‘Not the Younger One First’ – Mother Oracene on Serena Williams Winning Her Maiden Grand Slam Before Venus

From a very young age, Venus and Serena Williams had the talent to become successful in tennis. However, the job of nurturing that talent with hard work on the court fell on the shoulders of their father, Richard Williams. He worked tirelessly with his daughters, hoping to help them reach the pinnacle of professional tennis. 

Once the sisters turned pro, everyone had their eyes on Venus. However, it was Serena who first won a Grand Slam title in 1999, at the US Open. Although everyone looked immensely happy, Venus looked the opposite, as their mother, Oracene, had a different fear about both sisters.

Oracene Price talked about her reaction to Serena Williams winning the US Open in 1999

In the 1999 US Open final, Serena played the final against the legendary Swiss player, Martina Hingis. After winning the final in straight sets, everyone congratulated Serena. But her mother, Oracene, was struggling to deal with the different emotions of seeing one daughter win at the expense of the other. She said, “As a mom you think, Not the younger one first. You want to pull it back to the natural order of things. But sometimes things just come unnatural.”

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Notably, Venus reached the final of the 1997 US Open final, but lost to Hingis. After that, many thought Venus would win the first Grand Slam title.

Before the final, many experts believed it will be a Venus vs Serena final. Unfortunately, Venus lost her semi-final match against Hingis, whereas Serena won her semi-final against Lindsay Davenport. 

After that semi-final loss, Venus did not do many interviews, as Oracene revealed, “It was almost like a death, that loss for Venus.”

Venus Williams won her maiden Grand Slam title at the Wimbledon Championships

A year later, after Serena won her first Grand Slam title, Venus won hers as well. Venus’ first Grand Slam title came at the Wimbledon Championships in 2000, where she beat Davenport in the final. In the same year, she won the US Open as well. 

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In 2001, we saw the first big encounter between the Williams sisters at the US Open final. In this match, Venus dominated her younger sister, Serena, to clinch her second US Open title. 

In terms of their overall career, Serena’s is certainly superior, as she won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, whereas Venus won 7. Moreover, due to her dominance of the women’s circuit over the past two decades, many consider Serena to be the greatest player of all time.