When Venus Williams burst into the world of tennis by reaching the 1997 US Open final, nobody had a better seat on Arthur Ashe Arena than her younger sister. Serena watched as her sister’s first steps from the tennis courts of Compton into the upper echelons of the country club sport were met with resistance and scorn. As the world fixated on Venus and the bombast of their father, Richard, Serena took her first steps to relatively less fanfare and her rise was seamless. In November 1997, at 16 years old, Serena, ranked 304, travelled to Chicago where she won her first main-draw match and then became the lowest-ranked player to defeat two top-10 players, ousting No 7 Mary Pierce and No 4 Monica Seles.
Written by Tumaini Carayol
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jan/13/four-decades-73-singles-titles-serena-williams-epic-journey under the title “Four decades, 73 singles titles: Serena Williams’s epic journey | Tumaini Carayol”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
