Serena and Venus Williams: The Twilight of Two Champions

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: January 24, 2011

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Venus out in the third round of the Australian Open. Serena at home, nursing a foot. The end is close for these sisters, which to some will bring sadness, and to some a rather guilty pleasure, and for some, a pleasure they had not known since 2004-2006.

From birth, these two were raised to be champions...to be a beacon of light for all those under-privileged Americans who long to be something more.

So their father took them to Nick Bollettieri’s academy at the ages of 8 and 10.

Both their father and Bolliettieri knew that these girls would be champions.

The girls were nurtured by their father, who encouraged them in their schooling just as much as tennis, and encouraged them to have interests outside of tennis, which the two are now famed for.

But now they’re fading.

And it leaves us with an awkward question.

Why are they not celebrated and loved as other champions are?

Serena’s outburst at the US Open will forever stain her legacy for some, who I suspect despised her and sister Venus to begin with. And even then, what about Venus?

Normally, we love fading champions; at the first sign of the cracks in their game, admiration and a sense of nostalgia comes above. In the same way, Andre Agassi was the bad boy of tennis, but he was loved universally in a way the Williamses never have been, even with his drug transgressions.

His loss to Rafael Nadal at Centre Court in Wimbledon was one of the saddest moments. Every winner gained a loud cheer; while Nadal’s created only a light applause, he received the treatment of a champion.

The fading of the Williamses has not created any sense of sympathy or admiration. For many, they have a sense of relief and gloating.

Their arrival ushered in a new age in tennis, where everyone had “Venus-envy”. She was stronger, better, faster and longer than everyone e...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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