Sisters Venus and Serena Williams have something very special to celebrate this season; for the first time in their doubles careers the sisters have qualified for doubles event at the Sony Ericsson Championships.
This year’s edition of the event is scheduled to take place from the October 27 to November 1 at the International Tennis & Squash Complex in Doha for the second year in a row. Venus and Serena are the second team to qualify for the championships; they will join Cara Black/Liezel Huber, along with singles competitors Dinara Safina, Serena Williams, Elena Dementieva, and Caroline Wozniacki, whom have all previously qualified for the event. They will all compete for the much desired Sony Ericsson Championships title and a share of the $4.45 million in prize money.
“We are thrilled to be heading to Doha for the Sony Ericsson Championships,” said Serena Williams. “I love playing doubles with Venus as we have so much fun on the court. This year, we actually decided to put more emphasis on our doubles careers and going to Doha has been on our mind all season. I am thrilled to have an opportunity to compete at the Sony Ericsson Championships in both singles and doubles.” “It’s been extremely rewarding to win a number of big doubles titles with Serena this year,” said Venus Williams. “While playing doubles with my sister is one of the best experiences for me, qualifying for the Sony Ericsson Championships as a team is a great accomplishment and we can’t wait to get to Doha and take on the best doubles teams in the world”
The sisters won this year The Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in addition to winning a title at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford. Venus and Serena Williams, along with Lisa Raymond, are the only active players to have completed the career doubles Grand Slam (2001/2003/2009 Australian Open, 1999 Roland Garros, 2000/2002/2008/2009 Wimbledon, 1999/2009 US Open). The duet holds a perfect 10 – 0 record in Grand Slams finals and have won 10 Grand Slams titles in their entire career making them the third-most successful Grand Slam doubles partnership, below the team of Martina Navratilova/Pam Shriver (21 Grand Slam titles) and the team of Gigi Fernandez/Natasha Zvereva (14 Grand Slam titles).
Spanish doubles team of Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria José Martínez Sánchez have also qualified for the Sony Ericsson Championships – Doha 2009. |
