The bravado Serena Williams sometimes displays normally might get an athlete in trouble, at least in the court of public opinion. But Serena's play often backs up her words.
SI.com reports that during a press conference in Argentina where the sisters are participating in an exhibition event, Serena said, "We changed tennis."
"We brought passion and fashion wearing extravagant clothes. And also style, power as a new skin color as we are African-Americans. We improved tennis.
"I think that totally changed the dynamic of the game. I remember in particular Venus started wearing all these amazing outfits and I was so influenced by that. ... I definitely think we had a huge impact on tennis in that way. As well, of course, bringing such power into tennis, and bringing a new color."
Serena Williams is the owner of 17 Grand Slam championships. Venus has seven, and the two have paired up to win 13 doubles grand slams. Both have Olympic gold medals in singles and doubles.
Those statistics give Serena license to say how her family impacted the game.
"Being African-American, and playing successful tennis and winning Grand Slams, that hadn't been done in a long time," Serena said. "I think that got so much excitement involved in tennis as well."
Venus has fallen from the ranks of the top women's players in the world the last two years. In 2011, she revealed that she suffers from Sjogren's syndrome, which attacks the autoimmune system.
Her battle may have tempered her remarks from being as bold as Serena's, but she did talk about the source of her and her sister's vision about making an impact on the sport.
"I think that a lot of credit has to be given to my mom and my dad for changing the game that we played, really thinking about the moves we were doing to really change the game of women's tennis," she said.
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