Fifteen years on, Serena, Venus still at hurricane force

Serena and Venus Williams are back on top of the world.

More than 15 years after the history-making sisters blew into the women’s game with hurricane force, they are still putting their rivals, many of them 10 years younger, to shame. When the new WTA rankings are released on Monday, Serena will remain number one while Venus climbs back to second.

The Florida pair last stood together at the summit from May 5-11, 2003, with Venus dropping to third on May 12 to end that brief duopoly.

In between, Serena and Venus, who turned pro in 1995 and 1994 respectively, have watched the generations come and go, with the rise of the Russians, Serbs and Belgians. But despite fluctuations in their rankings - Serena won the 2007 Australian Open after finishing the previous season standing 95th and having played only four events in 2006 - their staying power has been phenomenal.

Venus assured her rise from fourth to second behind her sibling by reaching the third round of this week’s Madrid Masters, a tournament which saw Serena exit at the same stage. “In the rankings, you keep going until you get to that number one spot,” said Venus, who will be 30 in June and is the second oldest player in the top 50.

“Serena and I being number one and number two in the world is what we dreamed of growing up. But we each dreamed of being number one - neither of us dreamed of number two.

MADRID, Friday AFP