Venus is the boss, insists Serena

 

Originally published on: 04/09/12 00:00

“Venus is the leader,” Serena said at the US Open, where the sisters were surprisingly beaten in the third round by Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova. “She's definitely the leader. I think she was the leader because when we first started she was older and obviously so much better than I was.

“She always took the lead position. So she's definitely the leader, but we are both such A_ѥplayers and such A_ѥtype personalities that we both can be leaders if one of us is down. I can easily take over that position and I welcome it. So it's great. It's the best chemistry.”

Do they ever have disagreements on court? “We try to be very professional out there,” Serena said. “If we disagree on_ѥcourt then maybe other people would be more excited. In general I can't ask for a better partner in doubles ever, so I don't see anything I should be upset about or disappointed with.”

The sisters clearly have a formula that works. They have won 21 titles together, including 13 at Grand Slam level. This summer they were successful at both Wimbledon and the Olympics. Their triumph at the London Games was their third in the Olympics following their victories at Sydney in 2000 and Beijing in 2008.

When asked how they worked on their tactics when they were younger, Serena laughed. “I remember my dad told Venus to get aggressive at the net,” she said. “I don't know if we were playing together or against each other. So he was like: ‘You need to be more aggressive.’ So Venus crossed while the guy was serving. So she ended up crossing on the serve and hitting a volley on the serve. That just goes to show you her attitude. It's so funny.”

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