Venus aims for Serena’s No. 1 ranking
It’s about to get interesting at the top of the women’s rankings as, not for the first time this year, Venus Williams has signalled her intentions to snatch the mantle of No. 1 from sister Serena.
The elder Williams sister has sealed a return to the top two for the first time in seven years with her third-round victory over Francesca Schiavone at the Madrid Open yesterday, but she’s clearly not about to content herself with that.
"In the rankings, you keep going until you get to that No.1 spot," Venus said. "Of course, Serena and I being No.1 and No.2 in the world is what we dreamed of growing up. But we each dreamed of being No.1 - neither of us dreamed of No.2. I congratulate Serena on that ranking but I'm aiming to get there myself."
It’s not the first time this year that Venus has entertained the thought either, as she stated on her way to the final at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami (where she lost to Kim Clijsters).
“I’m actually thinking of getting up to the top a lot more this year,” Venus said after she’d sealed her semi-final spot, and a rise to world No. 4, at that tournament. “Most other years I didn’t really think about the rankings but this year I’m kind of like, oh, I’d like to be No. 1.
“Once I have my eye set on something, I usually get it,” said the seven-time Grand Slam champion.
On current form, the 29-year-old might just do it too. While Serena was been recovering from the leg problems that she carried to the Australian Open title at the beginning of the year, Venus was busy reaching three consecutive WTA Tour finals (including Miami) and winning the titles at two of them.
While both Williams sisters fell to Jelena Jankovic at the Italian Open in Rome last week - Serena did put up the better fight – it’s Venus who moves through to the fourth round at Madrid, while Serena followed the longest match of her career, a three-hour-and-26-minute marathon against Vera Dushevina in the second round, with a loss to inconsistent Russian Nadia Petrova in her next match.
Serena can only be judged by her own lofty standards, and that means it’s been a disappointing lead-up to the French Open, where she was a quarter-finalist last year. The current world No. 1 did, however, take solace in her sister’s success after her own loss in Madrid.
“I’m excited about the No. 1 and No. 2 ranking, that’s kind of cool. And I’m excited Venus is still in the tournament,” Serena said post-match.
That said, you can guarantee Serena won’t relinquish the world’s top ranking without a fight. But if and when she does lose her grip on world No. 1 again, you can bet there’s no-one else she’d prefer to take it from her than Venus.
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