Venus and Serena Williams: Career Stats & Comparison
Last updated: May 14, 2024 by Leon Marshal
The story of Serena and Venus Williams’ rise to tennis greatness is a remarkable one – some say the best sports story ever told.
In a sport which has always struggled to shake off its elite, white, middle-class reputation, quite how unlikely it was that two African-American sisters would come from the public courts of Compton, California, under the tutelage of their self-taught coach and father, Richard, to both become world number one is hard to truly fathom.
Yet that is exactly what happened, the duo reshaping the tennis landscape by bringing new levels of power and athleticism to the court. In tandem, the Williamses moved the sport on to what is it today, and made the best betting sites take notice when offering odds on women’s tennis.
Their legacy certainly endures, although while Serena retired in 2022, Venus remains an active part of the WTA Tour at the age of 43.
The sisters’ names will be forever mentioned together but here’s our guide to who had the better career, looking at some of the remarkable statistics attached to sport’s most famous siblings…
How many titles have Serena and Venus Williams won?
Serena Williams won 73 tour-level singles titles during her career, while Venus currently has 49 – will she manage to hit the 50 mark before retirement?
As a pair, the sisters also won 22 doubles titles together.
Serena and Venus Williams at the Grand Slams
Tennis greatness places a lot of weight on Grand Slam titles won and, given that, few will ever be able to hold a flame to Serena Williams.
The Grand Slams are the most revered tournaments in tennis and garner the most attenion when tennis betting. Namely the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open.
Serena was won 23 Grand Slam singles titles – an Open Era record. However, she finished her career one short of Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24.
Venus Williams won seven Grand Slams in singles, a figure which is easily the best among active players – Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka both have four each.
The sisters also won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together, as well as three Olympic doubles gold medals.
Let’s take a look at some of the other facts and stats surrounding Venus and Serena at the four Grand Slam tournaments.
- Venus is one of only two players (Pam Shriver being the other) to reach the US Open final on her tournament debut, doing so in 1997.
- Having won her first Grand Slam at the 1999 US Open and her last at the 2017 Australian Open, Serena has won a Slam title in three different decades. Martina Navratilova is the only other female player to do this.
- When Venus and Serena met in the 2001 US Open final, it was the first time in tennis’ Open Era that sisters had contested a Grand Slam final, the last time it had occurred being in the 19th Century.
- Across the 2002-03 period, the Williams sisters met in four successive Grand Slam finals. In total, six of eight Grand Slams saw the pair face off for the title – from the 2001 US Open to 2003 Wimbledon.
- Of those 2002-03 finals, Serena won all four to complete what was dubbed the ‘Serena Slam’ – holding all four Grand Slam titles at the same time. She later repeated the feat in 2014-15.
- However, Serena was unable to match the calendar-year Grand Slam achievements of Margaret Court (1970) and Steffi Graf (1988). In 2015, she won the first three tournaments but then suffered a shock semi-final defeat at the US Open to Roberta Vinci.
- The Williams sisters dominated in doubles in the 2009-10 period, winning five of six Grand Slam titles up for grabs at one stage.
- Only Chris Evert (34) has played in more Grand Slam singles finals than Serena Williams (33).
- Venus Williams leads the list for Grand Slam singles main draws played – she has contested 93. Serena sits second on that list with 81 such appearances.
- Serena Williams has posted more Grand Slam match wins than any other female player, 367. Venus is in fifth place on that list with 271.
- Serena is one of only 10 women to have completed the career Grand Slam by winning all four majors. The others are Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court, Chris Evert, Shirley Fry, Steffi Graf, Doris Hart, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova and Maria Sharapova.
- Serena is the oldest Grand Slam champion of the Open Era – she was 35 years and 125 days old when winning the 2017 Australian Open (and did so while pregnant). She is also the oldest Grand Slam finalist (37 years and 346 days at the 2019 US Open).
- As well as in Australia, Serena Williams is the oldest women’s singles champion of the Open Era at both the French Open and Wimbledon.
- Serena Williams holds the record for Australian Open women’s singles titles in the Open Era with seven. She has also reached more finals (8) than anyone else.
- Serena is also the record-holder for Open Era match wins (92) and matches played (105) at the Australian Open.
- Serena Williams is the joint record-holder for US Open women’s singles in the Open Era. She and Chris Evert have both won six.
- Serena stands alone at the US Open in terms of women’s singles matches won (108) and matches played (123).
- Venus Williams is the most recent player to win a Grand Slam women’s singles title from championship point down, doing so at Wimbledon in 2005 against Lindsay Davenport.
- Serena Williams is the last player to win the Wimbledon ladies’ singles title after saving a match point during the tournament – she faced down one against Elena Dementieva in the Wimbledon semi-finals of 2009 before going on to lift the trophy.
Here’s a breakdown of how the Williams sisters have faired at each Grand Slam tournament:
Serena – Grand Slams
- 7 – Australian Open (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2015. 2017)
- 3 – French Open (2002, 2013, 2015)
- 7 – Wimbledon (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016)
- 6 – US Open (1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014)
Serena – Win-loss
- Australian Open 92-13
- French Open 69-14
- Wimbledon 98-14
- US Open 108-15
Venus – Grand Slams
- 5 – Wimbledon (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008)
- 2 – US Open (2000, 2001)
Venus – Win-loss
- Australian Open 54-21
- French Open 48-24
- Wimbledon 90-19
- US Open 79-21
Serena and Venus Williams at the Olympics
No-one has won more Olympic tennis medals than Venus Williams.
She has five in her collection, winning singles gold in 2000, doubles gold in 2000, 2008 and 2012 and mixed-doubles silver in 2016 (alongside Rajeev Ram).
Kitty Godfree is the only other player to win five Olympic tennis medals.
However, Venus is the only player to win a medal at four different Olympic Games.
Serena Williams has four Olympic medals – the three doubles golds with her sister, plus the singles gold in 2012.
As a doubles partnership, the Williams sisters posted a 15-1 win-loss record across their four Olympic Games appearances.
Serena Williams v Venus Williams Head-to-head
The sisters met each other 31 times at tour level with Serena winning on 19 occasions and Venus 12.
The first meeting came at the 1998 Australian Open and the last at the 2020 Top Seed Open in Lexington, Kentucky.
Sixteen of the 31 matches came at the Grand Slam tournaments, making it the second most-played match at the majors, behind Martina Navratilova v Chris Evert (22).
Serena’s best winning streak in the H2H was six across 2002 and 2003, while Venus never bettered her 3-0 start to the rivalry.
Serena v Venus H2H breakdown:
- Overall: Serena 19-12
- On hardcourts: Serena 12-9
- On clay: Serena 2-1
- On grass: Serena 4-2
- On carpet: Serena 1-0
- In finals: Serena 9-3
- In Grand Slams: Serena 11-5
- At Australian Open: Serena 2-1
The Williams Sisters and the World Number One Ranking
Serena Williams is the joint record-holder for consecutive weeks as WTA world number one. She held top spot for 186 weeks between February 2013 and September 2016, equalling Steffi Graf’s feat.
Serena (319) is third in the all-time list for weeks at no 1, behind Graf (377) and Martina Navratilova (332). She first hit top spot in July 2002 with her final day at the summit coming in May 2017.
Serena finished as year-end world no 1 on five occasions – only Graf and Navratilova have more such finishes.
Venus Williams actually beat her sister to becoming world no 1, reaching the summit in February 2002. Across three short spells, she had a total of 11 weeks in top spot.
What Else Have the Williams Sisters Won?
Serena Williams has won the WTA’s season-ending championships, currently known as the WTA Finals, on five occasions.
The USA star has also played on one Billie Jean King Cup-winning team, in 1999 when it was known as the Fed Cup.
Venus Williams also played on that BJK Cup team and was WTA Finals champion once, in 2008.
In terms of individual awards, Serena has been named WTA player of the year seven times (one shy of Steffi Graf’s record), while Venus has claimed the honour once (in 2000).
Which Was Serena Williams’ Best Season?
This is up for debate with several possible contenders.
Her ascent to the top of the sport came in 2002 when she won three of the four Grand Slams, arguably only being denied the full set by injury as she was forced to miss the Australian Open. She finished the year with a 56-5 win-loss record.
Serena also won three of the four Slams in 2015, a year she compiled a 53-3 record. The fabled calendar-year Grand Slam – last achieved by Steffi Graf in 1988 – was just two wins from being completed when Williams lost in the US Open semi-finals to Roberta Vinci in one of the sports’ all-time great upsets.
However, it was in the 2013 season that Serena won her most matches in any year, going 78-4 across a season which saw her claim a personal-best 11 titles.
Which Was Venus Williams’ Best Season?
With personal-best tallies of 62 match wins and seven titles, plus a career-high year-end ranking of 2, some would argue 2002 was Venus Williams’ best-ever season.
But the fact is she was overshadowed by sister Serena that year and failed to win a Grand Slam title.
She landed two in each of 2000 and 2001 and never bettered her 2000 win percentage of 91%, going 41-4 for the season.
There was also a remarkable renaissance year in 2017, one which brought two Grand Slam finals, albeit both were lost.
Williams Sisters: Controversy
The Williams sisters have been involved in their fair share of controversy over the years…
Indian Wells, 2001
One of the most famous incidents came in Indian Wells in 2001 when Venus withdrew minutes before her scheduled semi-final with Serena. This prompted accusations – always denied – that the semi-final had been ‘fixed’ with Venus deliberately allowing her sister passage to the final.
When Serena played Kim Clijsters in the final the following day, she was booed by large segments of the crowd. Her father, Richard, later claimed the attacks on his daughter included a racist element.
As a result of the whole sorry weekend, the sisters would boycott the tournament for more than a decade.
US Open, 2004
The US Open has also provided a number of controversial moments in Serena Williams’ career.
In 2004, a number of bad line calls contributed to her quarter-final loss to Jennifer Capriati. The match is widely recognised with being the catalyst for the introduction of electronic line-calling systems such as Hawk-eye.
US Open, 2009
After being called for a foot-fault which left her match point down to Clijsters in their semi-final, the home favourite ranted at the line judge, waving her racquet in the official’s direction. The line judge reported Serena to the umpire, who duly issued her with a second conduct warning – resulting in the loss of a point and, therefore, the match. During the ensuing argument, involving the line judge and tournament supervisor, Serena was heard to say: “I never said I would kill you. Are you serious?”
US Open, 2011
The 2011 final saw Serena surprisingly beaten by Sam Stosur with many feeling one incident contributed significantly to the loss.
Break-point down at the start of the second set (having lost the first), Serena hit what appeared to be an unreturnable forehand and let out a roar of celebration. However, umpire Eva Asderaki decided the roar had come before Stosur had got a racquet on the ball and duly called it hinderance. The point was awarded to Stosur, who broke serve and went on to claim the title.
Serena refused to shake the umpire’s hand at the end and appeared to, mistakenly, think that Asderaki has also been in charge of the 2009 match (see above).
US Open, 2018
With Serena looking to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles, there was plenty at stake when she faced Naomi Osaka in the final.
And it certainly looked as if Serena was feeling the pressure.
When umpire Carlos Ramos spotted her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, issuing signals to his charge, Serena was handed a warning. She angrily denied receiving coaching instructions, although Mouratoglou later admitted he had at least been trying to tell her something.
The situation simmered for a while but when Ramos later issued a second code violation – this time for racquet abuse – it cost Serena a point.
She reacted furiously, calling Ramos “a thief”. This duly resulted in a third punishment – the loss of a game.
It was unprecedented in a Grand Slam final and effectively ensured Serena’s defeat – a couple of game later Osaka was crowned champion but, with boos raining down from the stands at the presentation ceremony, the uncomfortable Japanese was sadly reduced to tears.
Williams Sisters: Injuries and Near-Death Experience
Both Serena and Venus have had their fair share of injury problems over the years and some have been very unusual.
For example, in July 2010, Serena cut her feet on broken glass while at a Munich restaurant. The incident resulted in her being sidelined for 12 months.
During her spell out, she suffered a near-death experience due to blood clots in both lungs. “I was on my death bed at one point – quite literally,” she later said.
A similar problem affected Serena shortly after she gave birth in 2017. Following shortness of breath, another pulmonary embolism was discovered and then a hematoma in her abdomen. “I almost died,” she said.
On court, there was a scare for Serena at Wimbledon in 2014 when she had problems with her vision. She served four consecutive double faults when playing a doubles match with Venus and the pair duly quit. The issue was later attributed to a virus.
How Much Prize Money Have Serena and Venus Williams Won?
No-one has won more prize money in professional women’s tennis than the Williams sisters.
Serena Williams sits atop the all-time list with a total of US$94.8million.
That is more than double the amount of the next-best player – Venus – who, at the end of the 2023 season, had accumulated $42.6million.
*Unless stated, all statistics are correct as of 2024.