By McCarton Ackerman
Venus and Serena Williams have shared the top of the singles rankings before, but as the sisters approach their 30th birthdays, they are now in a position to hold the most overwhelming dominance of their careers by sharing the top singles and doubles rankings, and throw themselves in the conversation of being the best doubles team of all time.
If the Williams Sisters reach the finals of the women’s doubles event at Roland Garros, they will overtake American Liezel Huber (who has held it for the last 135 consecutive weeks) for the No. 1 spot. Even if they fall before then, Huber needs to at least reach the semifinals to give herself a chance at staying at top. Now that the powerhouse pairing of Huber and Cara Black have split up, it’s hard to imagine a team who will dethrone the sisters from the top of the rankings so long as they are committed to continuing to play in the Slams. With no signs of retirement in the horizon, they could hold that slot for years to come.
They’ve won 48 of their last 50 matches, and five of the last seven slams that they have entered. The doubles specialists on tour lack the ability to trade ground strokes with them, while the top singles players struggle to hold their own at the net.
With 10 slams as a team at the moment, Venus and Serena are also within distant, but striking reach of breaking the record that Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver compiled for most doubles slams as a team with 20 in total. If nothing, they could tie or eclipse Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva’s run of 14 overall.
And after winning the Australian Open earlier this year, dare we say “Grand Slam” if they win at Roland Garros this year?