The 2003 Australian Open final saw sister taking on sister, with Serena Williams locking horns with Venus Williams in a ferocious battle.

The younger Williams prevailed in Melbourne, taking the title after an exhausting 7–6(4), 3–6, 6–4 win.

When Serena Williams & Venus Williams paid tribute to their grandmother after Australian Open final (source: Getty)

With the victory, most importantly, Serena Williams completed the ‘Serena Slam’ — winning her fourth straight Major title but not in the same calendar year.

It was also the fourth straight Major in which Venus Williams ended as the runner-up, having lost all four to her sister.

At the on-court interview afterwards, Venus paid tribute to their grandmother Ora Price, an action in which Serena followed her soon after.

Speaking at her press conference, the 23-time Grand Slam champion revealed that their grandmother was a ‘really special’ presence in their lives.

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Serena fondly recalled several times in which she called her grandmother before matches to remind her to catch her in action on the TV.

With her being such a great pillar of motivation for her and Venus, the former World No. 1 felt it was fitting to dedicate her landmark victory to her grandma.

“We wanted to dedicate it to her because she was someone really special in our life. It was great getting to know her. I wish I could have known her a little better.

But I know that I used to always call her and say, “Oh, watch.” She never missed a match, or if we were on TV or anything. She never missed it. Yeah, we just wanted to dedicate it to her,” Serena Williams said.

As for whether Ora Price had managed to watch the sisters play in person, Serena Williams was unsure if she had been attendance in their matches after they turned pro. However, she was confident that she had seen them play plenty of times when they were both kids.

“She went to my mom’s charity last year. Venus played there. I’m sure she has. I mean, when we were younger, she was always around. I don’t know if it was really in person. I don’t know,” she said.

Serena Williams considered herself a Grand Slam winner even though it did not come in the same calendar year

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At the press conference, Serena Williams also spoke about her non-calendar year Grand Slam achievement.

Although it was not a Grand Slam by the strictest definition of the term (that a player had to win all four Majors in the same season), WIlliams believed that what she did was just as tough at the end of the day.

As a result, the American insisted that she would think of herself as a Grand Slam winner, regardless of whether the record books recognized the achievement or not.

“I guess you can say I am because I think in order to win four in a row, either way, you have to be pretty serious.

They’re back to back to back. It’s definitely very tough. So I guess I would say that I am. I think anyone would want to say that they were if they won it four in a row, whether it was in one year or not,” Williams said.

After her maiden Australian Open title in 2003, Williams won the Melbourne title six more times, the last of which came in 2017. Incidentally, she also defeated her sister Venus Williams in the final then.