NEW YORK -- Once and for all, everybody realizes that for the foreseeable future Serena Williams is better than her sister Venus by a pretty good margin.

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	Shriver Former WTA Tour pro Pam Shriver is providing ESPN.com with in-depth analysis throughout the U.S. Open. Shriver, a tennis analyst for ESPN, was ranked as high as No. 3 in singles play. She won 21 singles and 112 doubles titles, including 22 Grand Slam titles.

It's almost like Serena has distanced herself from Venus in an even bigger way. Serena is in rarified air with three Grand Slam titles in a row.

I kind of wonder if she thinks about running for the drop shot in Sydney earlier this year when she sprained her ankle playing Meghann Shaughnessy. If she'll look back and wonder what would have happened if she had played the Australian Open. To go undefeated in a season in the majors is extraordinary.

Venus, though, has to sit down and figure out what she needs to do to win again. Her serve is not holding up as well when it's on the line. She needs to figure out how to get the mechanics a little better, particularly on the second serve. Everything else is reasonably close to Serena, but there's a gap on the serve.

The one shot that clearly separates Serena from Venus is the serve. Serena is the best server I've seen since Steffi Graf was serving her best. Serena's second serve is strong, and sometimes it's almost as important as the first. She seems to be happy serving to all the corners; she doesn't have a favorite. It's a fantastic motion that stands up well under pressure.

Serena said on ESPN at the year-end championships in Munich last season that she wanted to be the No. 1 player in 2002. She has systematically gone about it in a most consistent way. Mentally and physically, she's become this comprehensive package that every talented player looks to be but can't quite achieve. Very rarely can you put it all together.

Now the question comes in, can she keep it going more than a year? That will be one of the big questions going into 2003. Can she physically maintain this kind of play? She's had quite a few injuries. Does she have the desire? She has a lot of interests with design and acting.

Serena enjoys everything that comes from the spotlight more than Venus. Venus keeps more to herself and doesn't want the outside world interfering in her game; Serena is more, "Yeah, bring it on." Over time that can drain you, so we'll see how she holds up.

Three majors in a year -- that's pretty impressive -- we'll see if she can head into really rarified air, like Monica Seles' nine Grand Slams. Usually in women's tennis when one woman clicks in, it's for more than one or two years, so it's Serena's chance to see if she can dominate over time.

And Venus has got to do some pretty severe soul searching to figure out what's gone wrong. Serena is improving, why is Venus not improving in these matchups? Venus said she thinks she shouldn't lose to anyone four times in a row. Serena has been playing better, but there's a bit of an edge psychologically, as well. Venus has got to figure this out between the time of the U.S. Open and the start of next year. Venus should come to the net more -- one of the great points of the final was her backhand volley save on match point -- she's got to get her serve shored up and needs to figure out how to get on top of everybody in her head. She's lost the edge as far as her sister is concerned.