Anyone who has a sister and watched today’s ladies’ singles final at Wimbledon would understand the love and competition between two sisters. Big sis’ Venus won the match today, but she handled it much differently than when she first took the Wimbledon title, beating her little sister Serena in the semi-final 2000. When that first happened, Serena double-faulted at match point, and Venus looked broken hearted when she came up to the net to console and hug her little sister. Today’s match was different. Eight years has passed by, the sisters have both won their respective slams, Venus a five time winner of Wimbledon, Serena winning all four grand slams. It would be fair to say that they have probably discussed competition and beating the other many times. When Venus won today’s match, she wasn’t jumping up and down like she usually does. When asked, she said that she knew how it felt to be on the opposite side. More likely, she wanted to be respectful towards her sister.

I think it would be fair to say, that in most sister relationships, one sister is usually more competitive than the other. Between the Williams sisters, I think Serena is the more competitive one. I was definitely more competitive than my sister growing up. This didn’t manifest in looks, boyfriends or grades. After all I was five school years ahead of her. There were (and still are) plenty of people who compare our physical characteristics, some making it into a beauty competition. I can safely say that we have never competed that way. But competition did exist between us, at least for me. When we were kids, she and I competed at state and national level competitions for piano. She was always more of the charming performer, capturing the judges heart by her personality and smile. I was more serious in my presentation and focused more on the technical aspects of piano. Throughout the years, my sister won first place awards repetitively while I accumulated second place trophies. I never believed that she didn’t deserve her accolades, but I never understood why I didn’t receive as many awards as she. Afterall, I loved piano much more than she did.

Even with the best parenting, sibling rivalry exists. It is usually more pronounced when one parent favors the other child. As I matured, I understood my need to compete with my sister, but it dissipated as I got older. Now her accomplishments are mine, her disappointments are mine.

Controversy was once again stirred when Elena Dementieva commented that the Wimbledon 2008 final result would be decided “in the family”. What does this mean? Will Richard Williams decide which sister gets the title? Venus was interviewed about this comment, she replied that it was insulting since she is a professional athlete. Somehow, the world always needs to inject their own jealousy into the sister relationship. I experience this myself and it is irritating. Blood runs thicker than water and always will. Message to Elena Dementieva: Focus on your tennis and stop projecting your own issues onto other people. Especially on two sisters who love each other.