Serena Williams and Venus Williams are closer than ever — even if one of them is no longer competing on the tennis court. Serena, 43, admitted that she and Venus, 44, “are still codependent” on each other in her Glamour Women of the Year 2024 cover story, published on Monday, September 30. “Some things never change,” she stated.
“I don’t even want to not be codependent with her. I love her. I don’t want our lives to ever be separate.
” Noting that the sport of tennis is “so lonely,” Serena said competing with Venus for several years together helped them form a strong bond. “You’re on the road for 10 or 11 months out of the year. You really rely on having someone else out there.
And Venus was there, and who else was going to relate to me?” she told the outlet. “We were successful, and we were Black. We leaned on each other.
We lived together. We lived together until a year before I had Olympia, so literally our whole lives.” Both sisters have become icons in the tennis world, going from being coached by their parents — Richard Williams and Oracene Price — to winning multiple Grand Slam titles and Olympic medals.
While Venus continues to compete professionally, Serena announced her retirement from tennis in August 2022. Her retirement news came less than one year before she revealed she was pregnant with her and her husband Alexis Ohanian ’s second child at the 2023 Met Gala. She gave birth to the couple’s daughter Adira, now 13 months, in.