Serena Williams: 'I could not be more fortunate to have Venus as my sister'
World no. 16 and the 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams had made her long-expecting comeback in March after taking a 14-month break following her pregnancy and giving birth to a daughter, losing to her sister Venus at Indian Wells and to Naomi Osaka in the opening round of Miami. In the next couple of months, Serena played only at Roland Garros where she gave a walkover to Maria Sharapova and at Wimbledon where Angelique Kerber halted her in the final. Johanna Konta demolished Serena in San Jose but one of the greatest champions of our sport bounced back in New York, advancing into the US Open final that she lost to Naomi Osaka in one of the most controversial matches in the last 20 years.
Serena is the highest-ranked player who will play WTA tournaments before the Australian Open, heading to Perth to compete at the last Hopman Cup together with Frances Tiafoe but making a quick stop to Abu Dhabi before that, facing her sister Venus on Thursday, December 28, at the International Tennis Centre at Zayed Sports City. The Mubadala World Tennis Championship will gather some of the finest players in the world, including Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, and the organizers have managed to arrange the WTA match just like a year ago when Jelena Ostapenko defeated Serena Williams 6-2, 3-6, 10-5.
Serena and Venus have played against each other 30 times, fighting for some of the biggest titles over the course of the last 20 years and they will have the opportunity to close the opening day of this year's Mubadala World Tennis Championship after two men's matches. Kevin Anderson and Hyeon Chung will kick off the action before another interesting match between Karen Khachanov and Dominic Thiem to determine the semi-finalist who will take upon Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on Friday.
"This is going to be thrilling," Serena said. "I love that Venus and I have had the ultimate rivalry. I have never played anyone I respect more and am wary of more than her. We, year after year and now I can say decade after decade, bring out the best in each other. Venus really brings out the best in me. It is never easy playing your best friend but she knows my game inside out and has been so successful over me so many times. She is my role model and sister and best friend all rolled up into one. I could not be more fortunate to have her as my sister. I loved that experience. I had just gotten back into tennis after having my daughter and I really did not know what to expect. I have to say I surprised myself. I looked forward to being back and surprising myself again."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2QLYIvO
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