Serena Williams was an exceptional singles and doubles player and now she has expressed which format of the game she found harder to play.
The 43-year-old retired in September 2022 following her exit from the US Open with a combined 39 singles and doubles Grand Slam titles.
Her 14 women’s doubles majors all came alongside elder sister Venus Williams, who also owns seven singles titles at Grand Slam level.
The pair were a formidable force both solo and as a team, and Serena outlined the biggest difference she found between playing alongside her sibling and by herself.
Throughout her illustrious career Serena Williams made playing tennis look easy as she used her power and precision to dominate her opponents.
It earned her a Grand total of 73 singles titles and 23 on the doubles court, which came alongside sister Venus.
Williams was speaking about her career during a YouTube video with Glamour, when she discussed if singles competition is harder than playing doubles.
The former World number one surprised many when she said doubles, but the reason she provided was completely justified.
“Honestly, I think for me, doubles may have been a little bit harder because I never wanted to let my partner down, which was Venus,” Williams said.
“Like in singles, if you make a mistake, it’s one thing, it’s on you. But if you make a mistake in doubles, it’s like, oh, I’m letting my partner down. That was a lot of pressure for me because I never wanted to let her down.”
There are plenty of fond memories that the Williams sisters can look back on as a doubles team.
The multiple Grand Slam titles and becoming the top-ranked team spring to mind, but Serena mentioned their success at the Olympic Games, as well as naming something unexpected.
“Favourite memory from doubles. So many great memories. Obviously winning the Olympic gold three times was really cool, I had to think about it,” Williams added.
“One of my best memories in doubles is actually us losing and Venus is losing her mind on the court because she’s so calm. And I was laughing the whole time and we lost like four points because I couldn’t stop laughing.”
