'We had to keep so many things distant': Serena Williams admits secrets were kept despite close relationship with Venus

Former world number one Venus Williams and her sister Serena Williams have opened up about their relationship. The two Williams sisters dominated women’s tennis for a good part of two decades. Serena was the one who took the lead on the court and won many accolades.

She finished her career with 23 Grand Slam titles, most by a women’s player in the Open era. On the other hand, with Serena winning so many majors in her career, it almost seems that people have forgotten Venus did incredibly well on the court as well. Venus, who is still an active tennis player, has won seven major titles in her career.

Both sisters faced off against each other 31 times in professional tennis as well. Serena held the edge with 19 wins, whereas Venus ended up winning 12 times. They competed many times in the final of the Grand Slams as well, and Serena was the clear winner in those contests.

Venus and Serena recently featured in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, where they both discussed their relationship off the court. Venus shed light on how the two Williams sisters remained competitive throughout their careers on the court and highlighted that one of the primary reasons was their upbringing. “We don’t necessarily coddle each other,” said Venus. “We weren’t coddled in life. And we want to give that sort of tough love, not only to each other, but that we had to give to ourselves. Life is very real. So the message has to be real.”

Two ultimate champions

Serena then added that despite being sisters, both had to keep their secrets from each other, largely because they were both competitors on the court as well. “As close as we are, we had to keep so many things distant because of our jobs,” said Serena. “As much as she’s my sister, she’s also my opponent, and you can’t be as open as you want to be. So this a real opportunity to do something that we’ve been trying to do, and also just a discovery thing as well.”

Venus recently returned to the court after taking a break of more than one year. She secured a shocking win over America’s Peyton Stearns in the round of 32 of the DC Open in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-4. Her journey in the competition ended in the second round, where she lost to Magdalena Frech of Poland. Venus then appeared in the Cincinnati Open, where she lost in the first round to Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in straight sets.

After that, Venus featured in the US Open in three different categories. In the mixed doubles, she partnered with Reilly Opelka, and the two suffered a defeat in the round of 16 to the pair of Russia’s Andrey Rublev and the Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova. In the doubles category, Venus partnered with Canada’s Leylah Fernandez as the two produced some incredible performances.

They managed to go on and play in the quarterfinal, where they eventually lost to the pair of America’s Taylor Townsend and the Czech Republic’s Katerina Siniakova in straight sets with a score of 6-1, 6-2. Venus featured in the singles category of a Grand Slam for the first time in two years, and she suffered a defeat in the first round to Muchova in a hard-fought contest with a score of 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.

Talking about her experience of playing at a Grand Slam after a long time, Venus stated that while leaving the court, she had a smile and that she was ‘delightful’ with how everything went on the court. “It was delightful,” said Venus. “Usually, if I had lost a match, I walked off the court, and I forced a smile. It was super fake. But it was real this time. When I left the court, I smiled. I was happy. I enjoyed the moment.”