Venus the inspiration for Serena supremacy

Serena Williams admits that her relationship with her older sister, Venus, has always been a case of "take, take, take." This season Serena has emptied Venus's toy box and kicked it around the playground, denying her the French Open title, snatching away the Wimbledon and United States Open championships Venus had held for two years, and supplanting her sibling as the world No 1.

It is hard to imagine now, but there was a time when tennis followers thought of the name Williams in the singular. That was in 1994, when Venus, an embryonic champion, first displayed her lithe, long-limbed athleticism on the professional tour. Even then, their father, Richard, prophesied that the shorter, muscular Serena would join Venus in dominating the women's game and had the potential to be the better player.

On the evidence of Serena's emphatic 6-4, 6-3 victory in the US Open final here on Saturday night, we may come to think of the name Williams in the singular again, and note nostalgically how quickly the all- conquering Serena learned from the example of her elder sister. Serena and Venus have soared above their rivals, and within their private bubble of supremacy, Venus is second best.

Moreover, Venus displayed signs of vulnerability en route to the final, shading three-set wins against her compatriot Chanda Rubin in the fourth round and Amelie Mauresmo, of France, in the semi-finals. "In my fourth-round match, I couldn't do anything right," Venus said. "After that, I posed and pretended that I was doing well, but I don't think I was doing as well as I would have liked."

When it came to the crunch against Serena, Venus was crunched. Venus hit the harder serves, but double-faulted 10 times, conscious, perhaps, that Serena would punish second serves with fierce returns. There was no evidence of letting up on either side of the net, Venus summoning the will to deliver a 90mph ace with a second serve to erase the first match point.

Venus also traded mighty drives to the corners of the court, but Serena was generally in command, even though Venus saved the first eight break points of the match and immediately recovered a break for 3-4 to level the opening set, 4-4. A double-fault gave Serena the opportunity to make the decisive break of the set for 5-4, and Venus donated three more in losing the third game of the second set.

Down 1-4, Venus fleetingly raised the crowd's hopes of a revival by breaking in the next game. But Serena, appearing to grow in strength to the point that your correspondent feared she might burst out of her black Lycra cat-suit, broke in the ninth game to end the match after an hour and 12 minutes.

"Any loss is never a barrel of fun," Venus said, "but I've had a great year, more than any other person, besides Serena, could ask for. But she played better than me. I think my level's about the same as last year, but mentally I'm not there."

Asked if she thought the majority of tennis followers would like a break from all-Williams finals (this was their third in a Grand Slam since last year's US Open), Venus said: "I've never met anyone who's walked up to me and said, 'I don't want to see a Williams-Williams final. Lose.' I haven't met those people yet."

Serena, whose goal this year was to win Wimbledon, has set her mind on a Grand Slam next year. "I'm a perfectionist, pretty much insatiable," she said. She loves Venus dearly, but does not mind beating her. "Ten years from now, I hopefully can look at tapes and films with my kids and say, 'Look, mom did a good job,' she said. "I don't want to have it any other way."

MAGNIFICENT SEVEN SERENA JOINS SELECT BAND

By adding the United States Open title to her triumphs at the French Open and Wimbledon, Serena Williams became only the seventh woman in tennis history to win three consecutive Grand Slam singles tournaments in a calendar year. Williams missed the Australian Open in January because of an ankle injury. Only three women – Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court and Steffi Graf – have won all four majors in a calendar year.

1928: Helen Wills, of the United States, won the French Championship, Wimbledon and the US Championship, and repeated the feat in 1929.

1953: Maureen Connolly, of the United States, became the first woman to achieve a Grand Slam of the Australian, French, Wimbledon and US Championships.

1970: Margaret Court, of Australia, accomplished the Grand Slam.

1972: Billie Jean King, of the United States, won the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.

1983: Martina Navratilova, of the United States, won the Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open titles (when the Australian Open was played in December), and won the French, Wimbledon and United States championships in 1984.

1988: Steffi Graf, of Germany, completed a Grand Slam, in 1988, when she also won the gold medal at the Seoul Olympic Games. Graf also won three consecutive Grand Slam titles, the French, Wimbledon and US Open championships, in 1993, 1995 and 1996.

2002: Serena Williams, of the United States, won the French, Wimbledon and US Open titles.