Tennis: Venus beats sister Serena in US Open final

By JOHN ROBERTS

NEW YORK - Richard Williams has promised to write a book, Method in My Madness, about bringing up two of his daughters, Venus and Serena, to dominate women's tennis; not to mention his success as a businessman.

Many passages will no doubt be scoffed at as the product of a vivid imagination. Others, such as how Venus and Serena met in the final of the United States Open, would make Merlin burn with envy.

Today, Venus, aged 21, and Serena, approaching 20, departed Arthur Ashe Stadium with cheques totalling $US1,275, 000 ($2,942,000). Venus, the victor, 6-2, 6-4, had the larger cheque ($US850,000), and the winner's trophy, a replica of which is on its way for the third year consecutively to the home the sisters share in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

The mortgage is not a problem: their joint career prize money stands at $US14,463,661 ($33,377,380), with millions more rolling in from endorsements.

After watching her younger sister beat her to the rostrum here in 1999, when Serena defeated Martina Hingis in the final ("That day was a wake-up call for Venus," their mother, Oracene recalled), Venus has won four of the last six Grand Slam singles titles, making successful defences both here and at Wimbledon.

The only other time sisters had met in the singles final at a major championships was at Wimbledon, in 1884, when women were invited to participate for the first time.

Thirteen players entered and Maud Watson defeated her elder sister, Lilian, 6-8, 6-3, 6-3. The notion that women would one day hit the ball as hard as the Williams sisters would probably have given the daughters of the rector of Berkswell the vapours.

But the Watsons, in their comparatively sedate way, produced a closer result.

Venus has won all but one of her six matches against Serena, the loss coming in 1999 at the Grand Slam Cup in Munich, an event regarded by many critics as little more than an exhibition.

The last time they met, in the Wimbledon semi-finals last year, there was scepticism about the competitiveness of the match.

Suspicions were raised again after Venus withdrew from a match against Serena, citing a knee injury, only six minutes before their scheduled semi-final in Indian Wells, California, in March.

Someone joked about a smoke screen as the residue of a post-match fireworks display swirled around the court as Venus and Serena prepared to play.

What we saw was further evidence that whatever takes place in their practice sessions – and they hit together here – Venus has Serena's number when it comes to matches.

While Venus reproduced a semblance of the form that enabled her to recover from an uncertain start against Jennifer Capriati to overwhelm the Australian Open and French Open champion in the semi-finals, Serena showed little of the confidence that enabled her to whip Martina Hingis, the shaky world No 1.

There were plenty of hard-fought rallies, and some breathtaking points, but Serena was not going to deter Venus by committing 36 unforced errors.

The wind did not help when it came to shot-making, but the sight of her elder sister on the opposite side of the net may have affected her more.

Venus broke for 3-2 and 5-2 in the opening set – a double-fault costing Serena the seventh game – and, although Serena recovered from 0-2 and 2-3 in the second set, a dreadful service game at 4-4 – opening with two double-faults – virtually sealed the match.

After 69 minutes, Serena returned a smash into the net. Venus walked slowly to the net and, without celebration, the sisters hugged.

"If I was playing a different opponent, I'd probably be a lot more joyful," Venus said.

"But I'm happy I won the US Open. There's nothing like winning a Grand Slam. Serena and I both understand that when we come out there, it's going to be two competitors competing against each other. If you're not a competitor, you've just got to go home."

Venus acknowledged, however, that "it's kind of strange when you're the big sister looking to take care of the younger one".

Stranger still when you have spent the whole day with your opponent. While waiting for the post-match presentations, the sisters sat side-by-side and chatted as if trying to decide what dresses they would wear next time they went out.

Your correspondent wondered if it would become easier for them to concentrate on the tennis rather than each other if they met more often in major finals.

"Actually, I have no problem with that, and I'm sure she doesn't," Serena replied.

"It's definitely become a lot easier for me after the first time. Maybe after the matches a lot of emotional ties are involved, but we're out there to compete. We both want to win. We've both worked 15 long years for this.

"Sisters are rivals. A lot of people in families fight. I guess our fighting is done on the court only. Today I was fighting the wind, fighting myself, because I was making too many errors, and I was fighting Venus. There were too many fights going on. I should have reduced it a bit."

"I don't think we had a problem playing each other," Venus said.

"I think we had an okay match. We were even until I got the first break. It could be that I'm used to playing Grand Slam finals. Perhaps that was a factor. Hopefully, there will be better matches."

Given the circumstances, could Venus understand why the media scrutinise their matches against each other with cynical eyes? "I rarely try to understand," she replied.

"When you spend too much time trying to understand things, it takes too much time, too much energy."

Serena emphasised the scope for the sibling rivalry to grow in quality and intensity. "I have a lot of room for improvement," she said.

"You guys, you just haven't seen anything yet."

- INDEPENDENT