Venus and Serena Williams

Photographs courtesy of Telisa Spain and John (ebay seller oxy–moron)

Name: American Champions Venus and Serena Williams

Made by and When: Play Along, 2000 (released in 2001)

Material: Vinyl

Height: 11-1/2 inches

Hair/Eyes/Mouth: Rooted hair with multiple braids/painted brown eyes/smiling mouths with painted teeth

Clothes: Venus: Tennis dress has white halter straps, a red bodice trimmed in white, and a blue skirt trimmed in white at the hem. Serena: Yellow tennis dress trimmed in white at the shoulders and sides. Accessories for each include tennis shoes, a water bottle, a package of three tennis balls, a sun visor, a tennis bag, and a certificate of authenticity.

Other: The back of Venus’s box includes a picture of Venus Williams holding up the women’s Wimbledon trophy. Serena and her sister, Venus, are on the back of Serena’s box. A message from both tennis phenoms is on the lower portion of the back of their boxes. (A Venus and Serena Grand Slam Champions two-doll set was sold separately by Play Along with the same year 2000 box date.)

Coached by their father when they were as young as three, both women have won the Grand Slam multiple times with Serena Williams having more wins than her sister. In the sport of tennis, both women have achieved many firsts.  “They became the first two players, female or male, to play in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals from the 2002 French Open to the 2003 Australian Open; Serena famously won all four to complete the first of two ‘Serena Slams’. Wikipedia.

I always like to win. But I’m the big sister. I want to make sure she has everything, even if I don’t have anything. It’s hard. I love her too much. That’s what counts.—Venus Williams

https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/venus-williams-quotes

Family’s first, and that’s what matters most. We realize that our love goes deeper than the tennis game. —Serena Williams

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/serena_williams_183398

Photographs of the box backs are courtesy of John (eBay seller oxy–moron); all others are courtesy of Telisa Spain.

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Published by DeeBeeGee

Doll collector, historian, co-founder of the first e-zine devoted to collecting black dolls; author of black-doll reference books, doll blogs, and doll magazine articles.

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