Olympics: Williams sisters shocked in first round

The American sisters won the women’s doubles event at the 2000, 2008 and 2012 Olympics and were unbeaten after 16 matches at the Games, but their winning streak was snapped when they lost 6-3, 6-4 to the Czech pair of Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova in the opening round in Rio.

The Czech pair overthrew the U.S. hegemony who won three gold medals together in London 2012, Beijing 2008 and Sydney 2000. Strycova was a late replacement for Karolina Pliskova, who withdrew from the tournament.

Both sisters hold four gold medals, making them the most successful Olympic tennis players of all time, and they are rare among their peers in how much they prioritise the Games. Venus, meanwhile, now has two first-round exits at the Rio Olympics, because she was beaten in singles on Saturday night. “We played awful and it showed in the result”.

This was Serena’s second match of the day: She won her first-rounder in singles earlier Sunday.

Serena is the defending champion in singles while Venus was the title victor in Sydney 16 years ago. They have also won 14 women’s doubles grand slam titles, to go along with a combined tally of 29 major singles crowns.

“It was what it was”, Serena said. “We had a chance to compete for our country and we did the best that we can”.

“I wasn’t playing the way I needed to play”, Serena said. “We had a blast out there”, Serena, 34, told reporters.