The Battle of Wounded Knee Serena Joins Venus, Davenport on Sidelines When
she Retires v. Wozniak, who will meet Bartoli By Matthew
Cronin, TennisReporters.net
Serena's summer in now at risk.
Anne Marie Stark FROM THE BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC- In less
than a week, the entire US women’s Olympic singles line-up has gone
down with knee injuries. First went Lindsay Davenport, who first injured
her knee prior to Eastbourne, tried to get herself running again in World
TeamTennis last week and was unable to do so. The former No. 1 pulled
out of the Bank of the West Classic and next week’s EastWest Bank
Classic in LA.
Then went Wimbledon champ Venus Williams, who also competed in World TeamTennis
before she developed tendonitis in her right knee and pulled out of LA.
On Saturday, Serena went down, retiring behind 6-2, 3-1 against Canada’s
Aleksandra Wozniak in the semifinals of the Back of the West Classic due
to a left knee injury.
Wozniak will face Marion Bartoli, who wowed Ai Sugiyama
from inside the baseline 6-3, 6-3.
Serena played four World TeamTennis matches last week and hasn’t
pulled out of LA yet, but it’s hard to see her putting her Olympic
dreams at risk with her knee so badly swollen. She’s planning on
having an MRI.
“I haven’t made any decision yet, but my main goal is to be
at the Olympics,” she said. “My goal is stay healthy and I’ve
been doing pretty good this year and I’m going to do whatever it
takes to get back in that position.”
Serena has spoken all week of how being healthy is her main priority this
year because that’s the only way she can compete at any level. Sounds
simple, but given her long histories with injuries over the past five
years since her August 2003 surgery on her left knee, it’s a goal
that’s not easy to attain. That’s what she found out on Saturday,
when she woke up, went to practice and started to ache.
“After I got off it was really swollen so it thought I would have
to play really fast,” she said. “I’ve been playing a
lot of tennis so I think that’s what is. When you inflammation in
a joint it's hard to move. Wozniak kept moving me and I was hoping she
wouldn’t.”
Serena has been quite pleased with health this year and rightly so. Outside
of an odd back injury in May, she’s been in terrific shape and this
is the first time this year that her always-problematic knee has acted
up.
So why did she decide after reaching the Wimbledon final, to play (count
them) FOUR World TeamTennis matches, putting aside the $200,000 or so
she was said to earn for playing? Now she’s put the rest of her
summer at risk. She believes that the switch of surface from grass to
hard courts may have affected her and wouldn’t say the that the
extra week of play of TeamTennis was a bad decision, but it certainly
didn’t help.
“You know that risk going into it,” she said. “It is
what it is. I can’t blame that. I’ve been playing a lot of
tennis for me since Miami. Maybe I just need to take a day off.”
Or maybe three weeks.
Serena was slow from the start and took a medical timeout down 5-2 in
the first set, but it didn’t matter a hoot, as she was unable to
plant on the leg and finally gave up. A title that very well could have
been hers was gone and she was quite disappointed.
“I expected to win this tournament and have a strong start [to the
hard court season],” Williams said. My goal was to win here and
I think I would have done it otherwise.”
MalTamWozniak
stayed cool under pressure.Pushing
Pain
Serena was definitive in saying that that the swelling in her knee is
not in the same locale where she had surgery in the summer of ‘03.
She’s here with her trainer, Kerri Brooks, whom she says is conservative
when it comes to pushing through pain. That’s a good thing, too.
Serena may show up in LA (Carson) to do media roundtables on Monday, but
given how much emphasis she’s putting into saving her year and winning
either an Olympic gold or the US Open, she might have to lock her whole
team in a closet before they let her play next week. The risk of further
aggravating the injury is too great.
Major props to Wozniak though, who didn’t come on the court nervous
(winning three matches in qualies and three in the main draw are great
for the nerves) and who continued to play deep and consistent even after
Serena called for the medial timeout. Outwardly, the Canadian doesn’t
sound that tough, but she’s showed an inner strength this week that
some didn’t think she had.
“I knew I was facing a big player, but I wanted to focus on me and
my game and not how many people there are and get nervous,” she
said. “I had no emotions. I said I’ll do my best with however
I feel. But now I’m happy with reaching the final. Today was a rare
day when I didn’t feel emotions.”
It will be the No. 84-ranked player’s first appearance in a Tier
II final and she’s soon to hit the top 60, and maybe the top 50.
“It’s my biggest final and I’m really happy the way
I’ve been playing because coming up from the qualifying it's not
easy because it’s a lot of matches in one week.”
Wozniak arrived here nine days ago to play the qualies and dropped a set
to Angela Haynes in the first round. Haynes is also from Southeast LA,
but her resume is a lot shorter than Serena’s.
“She’s probably thinking, ‘I guess I didn’t lose
to a bad player,” Wozniak said.
The sixth-seeded Frenchwoman Bartoli is in fine form, knocking out Anna
Chakvetadze in the quarters and then Sugiyama, who had beaten her in all
five previous occasion by playing faster and way more consistent.
“I played really well, but she gave me a hard time,” said
Bartoli. “The last time I played her I wasn’t at the same
level. I wasn’t moving as fast, not serving the same way, I was
making more unforced errors and not hitting as hard. Everything is improved
now.”
Bartoli has always been a feared returner, but her serve has been less
effective and against Sugiyama, she came up with huge blasts whenever
her back was up against the wall. Plus, her conditioning is improved and
she’s a headier player.
“I kept my composure and came back with some great serves when I
needed to. I’ve improved my serve in the big occasions,” said
the 23-year-old.
Now she’ll go for her first Tier II title and this time she’ll
enter a significant final as the favorite.
It means something right," she said with a chuckle. Last year I was
speaking to you after I lost to someone (Lilia Osterloh) outside of the
top 100 and I was pretty depressed. This year I didn’t’ make
the final of Wimbledon but I made the final here. next year maybe I will
be in the final of Wimbledon and in the final here.”
