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CNN Saturday Morning News

Sibling Rivalry Hits Center Court at Wimbledon

Aired July 06, 2002 - 07:55   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ROBIN MEADE, CNN ANCHOR: Sibling rivalry hits Center Court today at Wimbledon. That is when the Williams sisters face off for the title. Venus and Serena are dominating the tennis world right now and they're ranked number one and two in the world. And they have six of the last major eleven tennis titles.

Joining us now from Wimbledon, England to talk about today's match and the sisters' phenomenal success is "Washington Post" writer Rachel Nichols. Hi, Rachel, nice to see you there. Is an all-Williams finals good for tennis?

RACHEL NICHOLS, THE WASHINGTON POST: How are you doing? I think it's great for tennis; you've got a lot of players lately who are saying it's boring. Amelie Mauresmo said, "It's a little bit sad." Maybe it's sad for them that they're not in the final, but I think it is great for tennis, because we're all talking about it.

MEADE: Rachel, how does the sisters' play differ from each other, in your opinion?

NICHOLS: They play very differently. Serena plays a much more powerful game. Those strokes come across the net, and a lot of opponents just want to duck. Venus has a very strong game also, but it's her serve that's really strong and the way she comes to the net, especially at Wimbledon, she comes in a lot more. And she has a great reach. She's 6-foot-1. She comes in, she gets almost every volley. Both of them really get to every ball, and that's what's going to make today really interesting.

MEADE: You know, are the sisters as good playing each other as they are playing other people?

NICHOLS: Definitely not in the past. Everyone's hoping that today maybe they'll be able to set the level up. They say they're hoping they'll set the level up; their parents are saying they hope they set the level up. But it's hard. These are two sisters, they are very close, everything Venus did Serena wanted to do when they were kids. If Serena saw Venus wearing something in her hair, Serena would wear it for the next two weeks because they really, really, really grew up just inseparable. And I think that that's going to be hard, any time you step on the court.

MEADE: You know, where you are, how are they being treated there at Wimbledon? As stars? NICHOLS: Well, definitely. I mean, everyone in England wants to get a piece of them. Everyone wants to see them. The fans love to see them. They're just so different, and especially here, where you don't have a lot of minorities involved in tennis. They're just different, the way the look, the way they act, they're definitely individuals on the court and they're fully formed people and I think that's even unusual in tennis sometimes. We see these girls come along at 16, 17 years old; you can tell they don't quite know who they are. Venus and Serena know who they are.

MEADE: All right, Rachel Nichols, thanks for your time this morning. I have to say, it must be hard for their parents. How do you cheer for one when the other one didn't do so well, if that happens.

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