Venus and Serena Williams continued their world tennis domination by snatching another Olympic gold medal in doubles.
They beat Czech Republic players Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradeck, 6–4, 6–4 for the doubles title. The straight sets win came a day after Serena embarrassed Maria Sharapova with a 6-0, 6-1 annihilation for the singles gold medal. Judging by her giddy excitement, yesterday clearly was one of the best days of Serena Williams’ 30 years on the planet.
When it comes to the All-England Club, otherwise known as Wimbledon, where the Olympic tennis matches were being staged, the Williams sisters have achieved a level of dominance that surely will never be matched by a sibling pair. Each of them have 5 Wimbledon singles titles, 5 Wimbledon doubles titles, and now they have won singles and doubles gold medals here—on top of the gold medals they won in doubles in 2000 and 2008. When their careers are over—a day that is probably not that far off—and they are sitting back in Florida rocking together on the front porch of the giant mansion they’ll probably share, the folks at Wimbledon will be remiss if they don’t erect huge statues of Venus and Serena that loom over the hallowed grounds of the famous venue.
With the weekend she had at the Olympics, Serena has solidified her place as one of the greatest female athletes of all time. No one else in tennis history has won all four major championships, plus an Olympic gold in both singles and doubles.
After the doubles win, Venus acknowledged the specialness of the Olympic gold.
“In our house,” Venus Williams said, “when there’s a party, whenever we’re at home, times get down, we go down and look at our golds and we’re right back up.”
After the doubles win, Serena wore the same huge smile that she had plastered on her face after she destroyed Sharapova the day before in singles. It was a memorable weekend for both Serena and her fans.
