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The most iconic siblings in the history of the sport: Serena and Venus WilliamsSeveral pairs of siblings in the history of the game have played doubles tennis together, some more successful than others.Tennis-playing siblings have often seen one outshine the other in their professional tennis careers, and among these are some of the sport’s most iconic surnames – Williams, McEnroe, Djokovic, Safin and others.We chronicle 5 pair of tennis siblings who will go down in the history of the game:
#1 Andy and Jamie Murray
Of the Scottish siblings, it is younger brother Andy who has been significantly more successful. Currently at World No. 3, the younger Murray has delivered a series of strong performances this year, having made at least the semi-finals of every singles event he has been part of this year.
Andy and Jamie trained together as young children, with the younger champion coached by Leon Smith. Andy “constantly lost” to Jamie then, and has credited his own intensely competitive streak to these losses. It appears to have paid off, with Andy one of the world’s highest-ranked players and a part of tennis’ near-invincible Big Four.
Although he has not had as much success numerically at this year’s doubles events, Murray partnered his older brother at Great Britain’s Davis Cup playoffs against Australia. Jamie and Andy took on Sam Groth and Lleyton Hewitt, taking Team GB to the Davis Cup finals for the first time since 1978.
#2 Serena and Venus Williams
Serena is widely considered by most tennis spectators, fans, players and analysts to be one of the greatest players of all time, and with 21 Grand Slam wins, her numbers speak for themselves. She has decimated opponents across surfaces and locations, and one of these has been her own older sister, Venus.
The siblings, coached by their parents Richard Williams and Oracene Price since they were young girls, both grew into championship-winning aces, Venus with 7 singles Slams in her kitty. Both sisters have been singles world no. 1 at different points in their careers, and Serena recently took the title again, holding on to it despite the fact that she has wound up competitive tennis for the year.
In a true show of their immense calibre, the pair have faced off against each other in singles a record 8 times in Grand Slam finals between 2001 and 2009.
Most recently, the pair faced off against each other at the US Open quarter-finals, with Serena taking victory as she looked set to win the title, before a surprise upset by Italian Roberta Vinci saw her crash out in the semis.
The Venus-Serena pair has had immense success at doubles, and were in 2010 the world’s No. 1 ranked doubles pair.They have a staggering three Olympic gold medals in doubles together, which is the highest of all time in the sport. They have also achieved the Career Golden Slam, which entails winning all four Grand Slam events in addition to Olympic gold.
#3 Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan
Identical twins, Robert Charles ‘Bob’ Bryan and Michael Carl ‘Mike’ Bryan, 37 years of age, are arguably the most successful doubles pair in tennis history. The American twins have held the world no. 1 doubles ranking for a staggering 435 weeks running.
Their list of records is extensive – the pair are record holders in the Open Era, involved in a record 7 consecutive Grand Slam finals between 2005 and 2006. They are the only players in the Open Era to hold all four majors titles at once - they achieved this in 2013.
They are the only team in tennis history to have won every major tennis title, all four Grand Slams, Olympic gold, the Davis Cup, the ATP Championships and all 9 Masters series titles. With a total of 109 tour titles and an additional 52 finals, their statistics speak for themselves.
In addition to their staggering 16 Grand Slams, the brothers also have a Career Golden Slam - winning all four Slams and Olympic gold in the same year.
The pair still play competitive tennis, celebrating victory with their trademark chest bump.
#4 Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan
Yung-jan Chan, the older of the two siblings from Chinese Taipei, showed promise at doubles since her juniors career, and at the age of 15 won the Australian Open Juniors doubles title wtih Sun-Sheng Nan of China.
Yung-jan has reached the finals of 4 Grand Slams – 3 in doubles and one mixed doubles, although none of these was partnering her sister.
The siblings – Yung-jan and younger sister Hao-ching have done well on the WTA circuit, however. The pair won their fourth WTA doubles title together at the Cincinnati Masters this year – Western & Southern Open.
With that win, they have the second-most WTA doubles titles for a pair of sisters in WTA history after only Serena Williams and Venus Williams.
Their previous three WTA doubles titles came at Shenzhen in 2013, Eastbourne in 2013 and Pattaya City in 2015, but the Cincinnati victory marks their first ever Premier 5 title.
#5 Novak and Djordje Djokovic
New additions to the list, the pair made their doubles debut at the China Open yesterday, beating the Chinese-Kiwi partnership of Gong Mao-Xin and Michael Venus 7-6 (5), 6-7 (6), 10-5.
20-year-old Djordje is the youngest of 3 brothers – World No. 1 Novak is the oldest, followed by younger brother Marko. The siblings all play tennis, but Novak’s success has been unparalleled.
Novak has played doubles with Marko before, but the two have not had much success in professional tennis. The one doubles match the pair played together resulted in a straight-sets loss to Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Mathieu Montcourt.
Although the two have since been ousted from the China Open by last year’s Wimbledon-winning partnership of Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock, the youngest Djokovic has shown flashes of talent and promise, and the brothers hope to partner one another again soon.
Djokovic, meanwhile, is due to play American John Isner in the quarterfinals of the China Open today as he looks to defend his title, haing already beaten Italy’s Simone Bolleli.
Venus Williams and Father Richard recall one match that 7-time Grand Slam champion "should have won"
