The US Open began in 1881 as the U.S. Championships, a relatively small event held at The Casino in Newport, R.I. Today it has grown into the biggest tennis tournament in the world, with a long, rich tradition of attracting the best players from around the world to perform on the world s greatest stage: the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City.As the last major of the calendar year, the US Open annually brings down the curtain on the Grand Slam season with some of the most unforgettable matches in tennis history.More than a few of those have been played by tennis most famous sister act, Serena and Venus Williams. Younger sister Serena struck first, claiming the Williams first major at the 1999 US Open. Older sister Venus followed suit less than a year later, breaking through at Wimbledon and then defeating the top two seeds to keep the US Open women s singles title in the family in 2000.The result of their triumphs was a jolt for tennis in the United States and for women"s tennis worldwide. Most prominently for American television viewers, the rise of the Williams sisters led CBS to move the 2001 US Open women"s final to prime time for the first time ever. This would be a match to remember with Serena and Venus facing each other for the first time in a Grand Slam final.