Serena and Venus Williams have defined tennis this century, but they are not the only successful double act in the women’s game.
Ever since they first picked up a tennis racket aged four in the Czech Republic, identical twins Karolina and Krystina Pliskova have been making a name for themselves with their strong serves. Now 24 years of age, they are both junior grand slam champions and have won three doubles titles together on the women’s tour.
The tenth-seeded Karolina, who plays Serena in the US Open semifinals on Friday, remembers watching the Williams sisters with her sibling when they were little.
“The first memory about the sisters was that they had this thing on their hair,” Karolina said after easing past Croatian Ana Konjuh to reach her first grand slam semifinals. “I think it was Venus, and it somehow broke and it was everywhere on the court.”
“So that’s the first memory about them. And then obviously they are there for so many years and they have so many titles together. And especially Serena now. She’s just one of the best players in the world, so it would be honor to play her.”
Twins pairings
The Williams sisters, a little over a year apart in age, never competed in junior tennis and mostly played each other while being coached by their father, Richard Williams.
Their success on the women’s tour has been unprecedented: they were the first sisters ever to be ranked No. 1 and No. 2 at the same time and have won 14 grand slam doubles championships.
Although men’s tennis has had its fair share of successful identical twin combinations — from Tim and Tom Gullikson in the 1970s to Bob and Mike Bryan dominating men’s doubles this century — there haven’t been many in the women’s game.
“Living hell”
Ranked 122nd, the left-handed Krystina is two minutes older and is ranked 122nd while her sister cracked the top 10 last year.
Growing up, they were competitive in just about everything.
“We were always a little bit fighting, about everything actually,” Karolina told the Australian Open website earlier this year.
“But now it’s better because we don’t see each other that often. Before, when we were always together, we were fighting about everything, clothes and everything. But it improved a lot. Also with age, we are older now so it’s getting a little bit better.”
Given the disparity in their ranking they’re surprisingly tied an even four-all on the women’s circuit, with Krystina winning the last match they played, on the grass of Eastbourne in 2013.
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As for Serena, she had this to say when asked if she’d ever entertained the thought of an identical copy of herself competing on the Tour:
“It would be a living hell,” she told reporters after overcoming the fifth-seeded Simona Halep in three sets in the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows in New York Wednesday.
Serve contest
Friday’s semifinals clash between the six-time US Open champion from the US and Karolina Pliskova pits the two most dominant servers in the women’s game against each other.
“I haven’t played against many big servers recently,” Williams said.
There is no one on the women’s tour with a serve more lethal than the six-foot-one (1.86 meters) Pliskova, who has fired off a whopping 439 aces this year. That’s 119 more than Williams, who has played fewer matches than the Czech this year.
Williams, who according to John McEnroe has “the greatest serve in the history of tennis,” has hit 60 aces at the US Open, compared with 32 for Pliskova.
Although six-foot-eleven Ivo Karlovic is the men’s ace leader in New York with 120 from four matches played, Gael Monfils of France leads the remaining men’s semifinalists with 49 aces.
When it comes to efficiency, Pliskova is also strong. Although Williams leads the Tour this season with 74.9% of first serve points won, the Czech is a close second with 74.6%.
Placement
Williams can struggle against big-serving opponents. She was outplayed by big-serving German Sabine Lisicki at Wimbledon in 2013 while Garbine Muguruza upset her in the finals of Roland Garros earlier this year.
Pliskova’s serve has certainly caught the attention of Serena.
“She definitely gets some speed on it, but her placement is really, really nice,” said the world No. 1. “Hopefully I’ll be able to read them and play okay.”
The other women’s semifinals between former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki and Germany’s second-ranked Angelique Kerber should be a completely different match.
Both players are known for their retrieving skills and once played an epic 48-shot moonball rally in Indian Wells in 2013. Kerber has the slight edge, having won seven out of 12 matches.
Williams and Pliskova have played each other only once, with the top-ranked American winning a close two-set match in Stanford two years ago.
“I was a completely different player at that time, I have improved a lot,” Pliskova said after her 6-2, 6-2 win over Konjuh.
Slam breakthrough
Although Karolina Pliskova first reached the top 10 a year ago, she was the only top-20 player to have never reached the quarters of a major before the US Open.
After tuning up for the year’s final tennis major with a win over Kerber in the finals of Cincinnati last month, her grand slam breakthrough came in a dramatic encounter against seven-time major winner Venus Williams in the fourth round. Pliskova eventually prevailed in a third-set tie-break after both women squandered match points.
Attack
She’ll have to play the same brand of attacking tennis to have a shot against Serena.
“She’s a big hitter and she can have 50 winners and you cannot do much about it,” Pliskova said. “But I hope that there is going to be some chance in the match where I can get my chance and be the one who is playing aggressive.”
“Obviously I played Venus this week, who is probably not as good as she is, but it’s very similar game. So I’ll just have to be ready for it.”