“Transformative for All Women Athletes”: Venus Williams Reveals How Serena Williams Helped Her Grow

Published 04/17/2021, 12:30 PM EDT

Their careers haven’t gone similar ways. While Venus Williams’s career Grand Slam haul stopped at seven, her younger sister, Serena Williams, put herself among the elites of women’s tennis by winning 23 Majors.

The younger Williams is, in fact, in sight of equaling the all-time record of Major trophies held by the legendary Margaret Court. Though Serena has left her sister trailing in the shadows with her remarkable career accomplishments, Venus is happy being a proud elder sibling.

If anything, she has been her biggest cheerleader on and off the court and will continue to be so until Serena hangs her racket up.

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Now, in a video where she talks about the biggest female game-changers, Venus has relived her sister’s exploits from 1998 when she used to be “such a formidable player”.

She also fondly remembered Serena’s maiden US Open title a year later, which marked the beginning of an era of absolute supremacy.

Recalling the memories of an old image where the Williams sisters are seen posing together with others, Venus said, “I think that’s 1998. Yeah, everybody looks like kids. I remember Serena was such a formidable player at the time and just a year later, she’d win the US Open, just in her second try.”

Venus Williams says Serena Williams’s maiden US Open title in 1999 inspired her

Venus said it was that moment of triumph that inspired her to lift her maiden US Open title in 2000. She followed it up with her second career title at the Flushing Meadows just a year later.

Her career hit a peak in the early 2000s as apart from her two US Open titles, she also lifted five Wimbledon singles championship trophies in 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, and 2008.

The video has an old clip where Venus explains what Serena’s maiden US Open championship win meant for her.

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“It was really inspiring for me. I learned from it and it helped me grow,” she says.

To an image of a Serena outfit, Venus said it was from 2018, a year after she had her baby and reached the US Open final.

“I believe that Serena having a baby has really just been transformative for all women athletes because now you’re seeing lots of women have babies and come back,” the elder Williams said.

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Venus Williams Creates Astonishing Record Which Even Serena Williams Might Not Break

Venus couldn’t have put it better as Serena sent a strong message to millions of women who often find themselves caught at the crossroads of career and motherhood.

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Priyabrata Chowdhury is a tennis author for EssentiallySports. He has been a print journalist for a decade, producing news pages for leading national dailies such as the Hindustan Times and The New Indian Express. His passion for sports eventually drove him to tennis writing.

“Transformative for All Women Athletes”: Venus Williams Reveals How Serena Williams Helped Her Grow

Venus Williams says Serena Williams’s maiden US Open title in 1999 inspired her

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