Venus Williams To Meet Sister Serena Williams In Dubai

Lawn Tennis, Paris Open, Lawn Tennis Magazine

Venus Williams To Meet Sister Serena Williams In Dubai
By Tripp Mateschitz, Lawn Tennis Analyst, Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009 6:11pm PST USA

Venus Williams To Meet Sister Serena Williams In Dubai, Lawn Tennis Magazine

Dubai--(lawntennismag.com) Venus Williams of the USA first played fulltime professional tennis in 1997 and then was followed a year later by her younger and more muscular sister Serena Williams in 1998.

In 1997, Venus reached the US Open final in her New York debut, but it was Serena who took the Williams family's first singles grand slam title as Serena won the US Open in 1999 for her first of 10 singles grand slam titles.

Venus, despite being one of the most powerful tennis players ever, has been overtaken since that time in the WTA Tour rankings and record books for the most part by Serena.

Venus Williams of the USA | Image: Koto Bolofo

Venus routinely serves at an average of 115 miles per hour at Wimbledon while Roger Federer serves at an average of 117 miles per hour.

Venus still holds the worlds' fastest maindraw WTA Tour serve record at 130 miles per hour and routinely serves at an average of 115 miles per hour at Wimbledon. By comparison, five time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer of Switzerland serves at an average of 117 miles per hour at Wimbledon.

And despite trailing Serena 10 to 7 in total singles grand slams won, Venus leads Serena in total Wimbledon singles titles five (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008) to two (2002, 2003).

Friday night (7:00 AM PST USA) at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships semifinals, the Williams sisters meet for the 19th time with the series tied 9-9 with Venus winning their last meeting 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 in November.

Since the beginning of their tennis careers, both players have played similar aggressive baseline games, but Serena's more dependable forehand and second serve have perhaps won her a greater percentage of matches.

Serena was injured in their November meeting. But in their US Open quarterfinal, which was won by Serena 7-6(8-6), 7-6(9-7), Venus led in both sets before Serena raised the level of her game while Venus' game faltered.

At the Wimbledon final, Venus won 7-5, 6-4 by playing short aggressive points and serving into Serena's body.

Serena, currently ranked number one, has more patience than Venus, currently number six, on the tennis court and is better at adding topspin to her groundstrokes to stay in more points. This is why I think unless Venus can take control early in the majority of points and in the match overall, Serena will win. The winner of the first set between the sisters has won 16 of their 18 matches.

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