When Americans think of tennis, one name always comes to mind: Williams.
But sisters Serena and Venus Williams are more than world-class tennis players. They are entrepreneurs, activists and pioneers in their sport.
The two have dominated the world stage of tennis since the mid-1990s, breaking the mold and helping to make the women’s game what it is today. Venus, the elder of the two, turned pro in 1994 at the age of 14, and Serena, one year her junior, did the same in 1995.
The Williams sisters brought size, speed and power to tennis. Before their arrival, women’s tennis was dominated by the long “volley” style of play in which players exchanged a series of hits over the net back and forth. No one expected a serve rocketing at them at more than 100 miles per hour from across the court.
The sisters used their skill and strength to win multiple grand slams — Serena has snagged 23 in her record-breaking career, and Venus has won seven. The pair have also dominated at the Olympics, where Serena won four gold medals for the United States and Venus won four gold and one silver medal.
The two paved the way for Black female athletes and fought for equal pay in their sport.
In 2007, Venus took on the All England Club at Wimbledon advocating for and winning equal pay for female athletes at the Grand Slam tournament. Until then, men had received bigger payouts than women, even though women were attracting their own sizable crowds.
Despite their prowess and determination, the sisters faced challenges of being two of the only Black players in a predominantly white sport.
In a 2016 interview with rapper Common, Serena described training and playing in a space that was predominantly white.
“From the first day I stepped on the scene … I’m talking when I’m really young, because we’d go to parks, and where I was from we would train in Compton, and we would go to these parks and there’s usually only white people that play tennis, you know?” she said.
On a different occasion, Serena described difficulties getting sponsorships from companies because she was a Black athlete.
“Also, just having to deal with different sponsors, they weren’t as supportive because I’m an African American,” she said during an interview with model Naomi Campbell.
But after more than 20 years in the professional sphere, Venus and Serena have come out on top opening the door for other players like them.
Sloane Stephens, Naomi Osaka, Madison Keys and Taylor Townsend are just a few promising tennis players who saw themselves in the sisters from a young age.
— Lauren Vella
photo: Getty Images