Williams sisters Serena and Venus have been a breath of fresh air at the Rome Open, but more so for their off-court rather than their on-court antics.
The pair remained on course for a semi-final meeting today by winning their third-round encounters on Wednesday.
World No. 1 Serena beat German Andrea Petkovic 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 and will face Maria Kirilenko in the last eight, while Venus disposed of 16th seed Shahar Peer 6-3, 6-4 and faces seventh-seed Jelena Jankovic next.
Their on-court success is nothing new, but the most famous tennis sisters of all time have long had a reputation for being sultry and unresponsive with reporters in post-match press conferences.
Not in Rome, though, where they seem relaxed and even keen to enjoy themselves.
Serena, for one, joked about what she had given up in order to come to Rome and begin her French Open preparations.
“Right now, I was supposed to be at the Met Ball in New York with Anna Wintour [editor in chief of Vogue USA] and Oprah Winfrey,” she said.
“I was supposed to be there. I had a fabulous dress or gown that I was going to wear. After that I was going to go to the Time 100 as I was chosen as one of the 100 most influential people last year. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I said: ‘I’m going to try to play Rome’ and so I skipped Oprah and Anna Wintour and it hurts me,” Serena said.
“It hurt my soul because I really wanted to be there, but this is my career and I really needed the extra match, but I’m very sad,” she said.
Having previously described herself as cheeky in a pre-tournament press conference, this time she promised to be “sexy” in her next match.
When told how Serena was describing herself, Venus was not to be outdone.
“Maybe you should ask her how to describe me seeing as she seems to be having these unbelievable press conferences,” she said. “Maybe I should come along to the next one. I don’t know, I think I’m funny and cool.”
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