Nineteen years after Venus Williams debuted at 17 against Magdalena Gryzbowska and lost, then called herself “not too disappointed” with “many more to come,” and eighteen years after Serena Williams debuted at 16 against Laura Golarsa, won in straight sets and said, “I should have won more easily,” both Williams sisters are on their way to making history…again.
The unseeded American duo, who have won five Wimbledon doubles titles, triumphed 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 on Court One in their last tournament.
They will play Hungary’s Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan in Saturday’s July 9th, final.
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“It’s easy to be afraid,” Venus said. “You have to let fear go. Another lesson is you just have to believe in yourself. You just have to. There’s no way around it. You’ve got to believe in yourself. No matter how things are stacked against you, you just have to every time.”
She never thought of retiring: “Retiring is the easy way out. I don’t have time for easy. Tennis is just hard.” She also once couldn’t imagine playing this long: “You have to understand that 21-year-olds are foolish. I didn’t think I was going to be here at 36. Now, if I’m here at 46, I will say that 36-year-olds are foolish. I don’t think I’ll be here, but we’ll see.”
“I’m not as tall as all the other players,” Serena said, “so it’s strange that I have such a strong, hard serve. But I have to say what I really think is my game is my mental toughness because just not only to be able to play to win, but to be able to come back when I’m down. Both on the court and after tough losses, just to continue to come back and continue to fight, it’s something that takes a lot of tenacity.”
The goal now, she said, “is tomorrow to do our best to win each and every point.”
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She added, “We don’t even want to lose one.”
Serena has said over and over during this tournament that even after all her accomplishments, she still wants more. She said she planned to be back for a 20th Wimbledon next year.
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