Venus Williams Will Miss Wimbledon For The First Time In Her Career

Sorry to hear it! She’s a great champion and will be sorely missed!

June 18th, 2013 at 4:35 pm

Although shes a shadow of her former self,out of the two Williams sisters,she was always my favorite,determined,focust,but without the drama that surounded her sister.

June 18th, 2013 at 5:12 pm

I will always remember Venus Williams’ matches against Sharapova and Davenport at Wimbledon. Her spirit carried her through against Davenport, who was her equal in the actual tennis. But she was too good for Sharapova, the second time comprehensively so.

Also, she came within an ace of beating Steffi Graf in the German’s last Wimbledon. Graf was probably saved by the rain, although Venus herself discounted this idea. She had been very dismissive of Graf herself before the match – she’s yesterday’s player, she had opined with the arrogance and confidence of youth. After the match, although she refused to blame the rain for her defeat, she somehow left the impression that Graf’s victory was something of an anomaly, a kind of slightly incomprehensible mistake.

She has now grown into the elegant and gracious elder stateswoman. It’s kind of painful to see her beaten by lesser players, so I’m not altogether sorry she is not playing. I can’t quite see her coming back successfully.

June 18th, 2013 at 6:24 pm

Tennis x hippy chic, me too – have always preferred watching or listening to Venus on and off court when compared to her sister, Serena. They are very different though. Venus is kind of shy and elegant, and a little more panther-like on the court (not as graceful as Steffi though!) and Serena is a dynamo, more about power on (and seemingly off) the court than movement.

June 18th, 2013 at 6:44 pm

Nole tweeted about the Williams sisters just the other day; apparently there is a documentary on them? I don’t know if it’s new or not?

Novak Djokovic ‏@DjokerNole 15 Jun
Did you watch Venus&Serena documentary? i just finished. Really inspiring story.They are true champions cc @serenawilliams

June 18th, 2013 at 7:00 pm

Huge article on Serena at “Rolling Stone”; here’s the link:

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/serena-williams-the-great-one-20130618

June 18th, 2013 at 7:21 pm

^ that interview is causing a huge uproar. Her PR people will be doing overtime tomorrow. I must say I’m really surprised and disappointed with her comments about the Steubenville case. Just when she was starting to win people over again.

June 18th, 2013 at 7:36 pm

@ the DA, yes I’ve seen a few things about some of Serena’s comments but thought I’d would post the original article instead of the ensuing stories & links.

June 18th, 2013 at 7:38 pm

“The chasm between Serena and the rest of women’s tennis is as vast and broad as the space between Ryan Lochte’s ears.”

Well, I’ll be using this line for a long time, that’s for sure.

June 18th, 2013 at 7:58 pm

The article is a little sensationalist:

“Instead, she has gone 74-3 since losing at the 2012 French Open and won three Grand Slams and an Olympic gold medal. After each one, tennis gurus whispered, “That was Serena’s last hurrah.””

I don’t think anyone’s whispering that or thinking that unless they have, well, a vast and broad space between their ears like Ryan Lochte :D

June 18th, 2013 at 8:01 pm

Good article, overall. Really fascinating to hear a player of Serena’s stature just blatantly admit that she choked. I’d love to see Federer own up to his choking adventures sometime in the future (maybe after he retires?).

June 18th, 2013 at 8:11 pm

@jane “have always preferred watching or listening to Venus on and off court when compared to her sister, Serena”.

Venus has changed off court as well as on. For instance, she used to be very, very brash and almost contemptuously dismissive of other players (Graf, Hingis in particular). After a tight match with Henin at the US Open, complaints were made about coaching from the stands – Nadal has also been accused of this, b.t.w., and I go along with Barry Cowan, it’s sheer nonsense. Who could possibly care what finger gestures, eyebrow waggling, ear jiggling, nostril expansions and whatnot are made by whom? Really!

Yes, Venus was much more abrasive than Serena. She somehow gave the impression nobody else (apart from sister) really counted. All this was to change as the years and weakness took their toll. Now, she is courteous and forebearing. Serena meanwhile remains what she has always been – eccentric, absurd, entertaining, and very shrewd when it counts. Take the recent RG. After the close match with Kutznesova (by far the most gifted of the Russians imo, but sadly flaky)Serena was asked what she thought about her forthcoming match with Errani. Well, she’s a grinder, she remarked, very similar to my opponent today. Good grief! Good double grief! Errani is nothing like Kutznesova, and she is an incredibly skilful player – to designate her as a mere grinder was unworthy. To suggest Kutzy is a grinder is pathetic. Kutzy actually is arguably, along with Henin, a player whose gifts in some areas surpass those of Serena herself, though not overall of course. On the other hand, shortly at the pressy following her semi win, she coldly pulled up a journalist who was trying to trap her into saying she was an aggressive player. She fixed a pretty beady eye on her, enunciating quietly “I did not say that”. Of course, this was in a way funny – you knew why she didn’t want to be designated as “aggressive”. Sharapova famously calls herself that, so Serena finds the idea limiting. Yes, she is aggressive when she needs to be – but she’s so much else, eh?

As for play, I think Venus was more of a power player than Serena. She simply overwhelmed Sharapova at Wimbledon – a pure power player if ever there was one – and she matched Davenport, the greatest power player of her generation. Serena has great power at her disposal, but she has everything. She can play it soft she can defend she can lob an drop, above all she can improvise. She was, like Federer and Henin, born to play tennis.

June 19th, 2013 at 8:37 am

grendel, I don’t remember Davenport/Venus matches like you, nor do I remember Venus speaking out in that brash way. But I haven’t always followed the ladies’ game as closely as the men’s. Venus’ movement stands out, the way she covers the court. Serena is more of a baseliner, with an AMAZING serve. She has tremendous power, but she is great at placing her shots well too – returns, serves and groundstrokes. Hence maybe she doesn’t have to move as much. Venus also has a great serve, but Serena is hard to break because of her first & second serves both being so strong. With Venus, I just picture her moving around the court, volleying a little more, etc, hence her grass/fast court success. Serena has done well at the AO and FO too. And is she mentally tougher? I tend to think so.

June 19th, 2013 at 10:44 am