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THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER: TUesday, JUNE
1, NO. 88
The Williamses flame out
Capriati: 'If anyone's going to have
a chance to beat them, it's going to be on clay'
Myskina: 'Of course everyone believes they can at least fight
with them'
By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
Fred & Susan Mullane/Camerawork
USA |
FROM ROLAND GARROS – When a player
is literally dying to win and victory means the world to her, often
times, she will choke. Other times, she will fight like an lioness
defending her pride.
Desire means a lot in tennis, which is why it was Jennifer Capriati
and Anastasia Myskina were able pull the rugs from out under the
once fearsome sibling duo of Serena and Venus Williams in the Roland
Garros quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Throw in Elena Dementieva, too, who crushed French dreams in dispatching
Amelie Mauresmo. Hell, why not chuck in Paola Suarez, who bothered
to think about how one should play in the mist while her victim,
17-year-old Maria Sharapova, was bedeviled was the circumstances.
It was a remarkable shocking first day for those young fans that
were weaned on the Williamses. It was the first time in three years
that Serena and Venus both lost before the semifinals of a Grand
Slam that they both contested. It was the first time that they've
lost in the same round in the 41 tournaments they've played together.
Moreover, it was the first time that they both went down in such
rapid succession on the same day and looking as stressed out as
Napoleon at Waterloo.
First, '01 Roland Garros champion Capriati out-punched Serena 6-3,
2-6, 6-3 on Court Centrale and then a blinding 28 minutes later,
Myskina floored Venus 6-3 6-4 on Suzanne Lenglen Court to gain her
first Grand Slam semifinal.
"These days it's not shocking," the bold Capriati said.
"There are a lot of girls who have been playing a lot more
than they have. And if anyone's going to have a chance to beat them,
it's going to be on clay."
Maybe it will be on more than clay. This year, neither Serena or
Venus have been able to bring out the game faces that saw them contest
four Slam finals in a row from 2002-2003 (all won by Serena). Part
of that is due to the injuries that kept Venus out for the second
half of 2003 and Serena out for nearly nine months until March.
When players are attempting to heal, time goes by and players such
as Myskina and Capriati keep tinkering with their games and mentalities
in attempts to improve. They have done so, while Serena and Venus
are looking for that magical bottle of WD-40 that will silence their
creaky wheels and wipe the rust off.
"They've just came back and lost a lot of months," said
Myskina. "Of course everyone believes they can at least fight
with them."
A LONG DAY OF UNFORCED ERRORS
The matches themselves aren't worth going into much depth, because
Venus and Serena were frankly horrible. Venus played worse than
she has in any Grand Slam in the past three years and Serena in
a good four years.
Capriati told the world two days ago that despite her 5-9 career
record against her bitter rival, Serena, that she would be able
to wear down the battered warrior. How right she was. Serena was
huffing, puffing and heavy on her feet. Her ground strokes landed
short and her vaunted serve or return wasn't worth a dime.
Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA |
| Jennifer took down her biggest rival, Serena
Williams. |
Capriati simply out-muscled Serena in third
set. When it came time to break her to 5-3, she wound up and cracked
a huge forehand and charged the net to put away a volley. She was
so confident she would win that she wasn't bothered by an overrule
on match point, went back to the service line and tore at Serena
until Williams flailed at another forehand.
"I made it really tough on myself by not performing, making
a lot of errors, not moving up and basically not doing anything
on a professional level. I was an amateur today," Serena said.
Not quite, but she was more professional as an actress in her role
on "Streettime" last spring than she was a pro on a tennis
court on Tuesday. That doesn't mean that Serena doesn't care about
tennis anymore; it merely means that she's going to have to grind
like she did in the late winter and spring 2002 before she went
on her four straight Slam run. Serena threw out a scornful response
when asked whether she is more interested in her acting career than
she is her tennis.
"If I was, I'd be on the set of a movie right now, but I'm
at Roland Garros," she said. "I have all kinds of different
opportunities to be in films, but I'm here."
VENUS HAD NO EDGE, NO BITE
Venus's intentions cannot be questioned in the same way, because
she's played a fair amount this year. She took a 19-match clay court
winning streak into her match against Myskina, but played as timid
as a match as you'll ever see from a four-time Grand Slam champion.
During her win streak, she was able to steady herself into matches
when she wasn't feeling quite right. Against Myskina, she couldn't
count on any side to bail her out. Her normally reliable backhand
was shaky, her forehand was a mess on short balls, her serves had
little speed or bite and she rarely bothered to venture to net.
Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA |
| The day's major upset: Myskina defeats Venus
in straight sets. |
"I wasn't really in rhythm,"
Venus said. "I don't think she beat me today. Normally with
her kind of game I'm going to do really well because she couldn't
hurt me. But I wasn't able to do anything I wanted to."
More importantly, she didn't display
any courage. In the matches' final game with Myskina extremely nervous,
Venus didn't attempt to jump on her foe and played patty-cake all
the way to a loss.
Now the Williamses will head to Wimbledon, a locale where they have
combined to win the last four titles. Fast grass suits their surface
more than soft red clay does, but neither sister will play warm-up
events to the tournament. They claim they will be ready for a big
fight nonetheless.
"We're both competitors more than anything," Venus said.
We won't just sit back and accept a loss or a performance that below
of what we expect of ourselves."
Maybe not, but on Tuesday, it was unclear whether they are capable
of dominating again. |
