SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The tennis world has never been quite the same since Serena Williams walked away back in 2022. Well, at age 44, she is returning this week to play Wimbledon, both singles and doubles, alongside her big sister, Venus Williams. Since the GOAT is back, so is the buzz. So we had to have sports writer and author Howard Bryant on the show to talk Williamses. Welcome back.
HOWARD BRYANT: Thank you for having me.
DETROW: There is something - there's a lot of things I love about this comeback, but I love the fact that, like, I can specifically remember reading about Venus and Serena in Sports Illustrated for Kids (ph) when I was a kid.
BRYANT: (Laughter).
DETROW: And all these years later, they are making a comeback, and they have, of course, in the meantime, established themselves as two of the greatest tennis players of all time. How are you thinking about this return to the courts?
BRYANT: Well, I think it depends. I mean, I think when you look at it from a sisters standpoint, Venus really never left. I mean, she's been playing on the tour for, you know, since she was - what? - 14 years old. There's the difference between the watchers and the doers. We're the watchers. We believe in the narratives. We create the poetry. We do all of these things. And they're the doers. They're the athlete. And when you're the athlete, you have to play until the tank is empty because as the great Satchel Paige once said, you only come around this way once.
DETROW: (Laughter).
BRYANT: And when you're Venus, you're here, and you've been playing, but you're not Venus Williams anymore. So the poetry is not there. And so a lot of people are like, why are you still doing this? And she still wants to play. And she's a legend. And then when you think about Serena, it's a bit of a different story. Serena Williams was clearly chasing that 24th and 25th major. She got to 23. She beat Venus at the 2017 Australian Open, and nobody knew at the time, but she was pregnant when she won.
And then when she came back, there was this - the narrative of wanting to win a major as a mother and that this was an inspirational thing for her. And she got back. She got to four finals, and she didn't win a set. She lost all four. And when she left, she never quite said she was retiring. And I was at that match. I was at her match against Ajla Tomljanovic at the 2022 U.S. Open. And she said she was evolving and not retiring. And there's always been something when it comes to Serena that feels unfinished. She's come out and said that she has no pressure, that she's done more than anyone could ever dream of, that she's done more than she ever dreamed of, and that there's no pressure and that she wants to see her two daughters see her play tennis.
DETROW: Do you believe that?
BRYANT: But I don't believe that.
DETROW: (Laughter).
BRYANT: I don't believe that at all. I have a very hard time believing that Serena Williams is going to come out here to get crushed.
DETROW: Yeah.
BRYANT: Maybe there's more enjoyment in it now, but I don't think she's just back for funsies (ph). I think she's looking and she's recognizing that even though she'll be 45 in September, that she may be looking at that field and thinking, I can beat them.
DETROW: I want to try something out here and kind of watch a couple examples of their play over the years with you. Let's both pull up a clip from 2016 Wimbledon and take a look at that and tell me what, if anything, is different to you in terms of the style, in terms of how they play, in terms of how the match is going?
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED TENNIS PLAYER #1: (Grunting).
(SOUNDBITE OF TENNIS BALL BEING HIT BACK AND FORTH)
BRYANT: Still Venus on the back line and Serena playing up. You know, quicker points. Obviously, when you're on grass, it's - you know, it's first strike tennis.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED TENNIS PLAYER #1: (Grunting).
UNIDENTIFIED TENNIS PLAYER #2: (Grunting).
(APPLAUSE)
BRYANT: And of course, you know, that Serena serve is something that they should just put in the Louvre. You know, the pressure they put on the opposition and the forcing the opposition to also hit with them. Once again, I mean, one of the things that they always say in tennis is, is the match on your racket? Meaning, is it in your control, or are you being controlled? And the thing about watching them is that so many times the match is on their racket because of the power that they bring to it and the coordination, as well, and the hands and the whole thing.
I mean, we talk about the power all the time, but the beauty of Serena, especially, is the fact that she is such a complete tennis player - offensive, defensively, at the net, the volleys, the overheads, all of it. She's just so technically sound. And the beauty of the two of them together is the number of times we watch them compete against each other - they really have fun playing together. It is such a joy to watch them compete and recognizing as well that they're a family. And that is the - it's the most unique relationship, I think, in the history of American sports.
DETROW: Given all of that, what are you hoping for and what do you think is likely as they set out on Wimbledon together over the coming weeks?
BRYANT: I think the expectations are very, very low. I think it's joy. I think you have to go into it with joy. The one thing that you're absolutely hoping is that, you know, you want them to stay healthy. And usually, what happens in these tournaments, especially because Serena is deciding to go all-in - she's jumping into the deep end of the pool - you just want them to be able to stay on the court. And then the rest of it, who knows? This is why we watch the games. We haven't seen Serena play in a singles match since September of 2022, but the one thing that I think everyone is hoping that there's some magic here that we'll never forget.
DETROW: Howard Bryant, thanks so much for talking.
BRYANT: Thank you.
DETROW: You can hear Howard talking sports in NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, and his most recent book is "Kings And Pawns: Jackie Robinson And Paul Robeson In America."
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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