NEW YORK -- You could cut the anticipation at the National Tennis Center with a sledgehammer.

Q: What do you think the All-Williams final does for the sport?

Jennifer Capriati: "I have no idea."

Q: Is there anything that would make you like to see the match?

Martina Hingis: "I don't really see it."

Ah, but if those losers weren't supremely excited, there was always Els (No relation to Ernie) Callens, a Belgian girl who didn't waffle while partnering the Williams' buddy, Chandra Rubin, through three rounds of the women's doubles. Then again, how in the wonderful world of sibling rivalry could Callens get overly excited, either -- about the first U.S. Open women's final in prime time, the first Grand Slam championship between sisters in more than a century, this ultimate Williams Family Circus -- when Callens/ Rubin had delivered a thorough whipping to Venus and Serena in the second round?

In truth, few were the women -- or any lesser species -- who were not absolutely enthralled by the epic proportions and social significance of Saturday night when two young African-American girls walked onto the green asphalt of the Flushing, N.Y., stadium named for the classic sportsman and role model for not merely their race but everybody else's: Arthur Ashe. And walked off, showing everybody that Sisterly Love is much more important than any old tennis match -- even if it means shining on the championship of not only your family but your country.

The big problem with these Sis Will reunions is that they're so gosh-darn painful for both girls. Drive up all the limousines, roll out all the red carpets, comp every half-bottom celebrity you can think of -- Matthew Modine? Rosie Perez? Ashford and Simpson? (Living or Dead?) Give me a break! -- what this matchup needs is a real match. But, again, Baby Sis simply wasn't ready. Okay, okay. Serena, who at 19 is one year, three months and nine days younger than Venus, 21, did beat her older, taller and less blonder, best friend in '99, picking up something like the largest check in women's tennis history ($900,000) in something called the Grand Slam Cup played somewhere in Europe where somebody may have cared. But all that did was afford the confessed 'Shopaholic" some extra change so as to add to her fabulously snug wardrobe.

This night, instead, unfolded with disappointing similarity to Venus' predictably easy victories against Serena on much bigger occasions -- '99 Miami when the older girl obviously carried her sister to a third set before winning the final, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4; Wimbledon 2000, when after absolutely dominating the tournament to the semifinals, Serena shockingly reversed form and blatantly choked to lose, 6-2, 7-6; and to a lesser degree, Indian Wells, Calif., earlier this year when the Happening didn't even happen because Venus defaulted six minutes before the championship round with an alleged leg injury that cynics diagnosed much more accurately as Can-Of-Whup-Avoidance.

That's the incident that provoked ugly crowd resentment, massive booing of Serena when she won the tournament the next day and alleged "N"-bombs hurled at the Williams' father, Richard. (Richard, of course, did the alleging.)

In New York, however, "it's amazing how many Caucasians were pulling for them," Daddy Weirdest said, characteristically dealing from his race deck, following Venus' and Serena's twin annihilations of Capriati and Hingis in the semifinals. In those matches the sisters combined for 61 outright winners to their opponents' nine, disposing of the No. 1 and 2 ranked players in the world with frightening ease, leaving both not only catty but semi-sobbing in the locker room.

Nonetheless, when Serena turned up nerves-addled and wind-unaided in the Open final -- "I was fighting the wind, fighting Venus, fighting myself, too many fights out there," she said -- potential magic turned into flat-out massacre. Even Venus looked pained while mowing down Serena, 6-2, 6-4, over a horrid 69 minutes in a late summer re-run of Saturday Night Dead.

"We both understand when we walk out on the court, if (we're) not ready to compete, (we) should go on home," Venus said. In which case, Serena probably should have hopped a charter jet back to Florida instead of spending Saturday "lunching, practicing, taking a nap, getting ready together," according to Venus. "But we didn't nap in the same bed," said Serena.

"I think what played a factor is I've played in five Grand Slam finals now," said Venus -- who's now consolidated both her Wimbledon and Open victories in 2000 by repeating back to back. "I'm more experienced. I understand how to play more: putting the ball where I want it to be, serving big, drawing an error. But I told Serena: Years from now we'll look back and laugh at all this stuff."

Neither sister was even grinning when Serena started the match spraying balls practically to Wall Street -- Donald Trump, by the way, made the "USTA Celebrity List" but then so did Biff Henderson. (Yeah, Letterman's Stagehand, for godsakes); after Serena double-faulted to lose serve for the second time to 2-5; after Venus won seven straight games for a 6-2, 2-0 lead. Venus was grim-faced, worried, obviously even sad -- as the huge screen in the stadium panned to Candice Bergen ... Mary Tyler Moore ... Vanessa Williams ... Helen Hunt. (Now we're talkin' CELEBS!)

Speaking of which, suddenly the match became a true, uh, Twister -- as Venus began whacking balls to the backstops and into the bottom of the net. Big (caring, loving, protecting) Sis was so obviously giving Serena points and ultimately games, even CBS could not ignore it. "This seems to come out of nowhere. (Venus) was winning so routinely," said John McEnroe, who knows a thing or two about extending exhibition matches to third sets. "It seems like Venus has really dropped her form when she seemed on a straight sets path to the championship," said Mary Carillo. "This is why people get suspicious."

No, really? Who you calling "people," Mar?

After the second set reached 4-all -- Little Sis accepting the kindness of nonstrangers, Big Sis permitting Serena some semblance of respectability -- Venus resumed painting the corners like her kindred Williams, Sherwin. She closed out the match winning eight of the last 10 points, unleashing one vicious 120 mph serve with a pained expression that virtually screamed: "This is going to hurt me more than you."

At the net, Venus embraced her sister and told her she loved her. "Good things, bad things," the champion announced to the now subdued crowd of 23,023, which undoubtedly recognized a psychological trauma as only a New York audience could. "I always want Serena to win ... I have to take care of her," Venus gurgled on, patronizing her sister to such an extent Serena had to tug on her sleeve asking her to "stop ... stop."

"She told me she didn't feel like she really won," Serena said later. "I told her: 'Well, you won. Take it. It's your win, your victory ... Don't feel that way because, honestly, there's not enough time in one's life. Time happens so fast."

Well, okay. But there's one terrific thing about the Tennis Family Williams. Sisters like this not only don't happen fast, they hardly ever happen at all. And they both really do have a whole lot of time left.

Curry Kirkpatrick is covering the U.S. Open for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at curry.kirkpatrick@espnmag.com.