Venus and Serena Williams prepare for a Wimbledon Sister Showdown

Serena, attired in pink, arrived first at Aorangi Park on Saturday morning. Her coach and perhaps boyfriend, Patrick Mouratoglou, dropped their bags on practice court No. 9 and started chatting. 

Venus, in purple, showed up 10 minutes later with David Witt, her coach, and they began hitting immediately on adjacent practice court No. 8.

It has been this way for 17 years, since Serena joined her sister at Wimbledon in 1998. The Williamses still practice side-by-side – same place, same time slot – though it is now all business and less of a family affair. The father, Richard, no longer comes to these events and is no longer a liaison between courts. He has nothing to do with their preparation now. The mother, Oracene, doesn’t often supervise. The sisters conduct their own personal and tennis lives. Their decision to skip doubles at this tournament was yet another indication they are not fused at the hip, in life or on the tour.

“There’s a little tension,” said Witt, after the practice session. “The sisters are fine, but as a coach you don’t want to be disrespectful.”

There is the feeling around the All-England Club that Serena could easily lose this fourth-round match Monday against her older, fading sister. Venus is playing well, Serena has drained her reservoir of fury, and perhaps there is too much empathy involved in this match.

You only had to watch Serena will her way to victory on Friday against the British challenger, Heather Watson, to understand just how much of Serena’s winning ways are based on sheer, mad resolve. She was playing lousy tennis for much of that match, fell behind by two breakpoints in the third set, yet would not let go. The more her forehand returns deteriorated, the fiercer she grew. She fought Watson and the crowd to the very last breath.

Such ferocity won’t happen against Venus. Serena will need to win this match with tennis, not with anger. There is too much mutual respect involved to dredge up the inner fire that scorched Watson. This next match may well be more about tennis, less about psychic energy.

“It’s a good question,” Mouratoglou said. “Serena doesn’t have the same aggression toward her sister, but she might become angry at herself. They both need that aggression. They have to find it.”

There is, in fact, much to like and admire about Venus, the five-time Wimbledon champ who has battled the symptoms of Sjogren’s Syndrome and continues to play at such a high level at age 35. Serena, more than anyone, appreciates her sister’s legacy.

“She is a pioneer for not only tennis, but for women's rights, as well,” Serena said. “Not only the Grand Slam titles she has, but she’s done so much for this sport. It’s just been amazing for me to follow in her footsteps in terms of getting equal prize money here, just stepping up to the plate and being that person.”

There remains the question, however, whether Venus can play an entire tournament here before fatigue undoes her campaign. She has defeated Serena 11 of 25 times in their tennis careers, and may well win again on Monday. But a

Wimbledon title remains very unlikely for the older sister, because of an impossible draw.

In the next round, Venus would likely have to defeat Victoria Azarenka, who has beaten Williams twice already this year; then Maria Sharapova, who can’t handle Serena yet has won the last two meetings against Venus.

So this is a seemingly hopeless quest for the older sister. Azarenka and Sharapova, no doubt, will be rooting quietly for Venus.

Back at the Aorangi practice area Saturday, Serena was done first and walked out behind Venus, still drilling serves. The two sisters did not look at each other, did not acknowledge each other. They didn’t giggle, the way they once always did.

They are grown up, a long way from Compton, and these are difficult days. Serena says she’ll be rooting for Venus. Venus says she’ll be rooting for Serena. They’ll go out and play for the 26th time, then figure it out all over again.

“I don’t know how they do it,” CoCo Vandeweghe marveled. “I know when my sister just borrowed something from my closet and got a stain on it, I wanted to wring her neck.”