Battle of the Sexes: When Serena & Venus were outplayed by a World No. 203 male player
Serena and Venus Williams, the two giants in tennis have achieved so much in their illustrious careers. Serena has already won 23 Grand Slam titles and it won’t be a surprise if she adds up a few more to her tally. On the other hand, Venus Williams has won 7 singles titles, as many as 16 doubles Grand Slam titles, and 5 Olympic medals out of which 4 were Gold which is enough to prove that she has been nothing short of sensational.
Needless to say, the two sisters have inspired innumerable young athletes around the world. However, the journey to the top wasn’t as easy as many might think. The two sisters committed a few mistakes and learned important lessons on their way to greatness.
“Gosh, I don’t remember that at all”: Serena Williams on the game against Karsten Braasch
Today we are going to talk about the time that reignited the ‘men versus women’ debate in tennis. Back in 1998 when the Australian Open was underway, Serena and Venus were extremely confident in their abilities. So much so that they even marched into the men’s ATP office to announce that they were ready to beat anyone ranked around the Top 200.
German tennis star Karsten Braasch, who was ranked 203rd at that point happily accepted the challenge. Braasch was also extremely confident in his abilities. The game was about to start and it was decided that both, Serena and Venus, will face Braasch in one set each.
According to USA Today, Braasch would smoke cigarettes and have beer during the changeovers. He looked least bothered about the outcome of the game as he was absolutely sure that he will emerge victoriously. Braasch defeated Serena in the first set 6-1, and then defeated Venus 6-2 in the next set.
Talking about the incident after as many as 19 years, Serena had stated, “I forgot about that, actually, Gosh, I don’t remember that at all. Gosh, that was forever ago. I don’t remember what year it was.”
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