practice courts and we always tried to kill each other. We were always at each other's throats. We still wanted to prove to each other who's better -- whether it was tennis, monopoly or pingpong.
Our parents wouldn't let us play in junior tournaments, though. We defaulted if we both got to the finals. They didn't want one of us to be the cocky twin. Maybe one of us would have lost interest in tennis if we had gotten beaten by the other.
Every kid dreams of being No. 1 in the world. How can you be No. 1 in the world if you can't be the best kid in the same bedroom?
-- Mike Bryan

According to Genesis, Adam and Eve had two sons -- first Cain, then Abel. Cain was a farmer and Abel a shepherd. When Cain grew jealous after a perceived slight from God, he murdered his younger brother.

When God asked Cain where Abel was, he replied, "Am I my brother's keeper?"

Venus, on the other hand, seems happy to play the role of big sister.

"That's my job," she said. "That's a huge part of my life, is being a big sister. I love that job. It makes me really proud. I'm always happy when I can help out."

Said Serena, "It's good being the youngest. You get away with a lot. Whatever I want."

This, apparently, extends to Grand Slam titles.

This is Venus' 13th Grand Slam final. Her collective record against Lindsay Davenport, Justine Henin, Martina Hingis and Marion Bartoli is a stout 5-1 in major finals. Against Serena, she is 1-5.


	Being the younger sibling has benefited Serena Williams in many ways -- notably on the tennis court.

Early in their career, there were charges that their father Richard Williams was dictating who would win. But would a father really insist that one sibling be permitted to beat the other five times in a row?

On Friday, Elena Dementieva renewed the controversy after losing to Venus in straight sets.

"If they're going to play against each other, I don't know what to say," Dementieva said. "I mean, I cannot imagine myself playing against someone from my family. It's really hard.

"For sure, it's going to be a family decision."

Venus, asked whether her family decides in advance who will win, called the notion "ridiculous, disrespectful and pretty offensive."

Later Dementieva, who speaks English fluently, blamed her poor command of English and distanced herself from the comment. This is the same Russian player who complained once at Indian Wells that Richard was fixing the matches.

"Out on that court," Richard Williams said earlier this week, "I don't think there's as much love as people think."

After making that declaration, he added, "They were taught that the family is the oldest institution in the world. They definitely feel that way. The way I see it is I have two lovely daughters anyone would be proud of.

"I taught my daughters the world will eulogize you for what you do -- so make sure you do what you set out to do. They represent the family extraordinarily well."

Richard, a fixture around the grounds this week, will not attend the final.

"He said he did his job and his job was done, so I guess he's feeling good," Serena said. "No matter what happens, he's for sure going to be a winner."

Isn't it possible that Venus' view of her place in the family tends to leave her more passive in her matches against Serena, more likely to acquiesce?

"I don't know," Richard Williams said. "I never talk to them about emotions, and they don't talk to me about them."

I'm 2½ years older, but it was always a battle with Murphy. The reason we did so well as brothers was that every practice was like the final of a Grand Slam. We had twin sisters, Rachel and Rebecca, and they were always at it, too.
I can remember being on the overnight train from Rome to Nice [France]. We were playing backgammon, keeping a tally. Murphy was way up early, but I came back and I beat him. Murphy was furious. He smashed the board and it broke into pieces.
-- Tennis analyst and former pro Luke Jensen

Martina Navratilova has never, ever pulled punches.

Asked a few days ago by ESPN producer Willie Weinbaum what she thought of an all-Williams final, she laughed.

"Oh no!" she said. "Because I haven't seen them play a really great match against each other, and from a spectator point of view it's just not as compelling. I think people would rather see some more of a contrast, more conflict, because once it's in the family, it's like, 'Ahh!'

" Maybe [the chances for a good final are] better than before, because they're coming towards the end of their career and they might be a little hungrier, so maybe there won't be as much sisterly love as before."

Part of the problem, according to ESPN's Jensen, is the style the Williams sisters play. Usually, it's a festival of unforced errors.

"The only time they face that kind of power is when they play each other," Jensen said. "You've got two home-run hitters, so you're going to get a lot of strikeouts. They're both serving massive. You have to ask, who's going to put the ball in the court?

"In my opinion, it's always going to be ugly."

The Bryan brothers might have the best handle on the ambivalence we've come to expect in the Williams' matches.

"We've met in mixed-doubles matches at the Grand Slams," Bob said. "You already feel like your family has won. Someone's getting a bigger check, but we split them so it doesn't matter. The trophy is going in the case in the same house.

"They've both had great careers. They're not stressing about who's going to win. The night before the match, they'll be eating together, hanging out. They'll fly home together, they'll always be together. It really doesn't matter to them -- it matters more to the fans and the press than it does to them."

Regardless of who wins, a Williams will win for the seventh time in nine years here, which is remarkable by any measure. Venus, the defending champion, has four titles and Serena has two -- both at the expense of her older sister.

The sisters were asked after their doubles quarterfinal if their intra-family competition had challenged their relationship.


	Venus Williams has had a difficult time rising to the occasion versus Serena on the grand stage.

"No," Venus said.

Said Serena, "It's hasn't challenged my relationship. I mean, we leave everything on the court. We're sisters the moment we shake hands.

"I think our parents did that. It's not only with us, it's all of our sisters. It's really just our whole life is surrounded by our sisters. That's just how it is for us, so we're blessed."

ESPN analyst Pam Shriver said she had an epiphany recently.

"It was that they'd play their best final," she said. "The last match, in Bangalore [India], was a solid one. Maturity is a factor, and maybe some distance from the Serena Slam.

"I really think we're going to see their best match."

Venus and Serena have played a combined 17 singles and doubles matches so far at this year's Wimbledon tournament. They've won all 17, but on Saturday one of them will lose.

It was 1972, and I was 10 years old. I was playing my sister Marion in the 13-under tournament at our Country Club in Baltimore, L'Hirondelle. She was two years older than me, but I was the better tennis player. I beat her 8-1 in a pro set and, at the time, I really didn't think anything of it. Hey, I'm just a 10-year-old kid.
Well, 30 years later, Marion was sick. She was dying of cancer and she called me on the phone one day, out of the blue.
"Why didn't you take it easier on me?" Marion asked me. "Why didn't you give me a few more games?"
She was talking about a tennis match between kids -- 30 years in the past. That's how strong sibling rivalry is. Strong.
-- Tennis analyst and former pro Pam Shriver

Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com.