Williams Sisters (19/08/09)

Venus Ebony Starr Williams was born June 17, 1980, she is a former World No. 1 American tennis player who, as of July 4, 2009, is ranked World No. 3. She has won a Wimbledon singles title in two of the past three years and is reigning Wimbledon and Australian Open doubles champion. She is the elder sister of Serena Williams, currently ranked No. 2. She holds the record for the fastest serve struck by a woman in a main draw event.
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked World No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) on four separate occasions; as of July 27, 2009, she is ranked World No. 2. She is the reigning US Open, Australian Open and Wimbledon singles champion and has won 22 Grand Slam titles: 11 in singles, nine in women's doubles and two in mixed doubles. In addition, she has won two Olympic gold medals in women's doubles. She also has won more Grand Slams than any other active female player and has won more career prize money than any other female athlete in history. In 2005, Tennis Magazine ranked her as the 17th-best player in 40 years.
Venus Williams and Serena Williams are professional tennis players and sisters who have played numerous times in grand slam finals. The current head to head record between the two is 11-10, in Serena's favor. However, Venus Williams still takes the lead with the most grand slam wins between the two. They have met in a total of eight Grand Slam finals (with Serena leading Venus 6-2), ahead of seven finals played by Steffi Graf and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and by Helen Wills Moody and Helen Jacobs but well behind the record of fourteen finals set by Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. The two sisters' most recent grand slam matches were played in the 2008 and 2009 final at Wimbledon and the 2008 quarterfinals of the US Open.
Both Williams sisters have been ranked World No. 1 in their career. Venus has been top ranked for a total of 11 weeks, beginning in February 2002. Serena has been top ranked for a total of 66 weeks, beginning in July 2002. Serena is the current World No. 2 and Venus is the current World No. 3. The Williams Sisters are the only two women during the open era to play each other in four consecutive Grand Slam finals.

The professional relationship and dynamic between Venus and Serena Williams is deeply affected by their close personal relationship. The notion of two top professionals emerging from the same family to compete against one another is unprecedented, and is a scenario which has been described as being "as improbable as one set of parents raising Picasso and Moza.net." Peter Bodo, further speaking to the unlikeliness of two Grand Slam champions emerging from the same family states "It's a common occurrence that will cease to be possible, perhaps ever again, the moment they set the sticks aside."
The dynamic between family members can often be intense and emotionally charged. Grand Slam champion Chris Evert has said of facing her sister Jeanne Evert, "It was the worst feeling ever. We were both very competitive and Jeanne wanted to kill me. We couldn't even look at each other. We just played the balls and wanted to win and then get off the court and not deal with it.”