Former World No.1 Serena Williams reckons her sister Venus Williams would have won 15 Grand Slam singles titles if they hadn’t played each other. Serena and Venus are regarded as the two best players in the women’s game and played a key role in taking the game to new heights.

While Serena ended her glorious career with 23 Majors, Venus won a total of seven Slams in her career. The two sisters played against each other on 31 occasions, with Serena having a 19-12 W-L record against her elder sister.

The two siblings played 16 times in Grand Slam singles (including 9 finals), with Serena having a 11-5 record against her sister. Serena led Venus by 7-2 in the Grand Slam finals.

Speaking at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit, Serena Williams said: “We had this rule that if we played against each other before the final, we had to win the title. I think Venus would have had a minimum of 15 Grand Slams if we didn’t play. I would have had 30.”

Serena said the close bond between her and Venus helped them achieve great things in their career.

“There was no separation at all. Looking back, I don’t know how we dealt with that,” she said. “We were so close, we grew up so close. My family was like, ‘No fighting, you girls are always going to be sisters and that’s that,’

“But we actually lived together until I got married, which wasn’t that long ago. We just always lived together. I think that helped our relationship.

“We had to figure out a way to work it out. We had to communicate, you know, we had to have those difficult conversations. I think we just, without even realising it, leaned into that. As long as I was winning.”