Our tennis experts, including Marion Bartoli, Karthi Gnanasegaram and Gigi Salmon, review Serena top-five moments at the U.S. Open with Venus Williams; Head to the Sky Sports website and app for live scores, reporting, analysis and features
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16:12, UK, Thursday 12 October 2023
As part of Black History Month, we asked Sky Sports tennis experts to pick their top five Williams sisters at the US Open.
Marion Bartoli, Karthi Gnanasegaram, Jonathan Overend and host Gigi Salmon provide expert analysis of Serena and Venus’ Flushing Meadows highlights.
The sisters won eight U.S. Open titles between 1999 and 2014, with Serena the undisputed queen of queens, winning six singles titles in the 10 finals she played.
Without further ado, here are five of the Williams sisters’ best moments at the U.S. Open…
2022 – Serena’s Farewell
Marion Bartoli
The 2013 Wimbledon champion said: “For me, watching Serena chase history and break records for more than three decades has been very inspiring.”
“For her final U.S. Open and her farewell, I know she will go out with the same spirit: loud, heard, and seen. She played every ball in the U.S. Open with that spirit .
“Serena and the whole Arthur Ashe Stadium against the players on the other side of the net. It was thrilling, intense, emotional, great…that’s Serena. Her outfit was probably the best ever. The most iconic tennis apparel.
“When it was all over and her whole family was on the court — Olympia, Alexis, Jill Smoller (all professional agents), Venus and all her sisters Oracine, she Giving a speech talking about her father – I don’t know that anyone had dry eyes watching it in the stadium.
“The audience held up signs and said, ‘We love you Serena.’ We got everything, we all felt like we were part of her team, and it was a night I’ll never forget.”
2001 Final – Serena vs Venus
Kati Nanasegaram
“Venus and Serena’s clash at the 2001 U.S. Open has long been considered a pivotal moment in women’s sport. While they had faced each other before at Grand Slam tournaments, this was their first time at a major championship. A clash in a Grand Slam tournament. A Grand Slam final, as someone who played tennis as a kid but had only faced opponents of color when facing my sister, this was a final I watched with interest.
“That final also led to a fundamental shift in the way the women’s competition at the U.S. Open was played. Despite equal pay in the tournament since 1973, the women’s singles final was always played between or after the two men’s semifinals. The final, final, but due to the importance of the Venus vs. Serena final, it ended up getting its own spotlight and prime time television slot…another important legacy.
“The final itself may not have been the best we’ve seen between the two, but it changed the television landscape and undoubtedly helped change the representation of tennis around the world, especially in the United States.”
2000 – Venus Williams wins the U.S. Open
Jonathan Overund
“The summer of tennis in 2000, one of the greatest winning streaks in tennis, belonged to just one woman: Venus Williams.
“Before Wimbledon, she had just turned 20, won her first Grand Slam in London, and then performed well at the U.S. hard-court summer tournament. Venus held on at Stanford, San Diego and New Haven Undefeated, swept world No. 1 at the U.S. Open; defeated world No. 1 Martina Hingis and her emerging rival Lindsay Davenport in the final.
“It was a summer of total dominance: unbeaten in 26 games, dropping just five sets, beating Davenport three times and Monica Seles twice in five finals. And if that wasn’t enough, she also Went to Sydney and won the Olympics!
“I’m not sure we’ll ever see three months like this, and the fact that Venus then talked about how the blood disorder disrupted her training that year makes it all the more remarkable.
“Venus Williams’ longevity doesn’t get enough credit, or even talk about enough. Playing the competition in four different decades, playing in this year’s U.S. Open 26 years after her first U.S. Open, that’s an astonishing record. On her considerable list of accomplishments, that special summer of 2000—including a victory on her U.S. Open debut—tops the list as the most impressive player of.”
1999 – Serena wins her first Grand Slam title
Kati Nanasegaram
“What fascinates me about Serena Williams’ extraordinary performance in winning her first Grand Slam and U.S. Open title in 1999 is that even though we’ve come a long way from the 17-year-old Serena Williams in the final The process of preparing for a Grand Slam saw her unexpectedly.
“Serena has already announced her tennis credentials with wins over the best players in the world, including my favorite at the time, Monica Seles, but the manner of those wins should make us take note.
“The victory in the quarterfinals against Seles showed that Serena is already capable of defeating one of the youngest, strongest and most exciting players on the tour with her own explosive style of tennis.
“In the 1990s, it was not unusual to have an all-junior final against Martina Hingis, but most people expected Venus to win the Grand Slam title first, so Serena defeated a player who only A player a few months older than himself, but playing on a much bigger scale with experience and five Grand Slam titles, amazing.
“To think that this is only Serena’s seventh Grand Slam tournament and that she beat Hingis in straight sets is a huge breakthrough and more importantly, she’s the first since Althea Gibson The first black woman to win a Grand Slam singles title.
“Seeing the joy and surprise on Serena’s face after winning match point and receiving the U.S. Open trophy makes me smile every time.”
2014 – Serena wins 18
Gigi Salmon
“Serena Williams’ 2014 U.S. Open victory was an iconic moment for me because of what she represented, who she played alongside, and the emotion she displayed while winning.
“The 18th Grand Slam singles title puts Serena on par with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. It is also her third consecutive U.S. Open title and her sixth championship, but that was at the end of the year, before she got beyond the fourth round of a Grand Slam, long before she lost in the third round of the Grand Slam at Wimbledon.
“A lot of people said the final would be easy, advance without losing three games. She will face her good friend Caroline Wozniacki, who is reaching her second Grand Slam final. Serena had the lead. The lead, but it was crucial for Serena – who won her 18th Grand Slam singles title at the age of 32 – she told herself at the start of the match, The number 18 means “legend” to her.
“While the tennis itself, especially the first set, was not memorable, what really stood out for me was the outpouring of emotion – raw, pure emotion – at the end, when the match was won and she lay flat on the ground Crying, choking up. In her speech, she emphasized how much this meant to her.”
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