NEW YORK — Serena, you’re on the clock.
Venus Williams called her sister out and requested her presence in New York after reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open doubles draw, alongside partner Leylah Fernandez, on Monday.
“She’s given us advice, and we just need her in the box,” the 45-year-old icon said in her on-court interview after the pair’s impressive 6-3, 6-4 win over 12th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova and Zhang Shuai. “So my message is, ‘Serena you need to show up.’”
Asked later what kind of advice the 23-time Grand Slam singles champ had for her sister — whom she won 14 major doubles titles with, don’t forget — Venus said Serena is a motivator, and she can hardly contain her nervousness watching them on TV.
“She gave me a pep talk and made sure to call me today,” Venus said. “She’s definitely coaching from afar. She’s so excited. She gets so nervous watching, and she’s got the kids watching. They’re all at home, just really on our side.”
But if Serena is going to coach them, Venus prefers that she do so in Queens, not from a distance.
“If she came, it would be a dream for both of us, and we’d have her on the court coaching,” Venus said. “We’d force her to hit, even though she doesn’t hit often. It’s probably best she doesn’t come because we’d probably bully her.”
It’s been quite an interesting tournament for Williams, who lost in the revamped mixed doubles event before dropping her first-round match to now-quarterfinalist Karolina Muchova.
But Williams decided to stick around in New York a bit longer, accepting a wild card into the doubles draw with Fernandez. They’ve torn the house down in Louis Armstrong Stadium since playing their first match last Thursday, winning three straight without dropping a set and becoming one of the more delightful stories of the tournament.
But they’re much more than just a nice story; they’re a legitimate threat to win it all. We all know about Venus’ doubles pedigree, and Fernandez — a former US Open singles finalist in Flushing Meadows — is also a former French Open doubles finalist.
They’ll face their stiffest test on Tuesday, again in Louis Armstrong Stadium (their happy place), against the top-ranked doubles players in the world, Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova.
Hopefully Serena will be in the house to give them an extra boost. Though the way they’re playing, they might not need one.