Serena Williams Still Loud; Venus Williams Gone Quiet

It is often talked about in tennis circles how Serena and Venus Williams have dominated the sport in the last few years.  To be fair, though, Venus dominated the first two years, while Serena took control of the greater part of the next eight years, except perhaps, at Wimbledon.

Even when Serena won the U.S. Open in 1999, many still believed that Venus was the better of the two.  For the time being, their word held true.  

In 2000, who could forget the semifinal of the year against Martina Hingis at the Open, two points plus a forehand smash away from defeat, but still won the match? A year later, in Miami, Venus and her family were getting swirled by rumors of match fixing, was playing in a pro-Jennifer Capriati crowd, and sweating in the sweltering heat.  She did however save eight match points in beating Capriati for the title.  That just showed her mental toughness, but she has fallen to some extent ever since losing to sister Serena in five consecutive grand slam finals.

Serena is like a rare specimen of a mental rock.  The "classic Serena," as many call her, comes back from the jaws from defeat, and wins.  Some examples are 2001 Australian Open Serena versus Clijsters, 2005 Australian Open Serena versus Sharapova, 2009 Wimbledon Serena versus Dementieva, 2010 Australian Open Serena versus Azarenka.  Just when it seems as if the match is coming to an end, she finds a way to make it last longer, and prevail in the most dramatic fashion. That is what champions do, and Serena does an amazing job of it.

Let's compare the two superstars of tennis.  

Serena leads their head to head 13-10. Serena leads the number of grand slams singles titles 12-7.  Serena leads their prize money $31,151,042 to Venus' $27,066,778.  Venus leads their match wins 572-467.  Serena leads their percentage of matches won 82.2%-80.5%.  Venus leads the career singles titles 43-36.  

Even though I personally like Venus more, I think it is safe to say that Serena is the better player.

Although Venus's game is quite sound, and many talk about her serve, clocked at 129 mph, it has let her down in the big moments, such as match point, or deep in the third set.  That has hurt Venus a lot lately.  She has the game to win, but her serve falters her after she held for five, six, seven consecutive times.  Serena, on the other hand, ups her game, and ups her serve on the pressure points.  She starts to hit aces, service winners, forehand winners; you name it. Venus, now, somehow can't do that anymore.

As tennis great Monica Seles said, "If Serena can stay fit, she'll beat all the records," because "she has a great serve, a sweet return, fantastic movement and all this is combined with awesome power.  As if this is not enough, no player comes close to being as mentally strong as her."  

I agree with Seles, except for the part about Serena breaking all the records.  But in the end, all that matters is that Serena Williams will be remembered much more than Venus.  Although the two will be forever be tied together, it will be Serena shining in history, close to a duller star, not totally forgotten, but not totally remembered.