Serena Williams followed
her own Golden Slam by teaming with big sister Venus on Sunday to
continue their dominance of Olympic women’s doubles tennis.
The American sisters
beat Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4
under the roof on a rainy afternoon at the All England Club for their
third Olympic doubles gold. Venus — with her red, white and blue braids
pulled back into a bun — closed out the match with a backhand volley
winner after the Czechs saved a pair of match points.
“We all talk about this,
‘We have so many medals,’ but to be able to add to that, it’s like an
unbelievable feeling,” Venus said. “You know that in that count, there
you are. It feels amazing.”
On Saturday, Serena beat
Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1 for the singles gold. She joined Steffi Graf
as the only women to complete the Golden Slam — winning the Olympics and
the four majors.
When the Americans in
the crowd at Centre Court broke into a chant of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” as the
players left the court, the sisters each pumped their fists, turned
around to wave, then slapped a high-five. The medal ceremony had to wait
for the outdoor bronze-medal match, which was delayed by rain.
Serena became tennis’
first double gold medalist at an Olympics since Venus won singles and
doubles at the 2000 Sydney Games. The sisters also won the doubles gold
at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
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