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ONE MORE VICTORY EACH
MAKES SISTERS NO. 1 AND 2
The sisters act like world
beaters
By
Alix Ramsay
Special to tennisreporters.net
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Fred
Mullane
Camerawork USA, Inc.
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FROM ROLAND GARROS –
We begin with a question: How many
tennis players does it take to win a Grand Slam singles title? Last
year it took three as the Good Goran, the Crazy Goran and the Emergency
911 Goran clubbed together to claim the Wimbledon trophy for the
Ivanisevic family mantle piece.
This year the Williams sisters
are working on the basis that four should be enough to win the French
Open silverware but, just in case, they have a couple in reserve.
A couple of weeks in Paris
seem to have affected Venus and Serena deeply. Clay is supposed
to be the surface that will reveal their every weakness, will frustrate
them to the point of distraction and, ultimately, will give the
opposition a fighting chance.
The only flaw in this otherwise
splendid theory is that neither Venus nor Serena have made any concessions
to the surface. In the event that hitting the ball for all they
are worth does not bring them the point, they hit it a little harder
still. That neatly eliminates the complicated business of running
and sliding on the red dirt; if you belt the ball that hard, it
is never coming back so stay where you are.
NOT VENUS, BUT 'VAY-NOOSE'
At the same time, both women have
made their ambitions clear: They are here to win. Venus has even
adopted a French persona for the duration, turning into "Vay-noose"
the elusive as she tries to win her fifth major title. She is a
little quieter than the American version, a little more circumspect.
"You can't talk to her
that much," Venus said of 'Vay-noose', "because she's
so serious and hardly ever leaves her hotel room, only to eat. If
she can, she'll have her food brought to her. She just reads books.
Concentrates. You can't get her to smile that much. That's 'Vay-noose'."
She even thought that her
sister had a French side, too, becoming a little more "Say-ray-nah"
than the straightforward Serena as the fortnight wore on. Serena,
not known for her poetic flights of fancy, was keeping quiet.
It is all working out just
as Richard Williams would like it. His two daughters are on a collision
course for the final and, should they get there, Venus will sit
at No. 1 and Serena at No. 2 in the world, regardless of who wins
the family argument on Saturday. They are following his career plan
to the letter.
'SAY-RAY-NAH' HAS LOST
A SET!
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Fred
Mullane
Camerawork USA, Inc.
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Apart from Serena's minor
hiccup against Vera Zvonareva on Sunday – she dropped a set,
careless girl – both women have been scything through the draw
with clinical efficiency. In the quarterfinals they breezed through
with Venus shredding Monica Seles 6-4, 6-3 and Serena pummeling
Mary Pierce 6-1, 6-1.
It was not a sight for the
faint hearted as all thoughts of French sophistication were thrown
aside. This was not "Vay-noose" and "Say-ray-nah"
but Spiderwoman and Mike Tyson's scarier sister going for the jugular.
There are more alter egos knocking around this tournament than you
could shake a stick at.
The crowd tried to do its
bit, cheering Seles and Pierce as much as they could but it was
never going to help. In fact, when Pierce tried a drop shot, pulled
it off and got a thunderous ovation, it merely served to annoy Serena
more. From that point on she tried to flatten the ball every time
she saw it. It is never wise to make Serena angry, not if you want
to walk from the stadium unaided.
Pierce soon realized the error
of her ways and went quickly and quietly, even if she did leave
with the applause ringing in her ears. The French have learned to
love Mary and that is all that matters to her now.
Venus has, on paper, the easier
passage to the final, taking on Clarisa Fernandez while Serena has
to overcome the defending champion, one Jennifer Capriati. Fernandez
had a tense struggle against Paola Suarez before winning 2-6, 7-6,
6-1 but is unlikely to be any more than cannon-fodder for the taller
of the two Williams sisters.
As for Serena, there is much
riding on her semifinal. She must beat Capriati to claim that elusive
No. 2 slot in the rankings and tuck in neatly behind her sister
at the top. And if Capriati suffers the same sort of mental lapse
as she did yesterday against Jelena Dokic, dropping the middle set
before winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, Serena might just get her promotion.
Alix
Ramsay has been covering tennis for British national newspapers
for the past 12 years. She was tennis correspondent of The Times
for three years.
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