It is an extraordinary achievement, especially as Serena is 28 and Venus 29, which is uncomfortably close to 30 for female tennis players; in the women's game, 25 is middle-aged, and a mid-life crisis is not unknown at 23. At the combined age of 57, they are providing a bit of tennis retro, taking us back to the days when every grand slam began with one at the top of the draw, the other at the bottom, and the prospect of another all-Williams final.
The non-Williams family ranking list begins at three, with Caroline Wozniacki, a teenager from Denmark. The Williamses have got where they are today, in those top two spots, by not over-playing, by being selective about their tournaments, and by having interests outside whacking a fluffy yellow ball over a net.
Over the coming weeks, expect to hear Serena talking about cuticles and polish, as she has been learning how to become a technician in a nail bar. Though Serena has hardly played since she won her twelfth grand slam title at the Australian Open, only returning from her knee injury to play the clay-court tournaments in Rome and Madrid, she has accumulated enough points over the last 12 months to be where she is.
Sometimes, it feels as though tennis regards Venus as a one-tournament-a-year woman, as if she only bothers trying at Wimbledon. But, she has produced some decent results since her quarter-final defeat in Melbourne, including winning cement-court titles in Dubai and Acapulco, finishing as the runner-up on the hard courts of Miami, and reaching last Sunday's final on the red clay of Madrid's Caja Magica.
"We feel like we deserve to be here," said Serena. "We've worked so hard, had ups and downs, and all sorts of problems and everything, so to be back is cool." Of all the slams, the French Open has seen the least of the Williams family. Neither of the sisters is a natural clay-court player, with the granules nullifying some of the power of their serves and groundstrokes.
Though Serena has won five Australian Open titles, and has been the Wimbledon champion three times, and also won her home slam, the US Open, on three occasions, she has held the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen just once, in 2002, and she hasn't featured in another French Open final since. That 2002 final, an all-Williams match for the title, was also the only time that Venus has reached the second Saturday of the Paris fortnight.
The Williams girls will be sharing an apartment during the tournament; as the older sister, Venus has taken the biggest bedroom.
One problem for Serena, who opens against Switzerland's Stefanie Voegele, is that she is projected to play the returning Justine Henin in the quarter-finals. Henin, who has come out of retirement, and is playing in Paris for the first time since she won her fourth French Open title in 2007, will start against a Bulgarian, Tsvetana Pironkova. Maria Sharapova, who was playing in the Strasbourg final on Saturday, is also in that quarter of the draw. Like her sister, Venus has been drawn in the first round against a Swiss, in her case Patty Schnyder.
Svetlana Kuznetsova, who has been about as anonymous as a defending champion could be, opens against Romania's Sorana Cirstea. Two of the three British women have rough draws, with Elena Baltacha to play Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, the eighth seed, and Anne Keothavong to meet Italy's Flavia Pennetta, the No 14 seed. Katie O'Brien has a more winnable match opposite America's Jill Craybas.
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