Serena Williams Reinjures Knee, Pulls From WTA San Diego

Posted on July 31, 2004

Serena Williams withdrew from the WTA stop in San Diego on Friday with swelling in her left knee, the same knee she had surgically repaired a year ago. Serena was scheduled to face No. 12 seed Vera "Warren" Zvonareva of Russia in the quarterfinals.

Serena said her knee became agitated during her third-round win over Elena Bovina.

"I said, 'Ooh, that really hurts,'" Serena said. "I figured it would go away. I really just stopped running the rest of the match. I must have tweaked it somewhere down the line."

Serena said she was up until 2 a.m. Friday receiving treatment on the knee. "I was trying to get it calmed down," she said.

Serena also alluded to some problems with WTA officials when asked why she hasn't pulled from next week's event in Montreal.

"I think the WTA would hate if I answered honestly," Serena said, alluding to being fined by the WTA. "It's hard because you got these things going on and if you don't play, then things can happen. It's almost as if people don't care that you're really hurt or not. Everything is about making the dollar. I'm trying to make a dollar. That's what it's all about these days."

Next week's Montreal field is already a weak one for a Tier I event, and the WTA seems intent on keeping Serena in the mix, bad knee or not.

"Serena is scheduled to have an MRI scan later on Friday but she still expects to play in Montreal next week," said a WTA spokesperson. Another p.r. coup for the WTA in the making here.

Joining Warren Zvon-areva in the semifinals Friday were fellow Russians (5)Elena Dementieva (d. Amy "Down Goes" Frazier), (3)Anastasia Myskina (d. countrywoman (6)Sharapova), and American (4)Lindsay Davenport (d. (8)Sugiyama) who is shooting for her third straight title on the U.S. summer circuit.

Today's semifinals line up as (3)Myskina vs. (12)Zvonareva in an all-Russian (Zvon leads career meetings 1-0), (4)Davenport vs. (5)Dementieva (Davenport leads meetings 8-4), and in doubles Navratilova/Raymond vs. Black/Stubbs, and Ruano Pascual/Suarez or Craybas/Marrero vs. Likhovtseva/Zvonareva.

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEWS
World No. 1 Roger Federer struggled into the semifinals at the Masters Series-Canada Friday, beating unseeded Frenchman Fabrice Santoro 7-5, 6-4. In their previous meeting in Davis Cup play, Federer had lost only three games in three sets in best-of-five play.

"I had to adapt today," said Federer, whose 21-match win streak matches Pete Sampras' in 1996 as well as streaks by Stefan Edberg and Ivan Lendl. The Swiss was demonstrative during the match, throwing his racquet to the ground and slamming balls into the net after missing sitter volleys.

"Everyone knows it's difficult to play Santoro," Federer said. "We had a good match today with some good points. But I was playing a bit too defensive, so I had to change. It worked out fine in the end."

Joining Federer in the semis were (2)Andy Roddick (d. Hernych in an all-Babolat slapfest), unseeded Swede Thomas Johansson (d. countryman Joachim "The Jackhammer" Johansson), and unseeded German Nicolas Kiefer (d. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer in three).

Saturday's semifinal match-ups are (1)Federer vs. T.Johansson (Fed leads career meetings 6-0), (2)Roddick vs. Kiefer (A-Rod leads 2-0), and in doubles (3)Llodra/Santoro vs. Grosjean/Hrbaty, (8)Bhupathi/Paes vs. (4)Knowles/Nestor, and then Grosjean/Hrbaty or (3)Llodra/Santoro vs. (2)Bjorkman/Mirnyi.

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
India's Leander Paes on getting back together with partner Mahesh Bhupathi for the first time in two years this week at the MS-Canada: "There is no reason why Mahesh and myself cannot win this week or next week in Cincinnati or come away with the gold medal. It's a matter of tapping into the resources that we know that we have that within us and proving that on a daily level...Last year when I was pretty much told that I couldn't ever play tennis again (with the brain worm), it was obviously not an opportunity to keep to my word which I had given my father as a 12-year-old, of playing in four Olympics. So since I got the okay in December, I've basically been training for the whole year for that."...ESPN, again going with the taped match Friday night. Instead of the Andy Roddick tape, with a result we already know due to this thing you may have heard of called the "Internet," why not just show the Nicolas Kiefer-Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer match which was being played live? Then later MORE tape Friday night with the Maria Sharapova-Anastasia Myskina match...Maria Sharapova has taken a wildcard into next week's WTA stop in Montreal...ATP Masters Cup organizer Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale is already hammering the gun-show-type voice-overs in his Masters Cup commercials, now with the shockingly-sad tagline "Last time on U.S. soil for at least four years." Because the ATP is moving the Masters Cup in 2005 to Shanghai...Yes, Andy Roddick's model girlfriend is hot, but does ESPN need to show her 25 times during the match, doing that golf clap and staring straight ahead with the never-changing expression like some fem-bot?...Roger Federer has won 29 of his last 30 matches, including 21 in a row...Swede Joachim "The Jackhammer" Johansson hit a thundering 52 aces Thursday in wins over Frenchmen Gregory Carraz and Cyril Saulnier...Austria's Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer after ousting Andre Agassi the other day: "I came from clay and I didn't like that there, and since I'm here, I really play good tennis. I enjoy being on the court and enjoy moving there. I like the hardcourts slow like this is. Well, I moved all right and I stuck to my game plan and I executed it perfectly."...Roger Federer on finding a new coach: "Yeah, slowly but surely, you know, but not a hurry because it is going so well especially since the Australian Open. I have told this many times but it's nothing new but for you. You know, it gave me a lot of confidence knowing that I could travel on my own, not to try to hurry into a coach. I guess if I would have lost early at the Australian Open, you know, I would have put the accelerator on to look for a coach but now I'm really taking my time. We'll see what happens...It's going to be difficult for the coach no matter what because he will be in a tough situation because let's say if I start losing suddenly, he will be the man to blame. So, this is also why I don't want to start having a coach and then saying this is not the right guy and I'm going to start jumping around. I hope when I find one, they will be for a longer time, you know, because I'm, anyway, this type of person, you know, who prefers to have a long term than just, you know, one month here, two months there. And, you know, just have new ideas really. If I like the ideas, you know, I try to do it. If I don't like it, I discuss it with the coach but so far that's not the case though."...From the WTA Friday: "The WTA Tour has agreed to a promotional partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States to support its national VERB campaign promoting physical activity. Joining athletes from other pro sports leagues such as the NFL, women's tennis stars such as Venus Williams, who will serve as the campaign's official tennis spokesperson, will publicize the VERB campaign by promoting physical activity through print and television ads in leading publications, broadcast networks and Internet Web sites, aligning two organizations closely associated with fitness, teamwork and good health. The ads are appearing on networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel and the Cartoon Network, and in publications such as Seventeen, CosmoGirl, Sports Illustrated for Kids and Teen People this summer."...If I hear that Mercedes "I've got the world on a string..." commercial one more time on ESPN I'm literally going to smash my face on my desk to induce unconsciousness...Andy Roddick is 20-1 in his last four events...Serena Williams: "I'm playing to around 30% of my potential -- you'd be shocked at what I could do."