"They wanted to take us down" - Serena Williams on how the WTA Tour came out extra hard against her and sister Venus Williams

Serena Williams recently said during a public appearance that the rest of the WTA field drew extra motivation from the prospect of beating the Williams sisters in their prime. She also attributed her peers' drive to shaping her and Venus Williams' success at the top of the game.

Williams won 73 tour-level titles during her illustrious career, with 23 coming at the Majors. Her elder sister Venus, on her part, won 49, with 7 of them being Major titles.

Their most prolific period came in the 2000s; they picked up 17 of the 37 Major tournaments played between the 2000 and the 2009 editions of Wimbledon, with eight championship matches at the level having been a Williams sisters clash.

Against that background, Serena Williams recently opined that they both were the players to beat in their respective primes. The 42-year-old claimed she had previously overheard chatter in the women's locker room, where lower-ranked players discussed how they would have to beat at least one of the Williamses en route to big title glory.

"People were having a conversation like, 'In the beginning of the tournament, I'm gonna beat Venus if I play her,' 'But you have to beat Serena [too].' These are real conversations I actually overheard," Serena Williams recently said during a conference. "I don't even care. I would've done the same thing. Listen, you gotta win, but they literally wanted to take us down, and I mean, it's a sport. It's a game. What do you expect, they'd want you to win?"

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Serena Williams on her rivals' impact: "If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have been me"

Serena Williams waves to her fans at the 2022 US Open

However, Serena Williams did concede that even if her opponents managed to beat her, they would be too mentally exhausted from the feat and drop their next match. This, in turn, meant that she and Venus Williams were the more plausible picks to go all the way at a big tournament, as they didn't suffer from the same pressure.

"But I think the fact that they played us so much harder than they played each other was the reason why we were so much better. Because, imagine someone playing, giving you their best every single time, and fighting so hard against just you. And then you go a little lighter on the next person who's going to be better. I didn't have that target on my back. So, if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have been me," Serena Williams added.

The 23-time Major winner retired from pro tennis at the 2022 US Open, going out to Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic 5-7, 7-6(4), 1-6 in the third round. The elder Williams sister, meanwhile, is still competing on the WTA Tour at the age of 43.