Although it seemed so, the attendees at the Margaret Court Arena were not seeing double on Thursday morning. In one of the semifinals of the junior women’s doubles draw, an unusual clash between sisters took place.
Two pairs, one of them twins, competed in this match;15-year-old Americans Annika and Kristina Penickova against 16-year-old and 14-year-old Czechs Alena and Jana Kovackova, respectively.
In addition, each pair decided to jump on the court with the same clothing, which made it difficult at times to know which tennis player was in charge of hitting the ball and scoring the point. Finally, the Americans Annika and Kristina Penickova won against the Czech Kovackova, 5-7, 6-1 and 11-9, and will play the final of the Grand Slam.
It should be remembered that the circuit has seen pairs of siblings who have gone down in history for their Grand Slam titles. One of them is the Bryan brothers, Mike and Bob, who marked an era playing together in doubles, winning 18 Grand Slam titles (six Australian Opens, two Roland Garros, four Wimbledon and six US Opens), as well as 124 ATP titles.
The Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, also shone as a pair, beyond Serena’s 23 Grand Slam titles. As a doubles duo, they won 23 WTA titles and 14 Grand Slam titles, including six at Wimbledon.