THE Williams sisters, who face each other at Wimbledon today, are very much friends despite their tennis rivalry. But are all sisters in similar circumstances so devoted to one another, asks Claire Black
ONE OF my earliest memories is of standing on a top bunk with two of my three sisters, each of us wrapped in a duvet and singing, "sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters". The punchline was that this singalong culminated with one si
ster being unceremoniously booted off the bed. I was struggling to remember the significance of the duvet but, of course, it was padding to ease the landing.
Common wisdom might suggest that when it comes to sibling rivalry, boys have a monopoly, but the dynamic between sisters is just as feisty and fiendish. Apart from, it seems, between Venus and Serena Williams.
When the Williams sisters walk on to the hallowed turf of Wimbledon's Centre Court this afternoon to fight it out for the women's singles title, they'll be doing what many an over-excited television commentator had previously thought to be impossible: they'll be competing against each other with every fibre of their well-toned physiques and every lightning-fast forehand they can muster to win the title. Sisters? Sure, but they're rivals, too. And they're not the first.
Joan and Jackie Collins have tussled over the bestseller charts with their respective bonkbusters; Dannii and Kylie made their battleground the pop charts, (okay, I grant you, it was pretty one-sided); while Margaret Drabble and AS Byatt have tangled over critical acclaim at a considerably more high-brow level.
In their first Wimbledon final back in 2000, there were mutterings of a washout and of it being fixed. That's not what fans saw, however. And today, the perfect day for an all-American final, the Williams sisters will not only be fighting for their favourite Grand Slam, they'll be battling to take the lead in their own family's scoretable. This will be the fourth Williams vs Williams final at the All England Club and the eighth time the sisters have battled in a Grand Slam final. As it stands, Serena holds a 5-2 lead against her sister. Overall, they're level-pegging at 10-10. If anything's going to make them hate each other, surely today's match will do the trick?
Asked about their head-to-head record in a press conference, Venus was her usual laid-back self. "That's intense, huh?" she said. "I guess this will be a tipping point match. My hope is that there will be many more to come."
So how do they do it? How do they face each other on the court with all guns blazing and then get back to being the best of friends? Venus and Serena, you see, are very close sisters. They live together behind large electronically controlled gates just north of Palm Beach, with a wing each of their enormous mansion. Venus, who works as an interior designer when she's not practising her killer backhand, takes charge of the decor, while Serena concentrates on designing pieces for her fashion label, Aneres (Serena backwards, get it?]. And maybe that's the key: the Williamses are the same, but they are also different.
According to Dr Terri Apter, a Cambridge University psychologist who explored the relationship between sisters in her book, The Sister Knot, being different from your siblings is a way of feeling secure. "Always, between same sex siblings, there's a special edge to the competition, because the identification is much greater," she says. "Normally siblings try to deal with the inevitable sense of rivalry and being replaced by someone in the family by having a special niche or developing differences.
"What's so interesting about the Williams sisters is they didn't do that. At least to the public eye they haven't done that. If they describe themselves they may come up with how 'I Venus am different to Serena,' but nonetheless what they do, and what they're spending an enormous amount of time trying to achieve – and succeeding in achieving – is the same."
Why does that happen? Apter says that imitation can be a form of flattery. It certainly seems to have been the case for Serena.
According to their older sister, Isha Price, when the family would go to restaurants they'd make Serena order first because they knew that she would have the same as Venus. Serena herself has said she was 18 or 19 when she realised that it was okay to be different to Venus, who is 15 months older.
Apter says that entering the same field as your sibling can also help push you on to greater achievements as you strive to keep up. Serena did catch up with Venus and now they battle each other at the top.
In another world, Byatt has talked about being driven by the success of Drabble, her younger sister. Byatt has said that their mother "liked Maggie much better". And although her literary success took longer to establish, she never doubted that it would happen: "She (Drabble] certainly thought she was cleverer than I was, but I don't think I ever did. I thought she was likely to be more successful because she was more outgoing. And because she wanted to outdo not only my mother, but me. I set a very high standard, as she did."
But the rivalry is not always benign. Apter says: "Sometimes sisters model themselves on each other because even although they want to say they're different, sometimes each is also trying to say, 'I'm like you but I'm better than you'."
It's a struggle that can last a lifetime, she says. Venus and Serena are pretty closely matched, with a fairly even haul of Grand Slam titles, prize money and outrageous outfits. But what happens when it's not quite as even? Dannii might think her rivalry is with Cheryl Cole for Simon Cowell's affections, but before that, there was Kylie. And however much the 15 people who bought Dannii's last single loved it, it's hardly going to top the achievements of her pop princess sister, is it? But Apter sees a situation that's more complicated, still.
"Think about Jacqueline and Hilary du Pré," she says. "When they were children they were both musical prodigies. Hilary has described very vividly her realisation that Jacqueline was the real genius in the family and that she wasn't. She felt absolutely horrified by her discovery. She felt that no-one was noticing her and that she was just disappearing. This is a sibling crisis where you feel that someone is just going to hoover up all the love and attention that you need to survive, and that there will be no place for you."
Of course, the story is more complex because Hilary went on to have a fulfilled personal and family life. Apter explains: "She realised that she was another type of person with a different range of talents and that Jackie, the more famous sister, was clearly very envious of her more mentally stable sister.
"The way in which sisters gauge, or measure themselves against one another, is so varied that you cannot guess how it's going to be. Someone who is more successful may also be the one who's the more envious sister."
Look at some other famous sisters and that diversity of approach becomes evident. Kylie looks out for Dannii. Sienna and Savannah (Miller] are business partners. Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen are joined at the hip.
As for the Williams sisters, they seem to feel genuinely delighted about each other's achievements. They've no time to be envious because they're too busy celebrating the fact that they're both great.
"It's wonderful," says Apter. "What they're saying is her success reflects on me too. They're not afraid of competition. In that way it's a great message for women. It's an example of how you can be a really keen competitor without saying it's going to be war or I hate this person."
Venus won Wimbledon in 2000 and 2001 before Serena beat her older sister the next two years in a row. Venus took the title again in 2005 and 2007 and beat Serena in last year's final, so whatever happens this year it's bound to be close.
And that's exactly how they like it. For the Williams sisters, it seems, family loyalty supersedes their own rivalry. In 2007 when both were competing to reach the semi-finals of the US Open, Venus insisted that although she didn't relish the thought of playing against Serena, she'd welcome it because "it would mean that there'd be a Williams in the final".
They have a motto that sums it up: "If you can't do it for you, do it for me. And die on the court!"
Rest assured, that's exactly what they'll both be aiming for this afternoon.
The full article contains 1489 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
