It was a highly anticipated match by everyone, except for the actual participants.
This morning Serena and Venus faced off for the sixth time at Wimbledon and the 26th time in their careers. At the end of the match, the younger Williams sister continued her march towards GOAT status, defeating older sister Venus 6-4, 6-3.
In what appeared to be an awkward match between the sisters, for obvious reasons, Serena proved to be dominating over Venus, giving her 15 career victories over her older sister.
Serena was overpowering, especially on her serve, generating seven aces in the match and blazing consistent serves over 100 mph, even on second serves. She won 78% of the points on first serves, earning 35 winners to just 13 unforced errors, giving Venus limited opportunities to mount a comeback
The younger Williams sister is on a mission for a second “Serena Slam” and has the opportunity to achieve the calendar Grand Slam for the first time in women’s tennis since Steffi Graff did it in 1988.
But this was no ordinary victory as it came against her sister, and this was evident with the subdued celebration and quick exit from Centre Court after the match.
At the post-game press conference, Serena had this to say about defeating her sister.
“Yeah, it’s hard to feel excited about [beating] someone you root for all the time, no matter what, and who you love so much and is your best friend in the world,” said Serena. “It’s never easy, but you just play for the competition and enjoy the moment.
It definitely doesn’t get easier, but today I was out there and I thought, ‘wow. I’m 33 and she’s 35 and I don’t know how many more moments like this we’re going to have.’ I plan on playing for years, but you never know if we’re going to have an opportunity to play against each other. I just took the moment in and thought, ‘we’re at Wimbledon.’ I remember when I was 8 years old we dreamed of this moment. It was kind of surreal for a moment.”
Serena will face the winner of No. 23 Victoria Azarenka and No. 30 Belinda Bencic in the quarterfinals.
