PARIS—Family matter had been high priority for Serena Williams the last two days. On Saturday night, following a fairly routine win over Julia Goerges, she’d started her post-match press conference with a polite request for brevity so she could get home to see her still-awake daughter, Alexis. On Sunday evening, just past 6:00 p.m., she stood inside Court 1 alongside her sister, Venus, the two engaged in a doubles match that they would lose, 6-0 in the third set.

The start of the working week now loomed, beginning with one of those rare matches set to capture the attention not just of longstanding tennis aficionados, but millions more across the planet. On Monday afternoon, third on Court Philippe Chatrier, Williams and Maria Sharapova will go toe-to-toe for the 22nd time.

Advertising

Lopsided in the record books, Maria vs. Serena is compelling as ever

Lopsided in the record books, Maria vs. Serena is compelling as ever

In sheer tennis terms, Williams’ 19-2 edge—both of Sharapova's wins coming in 2004—makes this The Rivalry That Isn’t. In the cultural sense, though, there is also something major at stake when these two play. They are both crossover icons. While still teenagers, each had emerged as the occasional tennis player known to the world on a first name basis. Each has been the highest paid female athlete in the world.

Given these mutually accumulated achievements, why not each be grateful for the millions tennis has brought one woman from the rough-and-tumble streets of Compton, Calif., and another who was born in the wake of a nuclear meltdown, just outside Chernobyl, Russia?

But tennis itself is a zero-sum game, the shape of the court itself compelling a certain brand of real estate conservation. Far beyond each of their balls-striking skills, tenacity is the X-factor that will earn Williams and Sharapova spots in the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Nature, straight from the womb? Nurture, in the form of demanding fathers Richard and Yuri?

Either way, it had made these two supreme warriors. Some players treat the racquet as a paintbrush. These two wield it like a bayonet, tennis a front line each has sought to conquer. And though both spent time Saturday deflecting notions of any animosity, quite likely neither would mind it for a minute if the other had never picked up a racquet.

WATCH: Serena comments on Sharapova's comments, in her autobiography

Advertising

Oddly enough, only four times have the two met in a Grand Slam final. Sharapova won but one, way back when she was 17 and beat Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final. But the stage of the tournament hardly matters when the two encounter one another.

“Serena always gets up to play Maria,” said Tennis Channel analyst Martina Navratilova. “She gets so psyched up. Maria not having beaten her in so long is a factor. That can make it really hard.  But if anyone can get over that, it’s Maria.

Great Britain’s Jo Durie, a former top tenner who reached the semis at Roland Garros in 1983 and works as a television commentator for Eurosport, believes the tipping point in this rivalry is that, “Maria doesn’t move well enough.”

Navratilova also believes that, “It’s going to come down to movement. If Maria can move well enough—and vice versa. Maria also has to serve well. She needs to hit the body serve and take control of the points.”

But again, it’s not just the racquets that will be speaking here. Such is the nature of these two, such is the dynamic of an individual sport, that as each has witnessed one another’s triumphs—on the court, in fashion, business, pop culture—another notion enters the picture too: There’s only room in the world for one tennis superstar.

As one ex-pro said about Williams-Sharapova XXII, “Two divas, bringing it on. What fun that will be.”

Advertising

Lopsided in the record books, Maria vs. Serena is compelling as ever

Lopsided in the record books, Maria vs. Serena is compelling as ever

—Tennis Channel Plus features up to 10 courts of live action from Roland Garros beginning Sunday, May 27 at 5:00am ET.

—Catch up and watch all your favorite stars anytime on-demand with Tennis Channel Plus.

—When you buy Tennis Channel Plus, your 12-month subscription gets you access to every ATP Masters 1000 tournament played outside the U.S., and every round through the finals of WTA Indian Wells, Miami and Cincinnati.

(The availability of matches or events on TC Plus is subject to change.)