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YOUNGER SISTER DOMINATES
FOR SECOND SLAM VICTORY
The Serena-Venus final: an
on-court defense
By
Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
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Susan
Mullane
Camerawork USA, Inc.
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FROM ROLAND GARROS –
If you were around the press room on Saturday after Serena Williams
7-5 6-3 thrashing of her older sister, Venus, in the final and listened
to what many of the non-U.S. press had to say, you would have thought
that the Sisters Sledgehammer had just staged the worst performance
since Natasha Zvereva was double-bagled by Steffi Graf here in 1988.
And I mean, staged, not played
naturally.
EUROS QUESTION COMPETITIVENESS,
BUT TR.NET DOESN'T
One Euro paper reportedly began its
story with the headline "The Death of Women's Tennis,"
because it is the writer's contention that the Williamses will never
play a high-quality match against each other and that because they
are supremely talented they will likely play many more important
finals against each other. Since the Roland Garros final was at
least a 25 percent improvement in the U.S. Open final, it's hard
to find much weight behind that argument. What would make sense
is to believe that the more they play each other, the easier it
will be come to dispense of sibling protectionism once the first
ball is struck. Serena believes that and since she followed through
with every promise she made over the past two weeks, I'm inclined
to believe.
A group of Southern Europeans
contended that Venus laid down for Serena, because there was no
way that the four-time Grand Slam champ could have come off the
court with only a handful of winners.
Oh, yes there is, because
although Venus has not gotten the yips on her first serve in quite
a while, she spent much of 1998 and 1999 getting the elbow on her
serve, which is why Lindsay Davenport used to own her. Venus
was nervous because she knew that Serena was playing better than
she was coming into the match and knew if she didn't serve extremely
well, she'd lose the contest. Consequently, she served terribly,
Serena munched on her second serves and she went down. When Venus'
base (her serve) is gone, she always struggles. And when she's up
against a player as good as Serena, she's bound to start questioning
herself.
VENUS SHEDS TEARS
But that does not mean that both
women didn't fight – they did – and that there was no
intrigue to the match. That does not mean that Serena didn't play
beautifully in closing out the match, or that Venus felt like it
was time for Serena to get another Slam title when it was her that
was facing in the final. Venus did cry a little after losing and
those were not fake tears. She was seriously disappointed in her
play and anyone who has covered her for a fair amount of time and
spends some time watching her facial expressions would know that.
Serena simply has played better tennis than Venus has since early
March, snaring four titles and only losing three matches. She put
in the work on clay during April and May and was riding high after
taking out the reeling Jennifer Capriati. Her forehand was a bigger
weapon during the fortnight, her backhand just as good, her return
much more lethal and her serve more consistent. Plus, she's faster.
Sure, Venus had a psychological
edge coming into the match, but Serena had stated loud and clear
over the past two weeks that she wasn't going to going to go into
a deep freeze against anyone anymore. Wasn't that pretty obvious
when she wiped Venus out in Miami?
The final was not of the highest
quality, but never lacked drama, not when the two of the world's
biggest serves were being broken constantly, not when Venus jumped
out to a 5-3 lead in the first set, or when Venus climbed back to
3-4 in the second set. You didn't really know the match was over
until Serena jumped on Venus in the last game and that's what drama
is all about.
Now, on a scale of 1 to 10
with the Graf-Seles 1995 U.S. Open final being a 10 for drama and
quality, the Williams-Williams Roland Garros version rates about
a 4. But at least when they play, there's a tremendous amount of
interest leading up to the match all over the globe, which cannot
be said of tomorrow's men's final, even if we tennis aficionados
can't wait for Al Costa to whack his first inside-out forehand.
The bet here is that by 2004,
a Venus-Serena final will be as well-played as any women's match
we've seen in the past decade.
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