(upbeat music)
Downloaded from YTS.MX
- [Narrator] The Williams sisters.
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
Never before has the surname rang so synonymously
with the sport of tennis.
Dominating the game for over three decades,
winning every title imaginable.
Few players will ever achieve the heights of the famed duo.
With 14 Grand Slam titles
and three Olympic gold medals as a doubles team
and 30 combined Grand Slam singles titles,
winning almost seems like second nature
for Serena and Venus.
From inexperienced teenagers to seasoned vets,
nobody could have predicted the sister's careers,
or could they?
(upbeat music continues)
- [Simon] Welcome to viewers from British Eurosport.
It's an amazing sound here,
(crowd booing)
a crescendo of boos for Serena Williams.
And there's father Richard coming down, it's quite amazing.
Jo Durie alongside me, Simon Reed, there's Venus.
And the crowd, an American crowd booing an American family.
And you have to say that it does smack
of a little bit of racism.
- [Jo] Oh wow, I'm just speechless.
I've never heard this before, ever.
And I've been on the circuit,
or was on circuit for quite a long time.
(crowd booing)
- [Narrator] Known as the sport of kings,
tennis is rooted in the upper class.
From its origins in the 12th century,
tennis has become synonymous with wealth and social status.
Rod Laver, Pete Sampras, Steffi Graf and Chris Everett,
the game has given us some of the greatest athletes
to ever live.
However, from the players, to the umpires, to the fans,
there is one thing that stands out.
(orchestra music)
- I think tennis is still perceived
as a bit of a posh sport,
bit of a middle class sport.
So that one of the reasons for that is
its royal roots, if you like.
It started off, you know,
as a real tennis and I think that it's got
a royal connections in that respect.
Tennis is a sport that started history hazard.
It started the monks playing in French monasteries
in the 12th century, a game called jeu de paume,
which was they are hitting a ball
with the palm of their hands
in the cloisters against the wall.
Now this developed in the 16th century.
They started playing with rackets, and it, that's why,
that's when the Royal Association started.
Henry the Fifth and,
and Henry the Eighth really loved the sport.
You know, there are perceived barriers to it,
so it's perceived as a middle class white sport.
So there weren't many role models for that,
for the Williams sisters to go into.
Also, it's an expensive sport,
so it can be an expensive sport.
You've got to hire your courts, you've gotta' buy rackets.
And then once you've started, you reach a level.
Junior events, you go around,
you gotta' travel around to play with different events
all around the country and then internationally.
So the, there are the, there are these barriers
that are for,
that prevented many people entering the sport before them.
This is Hollywood.
A fantasy land of glamour and beauty.
It stars our jewels in the golden setting
of exquisite homes, monumental studios and
sparkling atmosphere.
(calm music)
(upbeat music)
(police siren)
- [Reporter] Los Angeles means the city of the angels,
but down below,
the glittering lights of Hollywood and Bel-Air,
the streets are far from angelic.
For just a few blocks from the Olympic sites and
the tourist hotels,
the glamour quickly gives way to the grubby world
of Gangland.
Los Angeles has the worst gang problem in the States
with some 20,000 thugs dedicated to violence.
- I mean, going to jail back and forth,
I mean, killing and also watching brothers get killed.
I mean, it can take a toll on your life,
can take a toll on your mind.
You just standing right next to a brother and
you just see him get his head blown off.
- [Narrator] Although only 20 miles
from the glamour and glitz of Hollywood,
Compton is a world away.
The 1980s were difficult times for the city of Compton.
Having exceeded the middle class bliss of the sixties,
Compton had become a hardened working class hub,
tarnished by gun violence and drug dealing
by criminal gangs.
- [Reporter] On Saturday night, recently, five people died.
All of them victims of what they call here,
drive-by shootings.
- To me, it's very shocking to talk to these youngsters.
And I'm talking about a 15 or 16 year old young man
that has the ability to go by and just indiscriminately
fire a weapon,
not really caring if an innocent bystander is struck and
then not feeling any sort of remorse for it.
- [Narrator] Growing up in the chaos and poverty
that was 1980s Compton,
the Williams sisters were determined from a young age
to not be another statistic.
And with encouragement from their father, Richard,
the girls chose their path.
- I mean the film King Richard, the Oscar winning film,
shows a little bit about this,
this history and how he took them,
the two sisters onto these tennis courts,
public tennis courts in Compton and LA and
coached them, and coached them, and coached them,
and turned them into stars.
He did it in a different way.
So not only that's the,
the traditional country club way of doing it.
Also, during their younger years,
he decided they weren't gonna play junior events.
You know, the events,
that's the traditional path you play against contemporaries,
people of your age.
You learn to play, you learn to win.
That, he didn't, decided his daughters wouldn't do that.
He wanted them to have education as well, you know,
a formal education.
He wanted them to be at home.
He wanted them to learn.
And then, when the time was right,
he released them on the tennis world.
- I put that one so long ago, sir.
Me too.
- [Interviewer] Here's a, here's a question.
I'm sure you've been asked more than once.
Yes.
- [Interviewer] What do you want to be when you grow up?
Tennis player.
- I would like to be a tennis player.
- [Interviewer 2] If you were a tennis player,
who would you want to be like?
- Well, I'd like other people to be like me.
- [Interviewer 2] That's a good answer.
- [Narrator] From the age of four,
Richard began coaching the girls,
spending countless hours on the courts,
mapping out a path to stardom,
training in harsh conditions
with used equipment in the heart of gang territory.
The girls quickly developed their skills,
drawing in crowds to watch them practice
on the courts of Compton.
By 1992,
Venus and Serena were playing on the Junior Circuit
across the country,
all under the watchful eye of their protective father.
- Richard Williams, not only the father to Serena and Venus,
he was their original coach and
he was a driving force behind their early successes.
So there were barriers to, you know,
African-Americans, people of colour accessing the sport.
He decided that it was a, it was an investment,
it was a job, and money could be made out of this.
So he decided to train champions and
he took that on himself.
[Interviewer] Very confident.
I'm very confident.
You say it so easily.
Why?
[Venus] Because I believe it.
- [Richard] All right, cut that here if you don't mind,
and let me tell you why.
What she said,
she said it was so much confidence the first time,
but if you keep going on and on...
- [Interviewer] We can't keep interrupting.
I mean, if you want...
- You got to understand that you dealing with an image
of a 14 year old child and this child gonna' be out
there playing when your old ass and me
gonna' be in the grave.
When she say something, we done told you what's happening,
You dealing with a little black kid and let her be a kid.
She done answer it with a lot of confidence,
leave that alone.
[Narrator] By 1997,
Serena and Venus had propelled themselves
from the Junior Circuit to playing professional tennis.
- Well, it's interesting because at our level it's,
we still have a lot of things that we wanna work on,
like basic techniques.
And you have to have a strong foundation, I believe,
and my parents and my dad taught us
that in order to be at a level of a professional tennis,
you need to have a really, really strong foundation
so it can, it won't break and it won't crack
under any type of pressure.
So sometimes my dad says,
"Okay, remember when we were young,"
we used to always have this saying, you know, "turn back."
And we would always say, "yeah", so we'd go back to that.
So I think that's really important.
(thudding of tennis balls)
- [Narrator] Making their mark early,
Venus reached five quarter finals, one semifinal,
and one final at Grand Slam Tournaments
in her first three years.
(dramatic music)
Painstakingly close to lifting gold,
Venus looked set to achieve her lifetime goal,
however,
it would be Serena that would get the opportunity first.
Defeating world number one, Hingis, in the US Open final,
Serena captured the first Grand Slam
of the sister's careers.
(crowd cheering)
- [Announcer] It is my great pleasure to present to you
the 1999 US Open Women Singles trophy to Serena William.
(crowd roaring)
- [Announcer 2] Ladies and gentlemen,
the 1999 US Open Women's Singles champion, Serena Williams.
(crowd roaring)
- [Narrator] Serena's Win would make her the
first African-American woman
to win a Grand Slam since Althea Gibson in 1958,
making her first mark in history.
- [Reporter] Althea Gibson of New York became the
first of her race to win the title at Wimbledon, England.
And she won the US Nationals, too.
Sportsmen everywhere applauded Althea's triumph
and shared in her moment of glory
when Queen Elizabeth herself presented the
symbol of victory to the girl from Harlem who
became the toast of the tennis world in 1957.
I think it was a motivation.
I think it was a motivation, 'cause it wasn't, you know,
it was expected that, you know,
Venus was the elder one and
she would achieve more and earlier and
the fact that Serena came through,
and it was quite a shock for her to win the 1999 US Open,
to do that.
So, you know,
I'm sure it was a motivation to her that,
your little sister or little brother does something
before you, you want to go out and do it as well.
- [British Reporter] It's a family affair
that's gripped the nation.
One of the Williams sisters has to lose today,
but which one?
It's only happened twice before in Wimbledon history.
It's the first time in the semifinals
of a modern Grand Slam event.
The experts forecast a close match.
- Sometimes when you get two players
that are too emotionally high,
you can be too emotionally high and,
and maybe just be a little tight.
But I think once you get a couple of games out the way,
I think they'll settle into their games and,
and I think we're gonna see some pretty good tennis.
I think we're gonna see
an extremely aggressive tennis match.
- The big question tomorrow is how the umpire is going
to address the two sisters.
First names have been ruled out.
The only solution appears to be the full Monty,
Miss Venus Williams and Miss Serena Williams.
Well all the excitement over the sisters has rather
overshadowed the men's quarter finals this afternoon.
- I don't know, they just have a,
a presence around that no one else seems to have.
- [British Reporter] For once though,
it was a less than glamorous entrance
for Serena and Venus,
the brightest stars of the ladies tournament.
- We're feeling pretty good about today.
I'm ready to go home.
- Which of these two remarkable women
would you put your money on tomorrow?
- Well, I picked Venus to win the tournament
at the beginning,
so I gotta' stick with her now.
I like her serve.
I like the fact that she's a little more mature,
a little more experienced.
But Serena has been playing the better tennis,
but she hasn't been playing anybody.
- Now of course, these two are sisters.
They're very close.
They clearly love each other very much.
Will they be able to be aggressive enough
on court tomorrow against each other?
Well, they do, but they say
that when they're on the court, they're not related.
Their previous four matches have not been very good to watch
because there's a tremendous psychological block in there.
You can't deny that.
But I think as they play each time,
they realise they're professional athletes,
they're watching,
the world is watching now.
- So how is this playing out in America?
Has it gone Wimbledon crazy over there?
Very much so.
This is a bigger story in the United States
than Agassi or Samprus.
And if one of them wins the title, woo!
Well, no black person,
no Black American has won since Althea Gibson
among the women in 1958.
- I know when I had to play my brother John,
we tried to be friends, but when we got on call,
we had obviously, had to try and win and beat each other.
After the match, well, we'd go and have a drink.
If I won, I would buy him a drink and vice versa.
So it's gonna be tremendously tough for both, both girls.
But I just got a feeling Venus is gonna come through
on this one.
- Whoever comes through this afternoon's semifinal,
the Williams family will be the winner.
And of course, both Venus and Serena could yet
appear in a final together in that ladies doubles.
- I hope that they both could win,
but I know that can't happen.
To see where we come from, out of the worst ghetto,
to be here at the finest club in the world.
It's just phenomenal.
Other words, if I was writing a script for a movie,
I would say it'll never happen.
- [Serena] What don't, what can't you love about Wimbledon?
The grass, I mean, wearing the white,
playing one, the biggest Grand Slam in the world.
It's the biggest stadium and you just gotta' get up for.
- [Narrator] On the 7th of July, 2000,
for the first time in the history of the Open Era,
two sisters would face off in a Grand Slam semifinal.
(dramatic music)
From the public courts of Compton,
to the grandest stage of all,
only one of the sisters can make it through to the final.
- So Lindsay Davenport will be back on Center Court
on Saturday to defend her title against Venus Williams.
This time Richard Williams says he will be there
to cheer his daughter on,
and Venus expects younger sister Serena
to be rooting for her as well.
- I didn't cry, but I was pretty close to it.
I sympathise with Serena because Serena hates to lose,
and she got to learn that in this sport,
you are gonna lose sometime.
It must be very difficult.
I remember 2000 Wimbledon when they played in the semifinal,
and be honest, it was an awful match.
You know, they both looked nervous.
They both looked like they didn't want to beat each other.
You know, it wasn't a great spectacle.
I mean, it was a great occasion,
but the quality of the tennis,
there was so many errors, et cetera, out that.
Venus went on to win that and went on,
went to win Wimbledon that year.
But, you know,
it must be difficult, especially, you know,
if you leave aside the emotional side of it,
the briefing someone you love and shared
so much of your life with,
it's also the fact that they prayed, trained and practiced
together so many years.
So they know each other's game inside out.
So it's very difficult to surprise each other.
So, you know that, it, on so many levels,
it was difficult for them.
- [Narrator] Serena watched on from the grandstands
as sister, Venus, went on to win her first Grand Slam title,
the 2000 Wimbledon Championship.
And unfortunately,
it wasn't the last time she'd be watching her sister
from there.
On the 9th of September, 2000,
Venus won her second Grand Slam title, the US Open.
10 months later,
she would go on to win her third Grand Slam title.
However,
Serena wouldn't have to wait long
for another chance at glory
when the two sisters were scheduled to face each other
in the Indian Wells Semi-final.
Four minutes before the match,
Venus pulled out sparking allegations of match-fixing and
racial abuse towards the sisters and their dad.
(crowd cheering)
[Announcer] But Serena,
has been put out, no doubt about it.
(announcer speaking indistinctly)
but I don't like it.
I don't like the atmosphere at all.
I do think it smacks of a certain amount of racism
by a certain proportion of the crowd,
and that is distasteful.
- [Narrator] Serena would go on to say,
"I looked up and all I could see was a sea of rich people,
mostly older, mostly white."
Although she won the match,
Serena felt more disconnected from the sport than ever.
Richard would later state that,
"I think Indian Wells disgraced America."
(dramatic music)
After the controversial Indian Wells Tournament,
allegations of match-fixing continued
as people began to question the sister's other encounters.
However, on the 10th of September 2001,
the sister had a chance to prove the world wrong,
when for the first time in Open Era history,
two sisters would face each other in a Grand Slam final,
the 2002 US open.
Losing out once again to her sister,
Serena was determined to make her mark on the tennis world.
Facing off against Venus, yet again,
at the 2002 French open,
Serena pulled through to win her first Grand Slam final
against her sister.
And it wouldn't be the last.
Meeting each other yet again at the 2002 Wimbledon final,
Serena once again beat her sister
in a tightly contested match.
At the final Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open,
Serena and Venus met once again in the final.
Winning the match,
Serena now held three out of four possible Grand Slams
and had the chance to do the unimaginable,
when she faced her sister once again
at the 2003 Australian Open final.
Serena prevailed in a tightly contested match,
winning by tie break,
to claim four out of a possible four Grand Slam titles,
dubbed the Serena Slam.
- So to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously
shows not only your mastery of all the three surfaces
in the four Grand Slams,
it also shows your consistency during this period.
You know,
it's so easy to have a bad day and an off day and
if someone else comes out and
plays out of this world and beats you.
She was able to do that for a consistent period.
[Newscaster] The night before,
they'd been turning heads at the Wimbledon Champions Ball,
and we're as pleased with their performance there
as at the tournament itself.
[Neil] Serena also,
I think Serena enjoys the limelight a little bit more.
I think she's more at ease in press conferences.
I think she enjoys that side of it slightly more,
where Venus is slightly more guarded.
I don't think she enjoys sharing so much.
- [Narrator] Red carpets, charity events, and gala dinners
all became the norm for tennis' newest stars.
- [Interviewer] Some people suggest that you've got
so many extra side interests that since
have become more of a hobby, how do you react?
- I think that basically you just have to listen
to what Serena and I say.
Any other person's suggestion would just be opinion.
They became megastars,
they became known outside the sport.
What you're always looking through in tennis and
all sports is, you know, we talk about a breakthrough.
So most tennis fans will watch all tennis events,
you know, come what may.
Now the sports fans,
who have got a general interest in sport,
will watch, you know, the Grand Slams, the bigger events,
as well as a tennis fan.
Now, what Serena Williams and Venus Williams did,
it helped transform the sport,
is to make it across, the crossover,
to have an appeal for everyone in society,
to everybody that wanted to know what they were doing.
And Serena's achievement of the,
the Serena Slam in '02, '03,
winning Wimbledon without dropping a set.
I mean that impact in the UK,
that made her into an instant star.
The way the way she did it as well,
was just a style of tennis with people,
made people step up, look up and say,
"Wow, that is something else,
I've never seen anything like that before."
(dramatic music)
(press yelling)
- [Narrator] Having established themselves
as two of the most dominant female tennis players
in the world,
Serena and Venus transformed the sport.
Taking on major brand deals with Nike and Reebok,
the sisters have become the biggest names
in the world of tennis.
(dramatic music)
Finishing the year ranked number one and two in the world.
- I think it reflects the consistency
of your performances as well.
So, I mean, the Grand Slam you go down in history for,
for winning Grand Slam.
Your name will always be there,
but if you are a number one,
get to become world number one and
certainly the end of the year to say
you were the best player in that year,
you need to be perform, to get to world number one,
you need to perform on all the serves.
You can't just be a clay court specialist.
You can't just be a grass court specialist.
You've gotta' perform all around the world
all through the year.
So that's why people value that honour.
- [Narrator] The sisters were now two
of the biggest names in tennis.
By the end of 2003,
Serena had claimed six Grand Slam titles
compared to Venus's four,
dominating the sport with an unstoppable serve
like nothing the tennis world had seen before.
[Neil] Let anyone dispute.
She has the biggest serve
in the history of the women's sport and
also, you know, has dominated it
during certain periods like no other player.
So she has been,
when she's been fit and mentally tuned in,
she is undoubtedly the best player in the world.
- [Narrator] Shortly after winning
her second Wimbledon title,
Serena suffered a partial tear of her quadriceps tendon
in her left knee requiring surgery.
At the same time Venus suffered an abdominal injury
requiring her to step away from the game.
At the heartbreak of the US fans,
neither Venus nor Serena competed in the 2003 US Open.
- Yeah, the US open's the last event of the year
in August, September.
It's in New York City.
It's also the noisiest one.
That for me at the US open is the buzz of the crowd.
So there's this thing at Wimbledon where they say,
"Quiet please," before play.
They like it to be perfect silence.
It doesn't happen in New York.
So there's the biggest tennis arena in the world,
the Arthur Ashe Arena, it's like 23, 24,000 people.
And the noise during a match is just like nothing else.
So there's that constant hum and the, you know,
the street, the vendors, the hotdog sellers, all that.
That's sort of, the smells, everything.
It's just like nothing else for me.
And the crowd get into it as well and
the crowd can give players a hard time or
get behind the Americans or singing.
The crowd atmosphere is very special at the US Open.
- [Narrator] Justine Henin went on
to claim her first US Open title
as the sisters struggled to return to winning form.
- They have been unlucky and I think they would've won
an awful lot more if they hadn't suffered these injuries.
They've kept going.
I mean that's the big thing about these Williams sisters.
They had various chances during their career
to say, "I've had a great career, thanks very much.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna leave it now."
But they've had this, you know,
inner drive, inner belief, to keep coming back.
I think that differentiates the great sports people
that go on and win, again and again,
have the motivation to do that and
overcome obstacles like that.
I think that's one of the defining things
about their careers.
- We definitely will miss tennis one day,
but not any time soon 'cause Venus and I are like,
okay, we're gonna keep playing,
we've had a lot of time off in our career,
so maybe we can just keep going and keep doing some.
- [Narrator] On the 14th of September 2003,
the sisters were forced to deal
with a different type of loss.
The loss of their half sister, Yetunde Price.
While Serena and Venus had been conquering the tennis world,
Yetunde had stayed in Compton finding success as a nurse,
opening her own business and working
as a part-time assistant to Venus and Serena.
However, on the night of the 14th of September 2003,
in a case of mistaken identity,
Yetunde was shot while in the passenger seat of her car.
The Williams family had fallen victim
to the exact environment they had escaped
over 10 years previous.
- [Newscaster] One Saturday night recently,
five people died.
All of them victims of what they call here,
drive-by shootings.
- To me, it's very shocking to talk to these youngsters.
And I'm talking about a 15 or 16 year old young man
that has the ability to go by and
just indiscriminately fire a weapon,
not really carrying if an innocent bystander is struck and
then not feeling any sort of remorse for it.
- [Narrator] The death had a profound effect
on Venus and Serena,
who were already struggling to get back to winning form.
(sad music)
With Serena stating that,
"She was a wonderful person.
We're dealing with it however we can.
Some days are better than others."
And in 2016,
the Williams sister opened a community centre in Compton
for victims of violence and their families
called the Yetunde Price Resource Center.
Yetunde's murder would have a prolonged effect
throughout the sister's careers,
often acting as inspiration and motivation to succeed.
- They were very close family, so raised, you know,
coached by Richard, the father.
The two of them became the two big stars,
but the other sisters as well,
and they worked for them as you know, as a PA, et cetera.
So the impact it had, the death had, on the family
was quite, you know, quite great.
And I think Serena dedicated her victory though afterwards,
she dedicated to her dead sister.
And most of all,
I would like to dedicate this win to my sister,
who's not here.
Her name is Yetunde and I just love her so much.
(crowd applauding)
I'll try not to get teary eyed, but couple days ago I said,
if I win this, it's gonna be for her.
So thanks Tundi.
- [Narrator] Spurred on by her sister's death,
Serena won her first Grand Slam title in two years,
as well as completing a near impossible feat,
winning the tournament as an unseeded player.
If you are unseeded,
you can play anybody at the beginning of the event.
So you can draw the number one seed in the first round.
Now, if you are seeded an event, the top 32 is seeded,
the idea is you get an easier introduction into it,
so your first two rounds, you'll draw an unseeded player.
By definition, they're not ranked as high say,
should be easy, you'll ease your way into the tournament.
So being unranked is very rare and
the times it has happened,
but when Serena did it, when was that,
in 2007, Australia was it?
That's when she did it.
And she was ranked number 81 at the time.
They're memorable.
You can identify when it's happened because it's so rare.
- [Narrator] Serena had the chance to build on her success
when she faced Daniela Hantuchová
at the 2007 Wimbledon Tournament.
A match that would go on to epitomise her career.
- [Neil] The green grass at Wimbledon is a different look
from the hard courts and the clay as well.
Certainly British society and British sport,
has a very special place as well.
So tennis is a popular sport in the UK.
I wouldn't pretend it's the most popular sport,
but for those two weeks,
especially when there's not a big football tournament on,
it's the biggest sporting event in the country,
arguably the world.
(fans cheering)
And it's also become, you know, Wimbledon is a sexy sport.
People want to go along and see it.
And so the royal box is full of other sports stars, actors,
film stars, et cetera, like that.
People want to go to the tennis and
wanna' be seen at the tennis.
(dramatic music)
- [Sportscaster] Serena's starting to cramp here.
- [Sportscaster 2] She is. Serena is cramping.
[Sportscaster 3] Left calf.
And that...
we are,
from our location very close to that.
And it's visual.
Very visible that her left calf was up in a ball.
It must have been,
I'm starting to wonder if this is more than a cramp.
(Serena screams)
And that's an awful shriek that,
what certainly looked to be,
and there was a visible knot and ball
in the back of her calf.
May have been something more than a cramp.
Think about individual sports.
Generally, there's no hiding place.
Now, the individual sports, if you,
you are, it's down to you what you do.
If you can play in a rugby team or a football team,
you can have a bad day.
You can play badly and you can still win.
Everyone else can carry you.
But when you're out there on a tennis court playing,
it's one-on-one, man on man, there's no hiding place.
It's what you do on the day.
And if you don't perform, you lose.
And that's your job.
It's your career.
All the pressure's on you and
all the responsibility is yours.
(crowd applauding)
- [Sportscaster] I cannot imagine
Serena Williams coming back from this.
- [Narrator] After a short rain break,
an injured Serena returned back onto the court,
bandaged and limping, determined to see the game through.
Just refused to give in,
so that any normal person
wouldn't have been able to continue in that match.
You know,
the injury issue that she was suffering.
But she got a little bit lucky
with the rain break, et cetera, as well.
But she managed to get herself strapped up and go out again
and then come back out and win that match.
Defying sort of medical science, if you like.
So that, I think that sort of,
that kind of performance showed that how different she was,
how special she was.
I mean, the extent of her injury
where she lost in the next round just based,
she wasn't fit.
So how she managed to get through that match
against Hantuchova given the injuries,
it is sheer adrenaline and sheer will to win.
- [Narrator] Although Serena's injuries prevented her
from yet another Grand Slam title,
sister Venus prevailed to claim her fourth Wimbledon title
and sixth Grand Slam overall,
setting the sisters up for one of the greatest periods
in their careers.
Between 2008 and 2010,
Serena and Venus dominated world tennis.
Between them, they took home six, out of a possible 12,
Grand Slam titles.
This meant that for three years,
half of all Grand Slam tournaments were won by a Williams,
making them two of the most decorated players
on the WTA circuit.
The Williams sisters were back.
Not only were the sisters at the height of their careers,
they were also changing the very fabric of the sport.
- I think that Serena Williams has dominated women's tennis
ever since her first Grand Slam win
at the 1999 US Open, along with her sister.
You know, there's nobody to compare with her and her sister.
And they're still the person that they,
you want to, everyone wants to see.
Everybody wants to know their result.
I always make the comparison with Tiger Woods and
his impact on golf and similar unusual backgrounds,
in fact, not used to having, you know,
an African American dominate that sport.
And so they changed the way that people, it became sexy.
It became, you know, more than just, you know,
golf and tennis have got these perceptions
of being quite stuffy, middle class, white sport.
But Tiger was for golf and these Williams sisters
in tennis have changed that and changed it for the better.
(dramatic music)
I would say even,
basically they're similar and they've achieved,
you know, similar,
Serena's taken it to a different level though.
Serena's always been a more explosive player and
able to play at a, I think her, Serena's best play,
what she's been able to achieve is, has eclipsed Venus.
I mean, it's strange to say that, you know,
Venus Williams,
for all her amazing achievements she's achieved,
she's not even the best tennis player in her family.
[Narrator] By the end of 2010,
Serena had begun to establish herself as the dominant sister
with 13 Grand Slam titles under her belt,
compared to Venus' seven.
Now at the height of their careers,
nothing would prepare the sisters for what was to come next.
- [Reporter] Serena didn't even know
if she'd ever play tennis again.
She severed a tendon in her foot
stepping on a piece of broken glass in a restaurant
celebrating last year's Wimbledon win,
and then had emergency surgery to remove blood clots
from her lungs just before heading out to an Oscar's party.
- Yeah, I definitely dodged a bullet.
I mean, literally,
I definitely view tennis maybe a little different.
I mean, I view like, okay,
I just wanna' be healthy and
nothing can keep one healthy no matter,
no titles, no money, nothing.
- Well, Serena's career was known for its highs and
also its lows, usually through injuries.
So she had lots of injuries during the year.
She also admitted suffering with depression
after a knee injury early in her career.
So it was always, you know, she never knew what to expect.
It was all a rollercoaster ride through her career.
- [Narrator] Suffering from yet another injury,
Serena was forced to miss the first half of the 2011 season.
Absent from the Australian and French Opens,
Serena saw her rankings plummet.
By the first week in May 2011,
Serena was ranked 175th in the world.
Her lowest ranking since 1997.
Yeah, well, Venus,
she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease in 2011.
So this had a huge impact on not just her career,
but her life.
So she had to adopt a vegan diet,
control her calories, et cetera.
She was fatigued, everything.
So really she had to evaluate, you know,
how she had to rebuild her game and sort of
adapt her training and her calendar to do this.
So, you know, on various levels,
it's really interesting that it just goes to show
that even with a condition like this,
you could still be successful sportsman
if you're careful and get the right sports science.
It also showed her incredible drive
to keep continuing to play,
'cause it would be very easy, you know,
she'd already won, you know, countless Grand Slams,
she'd already achieved anything, most,
a career that most players, the envy of most players.
But she decided, no, I'm not gonna stop here.
I'm gonna' keep going.
I'm gonna' learn how to cope with this.
I'm gonna' adapt to it.
I'm gonna' come back again.
- [Narrator] With both Serena and Venus absent
from the game,
questions were beginning to be asked
about the state of women's tennis.
- Just in case it escaped your notice,
every single one of the Women's Quarter finalists
at Wimbledon this year were European,
most of them Eastern European and
with the Williams sisters gone as well,
what does it say about the state of women's tennis?
- But it's similar on the men's side,
there was always a new generation of players threatening
to come through to replace them.
So, you know,
the constant talking point during the 2010s was,
when's the changing of the guard going to happen?
When are these new guys gonna come through and
start dominating the sport like the old guard have done?
- [Narrator] As young new talent began to break through,
Serena was determined to prove she was still
the greatest player in world tennis.
- Now, 2015 was one of the highs again,
when she established herself
as the best player in the world.
So this, you know,
the longevity of Williams' career is shown
that she first completed the Serena Slam, which is holding
all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously.
2002, 2003, she won Wimbledon for the first time,
it was the dominant force.
She did it again, you know, 14 years later.
So 2014, 2015, she did it again.
(dramatic music)
[Narrator] By the end of 2015,
Serena has cemented her position
as the number one player in the world.
- [Neil] So you could argue that her game, in that period,
in '14 or '15, was the best she ever had.
So you know, when she was in '02,'03,
she had the youth,
she had the athleticism and explosiveness.
2014, '15, she also had game plan,
she knew what she was doing,
she had the experience to do it,
and she was, you know,
she blew away everyone else.
- Next year something I definitely wanna' continue to do
is just really focus on breaking records in the Slam.
- [Narrator] Having completed her second Serena Slam,
Serena had the chance to make history and
complete a calendar year Grand Slam
when she reached the 2015 US Open final,
Losing in a shock defeat to Roberta Vinci,
Serena would go on to lose
another two consecutive Grand Slam finals,
the Australian and French Opens.
However, she didn't have to wait long to achieve her goals
when on the 9th of July 2016,
Serena claimed her 22nd Grand Slam at Wimbledon,
equaling Steffi Graf's Open Era record
for Grand Slam titles and weeks at number one.
On the 28th of January 2017,
the tennis world was treated to a match they had longed for
when the sisters were scheduled to face each other
in the Australian Open final.
- Well, the 2017 Australian Open,
is known as the Golden Oldie Grand Slam
because on the men's side
you had Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal reaching the final.
On the women's side,
you had Serena and Venus reaching the final.
It was like the throwback Grand Slam.
It was like you know, a time warp going back 10 or 15 years.
It was the first time that they'd met in a,
the sisters had met in a Grand Slam final
since 2009 Wimbledon, and they renewed their rivalry again.
I don't think many people expected to see them back again.
So for, for various reasons.
- [Sportscaster] Championship point for Serena Williams.
(Serena grunting)
(ball thudding)
(crowd yelling)
And Serena smashes Steffi's record.
It's number 23, an iconic number.
And like Michael Jordan, she's in Rare Air.
The sisters embrace, they share a moment.
What a special moment.
A moment we might not see again in history.
- [Narrator] Having won the Australian Open final,
Serena was now the most successful female tennis player
in Open Era history.
Boasting an impressive 23 Grand Slam titles,
etching her name into the history books.
Her success between 2015 and 2017
was unlike any player in history,
reaching seven Grand Slam finals and
two Grand Slam semifinals,
claiming five, out of a possible nine, titles.
- [Neil] Everybody wants to be the greatest of all time.
So you are known as the GOAT and
the most objective way of defining who is the best player
is the number of Grand Slam titles.
So everyone can have an opinion
on who's their favourite player,
who's your favourite backhand?
What the way, who's the funniest person?
Whatever like that.
If you want to get down to the cold hard facts,
it's how many Grand Slam titles you've won.
So Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova both won 18,
they ended up their careers on the same level.
Steffi Graf, you know,
came past them and took, won 22 in the Open Era.
So for Serena to overtake those three
was a huge significant event,
you know, in the context of what,
the history of Open Tennis.
- [Narrator] Serena's success made her
the highest paid women's athlete of all time,
cementing her name as the greatest female tennis player
to ever live.
- [Neil] The 2017 Australian Open on the women's side
was it showed that Serena and Venus were still
the two players to beat.
It was also sort of like a full stop, if you like,
'cause it was, you know,
the high point and it was very emotional.
It was, you know,
it was great fun for everybody to watch that.
It was the last Grand Slam final Venus got to,
and it was also the last Grand Slam title that Serena won.
So it came out after the event,
she was actually eight weeks pregnant with her first child.
So she gave birth later that year and
she came back and she got through to four Grand Slam finals
and never won one of them.
So the 2017 Australian Open final on the tournament
generally, is just remarkable.
- [Narrator] Having given birth shortly
after the 2017 Australian Open,
Serena took time away from the game,
returning eight months later
after a number of pregnancy related health issues.
- [Reporter] Serena so good to see you back here.
Can you explain how hard it's been
to get back in shape after having Alexis?
What it's like to have her here as well?
It's amazing.
It was definitely hard, but it's also so fulfilling and
it's like just goals after goals after goals and,
you know, just amazing,
and just, I just feel like life is just better now.
Even though I've had so much success in my life,
I just feel like it's just better now.
- [Narrator] Having made her way back
to professional tennis,
the tennis world would be given one of the most
heartwarming matches in the history of the sport.
When on the 13th of March, 2018,
the sisters would return to the infamous Indian Wells
to face each other after 17 years.
- [Sportscaster] 17 years on in the same arena
where these two legends of the game were scheduled to meet.
Tonight, they come together again.
This time it is safe to say the atmosphere is one
of love, joy, and positivity for two sisters
who have transcended a sport.
Venus and Serena Williams.
- [Narrator] Their return to Indian Wells
reflected the admiration they had built up
over the course of their careers.
The two young teens who were once booed out of the arena,
were now welcomed with standing ovations and applause.
- [Neil] Venus and Serena Williams
are two American tennis players
who have changed the face of tennis during their career.
They're African American players who have dominated the
sport over the last 20 years and made tennis change it
in the way that the physicality of the sport and
the access to the sport and become two
of the greatest players of all time.
- [Narrator] With careers spanning over three decades,
winning a combined 30 Grand Slam titles,
it's hard to say if any players will ever come close
to the success and longevity of the Williams sisters.
- [Neil] So Pete Sampras retired when he was 32,
and that at the time was seen as quite normal.
32, 33, early thirties. That's your career, done.
We've now got Serena Williams and Roger Federer,
they played into their forties, which is just remarkable.
- [Narrator] After 27 years of tennis, in September 2022,
to the heartbreak of tennis fans all over the world,
Serena Williams announced her retirement from the sport.
- It's always difficult to decide
for these top sports people when to say goodbye and
choosing the right moment.
There's also, you know, you want to go out,
you still, you're still enjoying the sport,
but you don't want to be losing every week and sort of,
you know, tainting your legacy is probably too strong,
but you want to be remembered as a great player.
So there's always this balancing act, whereas playing,
as long as you still enjoy it and still,
you still feel you can achieve something.
Whereas in retiring before,
you still lose sort of your great powers.
So I don't think it's gonna be long for Venus either.
- I think the time to retire is when
you're just going backwards and the level of the game is,
you can't maintain it or you can't improve or
when you've had enough.
So I'm at neither of those points yet.
[Neil] And I don't think
we will ever see their story again.
So it's not just the fact that they've dominated,
you know, tennis for over a couple of decades and
not only though the way they've performed on the court,
it's the social impact or the, you know,
they've changed the sport.
They've changed perception of the sport.
They have become role models
for the African American community, people of colour,
in the United States and around the world.
And they've also developed and used their platform
to speak on political issues.
And now Serena, you know, has got investment.
She invests in different companies.
She's one of the investors in the LA women's football team.
She wants to empower other women in the future.
So I think they've had a,
an impact beyond tennis in society in a positive way.
- [Narrator] As the sisters' careers come to an end,
the legacy left behind is undoubted.
Two icons in the world of tennis,
an unrivalled story,
which we are unlikely to ever see again.
(calm music)