INFphoto.comIt's all in the family!
Thousands tuned in Tuesday night for the latest saga in a family rivalry—and we're not talking about the third installment of the Twilight series. Tennis champions and infamous sisters Venus Williams and Serena Williams went head to head inside Arthur Ashe Stadium during the Quarter Finals of the U.S. Open in a courtside battle unlike anything we have seen from them before.
The sold-out crowd of 23,771 people, among them A-list celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey, and presidential candidate Donald Trump, sat tightly and watched cautiously as the competition grew fiercer and more unpredictable between the No. 1 ranked American female singles tennis star, Serena, and her older sister, Venus.
After just three sets filled with strength, stamina, and sweat, Serena won her place in the Semi-Finals, clenching her fists in the air and exhaling a visible sigh of relief as she hit the winning serve. If there were any hard feelings, the sisters hid them well as they embraced each other in a hug between the net.
"I will always be the older sister. That is never going to change. She really is the best ever," Venus said in a press conference after the match.
But what is it really like to share a last name with your greatest professional opponent?
"It's going against your best friend, and at the same time going against the greatest competitor for me in women's tennis," Serena Williams told CNN.
While it may have been a high point in their physical careers, their intensely emotional performances left viewers' hearts full. Celebrities took to social media to express their admiration for the pair. Orange is the New Black's Laverne Cox called it "living history," as Serena is on her way to becoming only the third woman in modern American tennis to achieve a "calendar grand slam."
Gabrielle Union hailed them both as queens, while LeBron James gave them even better titles as his daughter's newest role models.
"It's the greatest story in tennis," Serena said at a news conference after the match. "Because of where we come from and how we started. It doesn't get better for us. And the people that we've inspired."
We see you, Serena, and we're absolutely inspired.