In a throwback tennis weekend, Serena Williams defeated her sister Venus Williams in straight sets to win the Australian Open early Saturday morning. For sisters that first squared off in the event back in 1998, their meeting in the championship round 19 years later is equal parts improbable and a testament to each’s longstanding success.
In addition to the incredible nature of the matchup itself, the result was equally significant. By defeating her sister, Serena moved into first place all by herself with her 23rd major title, breaking the record she had previously shared with Steffi Graf.
After the match but before the medal ceremony, Serena slipped into a some more comfortable shoes to mark the occasion. When you are the greatest female tennis player of all time and in the conversation for greatest female athlete ever, you get to do what you want.
Serena Williams shows off a black/red Air JOrdan 1 x Air Flare PE with 23 lasered on the heel pic.twitter.com/M01Q7yZLf9
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) January 28, 2017
Serena changed into red/black Jordans provided by Nike for the trophy ceremony. "23" on the left (Slams), "7" on the right (#AusOpen titles)
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) January 28, 2017
Serena eventually hopped onto the SportsCenter set in Melbourne following her match and was presented with a surprise gift from one of her idols, Michael Jordan. Despite wearing those black and red Jordans after the match, the gift came as a complete surprise to Williams who received another pair of those same shoes, but this time in her favorite color, pink. And on top of it all, she even received a personal letter from the man himself.
In case you needed a reminder today, sports can indeed still be good.
