Power of Caring
  presented by CIGNA

They love New York

Williams sisters capture women's doubles crown

Click here for more on this story

Posted: Sunday September 12, 1999 05:16 PM

Venus (left) and Serena have now brought seven Grand Slam trophies into the Williams' household. AP

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- One day after 17-year-old Serena Williams captured her first singles Grand Slam trophy, she teamed with sister Venus to win the doubles title with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory on Sunday over American Chanda Rubin and Sandrine Testud of France.

Serena is quickly taking stock of her new-found celebrity status.

"I had 21 messages on my cell phone and that's an all-time high," she said. "I'm very popular now."

The 1999 U.S. Open was truly a Williams family affair as sisters Serena and Venus took home the women's singles and doubles trophy and a whopping $1,290,000.

Serena's monumental efforts added up to $750,000 for the singles win and half of the doubles prize money of $330,000. Venus won $210,000 for reaching the semifinals.

"I'm not a really celebrating person," Serena said. "I'll celebrate with my credit card."

Between the two sisters, there are seven Grand Slam winner's trophy at their home in Palm Beach, FL.

In 1998, Venus paired with fellow American Justin Gimelstob to win the Australian and French Open mixed doubles title. To complete the family Grand Slam that year, Serena teamed with Belarussian Max Mirnyi to take the mixed honors at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

At this year's French Open, Williams sisters won the women's doubles title over the team of Hingis and Russian Anna Kournikova.

At 17, Serena finds herself in some fairly elite company, joining Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, and Martina Navratilova as the only women who have won the singles, doubles and mixed championships of the U.S. Open in their career.

Both Court (1970) and Navratilova (1987) won all three championships in the same year at the U.S. Open.

The Williams sisters said the latest issue of their monthly tennis newsletter should be out within a couple of weeks.

"I think I might make the cover," said Serena, smiling.

 

Related information
Stories
Serena Williams downs Hingis for U.S. Open crown SI's Jon Wertheim: Williamses are winning people over
Multimedia
Visit Multimedia Central for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.

Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.