It’s safe to say that no sister act has ever been a bigger hit on the New York Stage than Venus and Serena Williams. The two marquee-topping champions have combined for a total of eight US Open singles titles, with Serena capturing six and Venus, two. In the weeks leading up to the 2022 US Open, Hall of Fame tennis writer Steve Flink will be recounting each of those remarkable title runs. In this first installment, Flink examines Venus’ dominating title run in 2000.
Looking around the landscape of women’s tennis as the leading players assembled in New York for the 2000 US Open, a cluster of top-flight performers loomed large. Lindsay Davenport had commenced that year’s campaign prodigiously at the Australian Open, claiming her third career major title in Melbourne. Mary Pierce was victorious at Roland Garros, securing the French Open and a second career Grand Slam singles title in the process. Martina Hingis was playing her customary brand of guileful percentage tennis, residing at No. 1 in the world. And Serena Williams was back with full determination, determined to defend her title at Flushing Meadows.
But no one was more confident than Venus Williams.
Venus had not played any tournaments at all until May as tendinitis in both wrists kept her away from the arena. She did not perform particularly well on the clay. But then, this woman with the biggest first serve on the WTA Tour, also the owner of unparalleled foot speed and a strikingly explosive groundstroke arsenal captured her first career major singles title at Wimbledon with a string of magnificent triumphs over Hingis, her sister Serena, and Davenport.
Not resting on her laurels, Venus Williams blazed through the summer on the hard courts immaculately, taking three more titles in a row, overcoming Davenport in the final at Stanford before toppling Monica Seles in the finals of both San Diego and New Haven. It was one of the most prolific periods of her career. Williams had virtually forgotten how to lose, and she was peaking propitiously for the Open. Making Venus all the more self-assured was her record across the previous three years at her country’s Grand Slam event. In that span, Williams had gone to the final in 1997 at 17 before losing to Hingis. In 1998 and 1999, she reached the penultimate round before bowing against Davenport and then Hingis.
Clearly, Williams was right where she wanted to be in 2000, victorious in four consecutive tournaments altogether and three in a row on hard courts, displaying controlled aggression of the highest order, feeling that no one in the world was going to beat her if she could summon her best tennis.
Williams was seeded third behind Hingis and Davenport at the Open, but most authorities regarded Venus as the favorite in the field based on her summertime supremacy. The experts realized—and so did the other players—that Williams was impenetrable at this time. Her optimism was evident at the start of the event when she said, “I feel really confident. Even when I’m playing badly, I feel like I’m going to win the match—for some reason, one way or the other, things are going to go my way. It’s a good feeling to have.”
That outlook carried Venus through the first four rounds comfortably. Williams did not lose a set until she confronted the cagey Nathalie Tauziat. The 32-year-old Frenchwoman tested Venus briefly, but before long Williams regained the upper hand and prevailed comfortably 6-4,1-6, 6-1. That victory sent Williams into the semifinals for her third US Open meeting in four years against the Swiss stylist Hingis.
Hingis was well aware as she approached this appointment that her task in finding ways to thwart Williams was becoming increasingly difficult. Hingis was celebrating the finest season of her stellar career in 1997 when she toppled Venus 6-0, 6-4 in the final at Flushing Meadows, collecting her third major title of the year in convincing fashion, picking apart Williams methodically from the baseline with outstanding ball control, uncanny point construction and astonishing precision from beginning to end.
When they collided again in the 1999 semifinals, Hingis meticulously countered the power of Williams at the outset with masterful defense. But she was stretched to her limits in the end by an unwavering adversary before succeeding 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
In that stirring contest, Hingis was trailing 3-2 and down a break in the third before collecting four games in a row to finish it off as Williams suffered with cramps in the final set.
When the Swiss and the American did battle again in the 2000 semifinals, they put on a dazzling show on both sides of the net. It may well have been the highest quality contest of their memorable 21-match career series. Hingis was first-rate in the opening set, achieving the lone service break in the tenth game as Venus double-faulted under duress on set point. From 2-3 down in the second set, Williams found her range and swept four games in a row to make it one set all.
And yet, Hingis was reinvigorated in the third set, moving ahead 5-3. Williams was behind 15-30 in the ninth game, two points away from defeat. The Swiss had an opening to reach double match point, but a timidly executed overhead cost her dearly. A resolute Williams drove a backhand into the clear for an outright winner, taking full advantage of a weak smash from the Swiss. From there, Williams was laser-focused and unerring, taking 15 of the last 18 points and four games in a row to complete a stupendous 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 comeback triumph.
For the second time in four years, Venus Williams found herself in the final of the US Open and on the verge of a lifelong quest to make history of the highest order at the preeminent American tennis tournament. Asked after her victory over Hingis if it was willpower that ultimately pulled her through, Williams said, “I’ve got a pretty big heart these days. I really didn’t want to lose. I felt like, ‘This is my opportunity. I deserve to be in the final, and I need to go ahead and get it done.’”
Facing Davenport in that final, Williams knew that the best ball striker in the women’s game stood on the other side of the net. Williams could not afford to allow her countrywoman to get into a groove from the baseline and rhythmically take control of the contest. It would be up to Venus to overpower her adversary and rush the 1998 champion repeatedly into errors, which was no small task.
Davenport—a 6-4, 6-2 quarterfinal victor over No. 5 seed and defending champion Serena Williams—was almost letter perfect from the baseline in the early stages, clipping the corners systematically, keeping Williams off balance and at bay, serving with more accuracy and deception than her opponent. The No. 2 seed built a 4-1 first set lead and was two breaks up. She sparkled in every facet of the game while Williams struggled inordinately to find her range. But, in the later stages of the opening set of this encounter, Williams reproduced the magic of her third-set performance against Hingis. She swept five straight games to win the opening set spectacularly. In the process, she left Davenport dumbfounded.
In the second set, however, Davenport seemed briefly revitalized. She had a game point for 3-1, but Williams soon broke back for 2-2. The two big hitters stayed on serve until 5-6. Serving to stay in the match, Davenport reached 30-30 but an errant forehand approach and a two-hander driven long enabled Williams to seal a hard fought 6-4, 7-5 triumph. She had simply played the big points better to come from behind dynamically in the first set and hold back Davenport in a well-played second set. It was the fifth tournament win in a row for Williams, including a pair of majors back-to-back. At long last, she had won her first US Open during the most dominant phase of her career.
“It was a really nice victory,” said Williams afterwards. “I felt like I played Lindsay when she was playing some of her best tennis, and I still won. That was nice because I’ve beaten the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the rankings successively. That’s really exciting when you do that to win a Grand Slam tournament—the US Open.”
Indeed, the win was one of her most fulfilling triumphs. By virtue of taking the US Open title and ousting her two foremost rivals to achieve that considerable feat, Venus Williams was demonstrably the best woman player in the world—regardless of the fact that Hingis and Davenport remained ahead of her in the rankings.
Venus Williams had underlined her status as the best woman player in the world once she ruled at the US Open. It was a milestone moment in her life. A year earlier, she had watched her younger sister Serena win that tournament in style. Her presence at courtside unabashedly supporting Serena had been admirable in the aftermath of a semifinal defeat against Hingis that hit Venus hard. Moreover, Williams surely believed she would secure the US Open title before her sister did.
But now Williams had come through at last on the hard courts in New York. She would extend her winning streak after the Open to 35 matches in a row, winning the gold medal at the Olympic Games at the end of that span. That was a 21st-century record for women until Iga Swiatek captured 37 in a row earlier this year. With singular verve, firepower and perspicacity, Venus Williams demonstrably showed the fans in New York at the 2000 US Open that she was a transcendent athlete who irrefutably belonged in the circle of champions.
