The impact Serena Williams has had on modern-day tennis is simply unparalleled. Williams is an inspiration to many, and even numerous tennis players have idolized the American in their journey to the top.
Her on-court dominance in the women’s division spanned over two decades, as she won almost all the possible competitions across different nations and continents. Moreover, the 23-time singles Grand Slam winner has spent 319 weeks at number one in the women’s world rankings, just behind the likes of Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova.
However, every top player requires an arch-rival to succeed in their respective discipline. Thus, Serena Williams has revealed which competitor helped her improve the most. Surprisingly, she didn’t take the name of Maria Sharapova.
In 2016, Serena Williams was asked 73 questions for her September collection debut with Vogue and one of the questions was about the competitors that helped her improve the most. As soon as she heard the question, Williams didn’t hesitate to take the name of her elder sister, Venus Williams.
“Definitely Venus.” Serena Williams said. Just after the question, she was asked, past or present, who she wants to have a match against. Williams took the name of legendary 11-time Grand Slam winner, Althea Gibson.
Serena Williams ignored the name of Maria Sharapova as a top competitor
For fans, the feud between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova was one of the most memorable rivalries in the world of tennis. The two squared off against each other on the tennis court plenty of times. In addition to that, they always had some sort of heat between them.
Thus, tennis enthusiasts expected that the American tennis player would have the name of the two-time French Open champion. However, her decision to choose Venus Williams over the likes of Sharapova seems quite justified if we take a look at their statistics.
The two tennis professionals have locked horns on a total of 22 occasions. However, the Russian has only managed to triumph over Williams twice. Interestingly, both wins acquired by Sharapova came in 2004. Afterward, all their meetings went in favor of the American.
On the other hand, Serena Williams and Venus Williams have crossed paths a total of 31 times in women’s singles between 1998 and 2020. Nevertheless, the lead goes in favor of the younger sister with 19-12, however, it’s fair to say that Venus gave much tougher competition to Serena than Maria Sharapova.
