With Venus and Serena Williams set to face each other at the US Open on Friday, this is another matchup we should enjoy while we still can.
In the first week of the 2018 US Open, the tennis gods will give the New York fans a treat on Friday night as Serena Williams will face Venus Williams under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium. It will be the 30th time the sisters will face other in their careers and the earliest in a major (third round) since the 1998 Australian Open.
Out of those 30 meetings, it will be the 15th time that the two of them will play each other in a Grand Slam. Venus hasn’t defeated Serena at a major since 2008 at Wimbledon. With that being said, she did beat her in straight sets at Indian Wells earlier this year.
The thing to remember as you watch this match on ESPN at 7 p.m is to cherish the moment of seeing two of the greatest players in women’s tennis get the chance to face each other. It is a tough match for fans to get behind a player since the crowd loves both women for all of their accomplishments in the sport.
Plus, who knows when this matchup will ever happen again? True, these two sisters will have now faced each other twice in the last four Slams. However, Serena is 36 years old and Venus is 38. Every time out could be their last Slam matchup considering they are unlikely to play this early in this kind of tournament.
Between the two sisters, there are 30 combined Grand Slam titles (23 from Serena). With the top seed (Simona Halep) out of the tournament, both of these women have a chance to reach at least the quarterfinals at the US Open despite Serena being the 17th seed and Venus being the 16th seed.
Venus has had the tougher draw out of the two sisters to get to this point. She needed three sets to defeat Svetlana Kuznetsova after letting a 5-2 lead slip away in the second set. Then, she had a straight sets win over Camilla Giorgi, who is a Top 40 player.
Both players have strong serves, so winning free points is going to be a key in this match. Against Giorgi, Venus won 68 percent of her points on first saves despite having her serve broken three times. As for Serena, she had 13 aces in her second round match against Caroline Witthoeft and has only had her serve broken once in two rounds.
If Venus is going to beat Serena, this would be the time to do in a Slam because Serena is not at her top form right now. Serena has played well since coming back from maternity leave, but Venus usually plays some of her best tennis in New York.
As far as a prediction goes, expect a three-setter in this one, which would be great entertainment for the fans at Ashe. Serena would be the pick, but don’t be surprised if Venus does win this match.
Regardless of who wins the match, be sure to cherish every moment of it because it is rare when two great players face each other yet alone as sisters who have accomplished so much and are not done adding more to that accomplishment list.
