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WIMBLEDON, DAY 13, WOMEN'S FINAL PREVIEW
Venus aims to realign rivalry with Serena
By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
Susan and Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA, Inc. |
FROM WIMBLEDON – A few moments after her courageous 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory over Kim Clijsters in the Wimbledon semis, Venus Williams was asked why she felt she had a chance to knock off her sister and defending champion Serena in Saturday's final. Venus' curt reply?
"Because I'd like to believe I'm a better player."
She sure would love to believe that, but the 23-year-old has not been in the past year-and-a-half and Serena has taken their last five matches, dropping only one set in the process. Venus mentioned that none of those losses have been blow outs, which is true, but it was only at the '03 Australian Open where Venus had some really chances in her 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4 loss to Serena. But she choked late and, on Saturday, needs to rediscover the elder sibling's psychological edge over the fierce Serena.
But that's going to be tough, because Serena showed in her 6-3, 6-2 thrashing of Justine Henin-Hardenne that she is just as mean and directed as she was back in Australia. She left the emotionally wavering side of herself that fell to Henin-Hardenne at Roland Garros and is firing on all cylinders.
Venus re-injured her abdominal muscle against Clijsters and will only be able to get in a couple, light, non-serving workouts before she strides on court Saturday. Serena might be sympathetic off-court and gave Venus a nice, loving pep talk during the rain break in Venus' match against Clijsters, when her older sis felt she couldn't go on anymore. But as Venus said, once they get on court on Saturday, Serena not going to care whether Venus' guts are spilling out of a gaping wound. She's still going to go for the kill.
"If I'm lame and injured, that's not her problem, really," Venus said. "It's better for her. I don't see my opponent across the net. I just see the ball. I can't control what they are doing, only what I'm doing on my side. If they're injured, I hope it doesn't become something horrible, but there's nothing I can do about it. That's probably how she feels."
SERENA: VENUS IS PLAYING GREAT
Serena was nice enough to say that Venus is playing the best tennis of anyone in the tournament and Serena is certainly right in observing that Venus is playing her best tennis since January. She was extremely focused in coming through a tough draw that including Nadia Petrova, Vera Zvonareva, Lindsay Davenport and Clijsters. But Serena has no cakewalk either and stung seeds Laura Granville, Elena Dementieva, Jennifer Capriati and Henin-Hardenne. Serena says she has to raise her level, but it can't get much higher than she showed against Henin-Hardenne.
Serena has been the paragon of mental toughness, she's been technically sound everywhere except for her volleys and she's absolutely owned all the cute angles of the court with her sharp groundstrokes, She's been serving with precision and heat and as always, returning like a tigresses.
"When I see Venus playing well, I want to do better and stay on top," Serena said. "She's doing all the things she should do and I've started practicing harder, so it motivates me."
Venus is running like the wind and crushing her groundstrokes. She's been deadly in crosscourt rallies and has her trademark down the line backhand working like clockwork. She's extremely hungry to win her first Grand Slam title since the '01 US Open. And why not … Serena now has five major titles and Venus has only four. Moreover, Serena has won their last four Grand Slam finals.
It's a sibling rivalry that's become a tennis rivalry and has all the makings of becoming a long, head-to-head clash that historians will talk about for decades, just like they do Chris Evert vs. Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf vs. Monica Seles.
"We're capable of having that kind of rivalry," said Serena, who owns a 6-5 record against her sister. "We're building towards that. … At some point, Chris beat Martina and then Martina beat Chris many times. It's just Venus getting used to my game."
It's not easy to get used to the little Williams' game, because finding holes in it is harder than locating Serena's bellybutton ring in her mountain of golden jewelry. Venus chances are largely dictated by how she plays and if her stomach is feeling okay, she will have to be very aggressive with both her first and second serves, charge into net as much as possible and take big risks with her returns. She will need to impose herself early and often and not get in stuck in a rut of playing defensive yellowball, even though she's very accomplished at it.
Whether Venus can bring out her A-plus game will be the biggest mental battle that she'll face. As she said last year before she went out and lost to Serena in the US Open final, it's the brain that matters.
"It's all in the mind," said Venus. "It's not really anything physical anymore. Mentally, I just have to be there."
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