Maybe It's time for Venus

As you'll note, the last post was about Serena's continued reemergence into the tennis elite. Serena fell to the current best player in women's tennis, so don't discount her return. Venus has meanwhile made the Williams-family comeback a 2-2 affair.

Venus Williams is playing tennis as well as I've ever seen her play. In true American flavor, Venus dominated Maria Sharapova on the 4th 6-1, 6-3. Venus was like lightning in the first set - hitting the lines, showing her power and prancing across the court before Sharapova could seemingly notice.

Sharapova elevated her game to an exceptional level in the second set, but it mattered little. Venus swept through Sharapova and challengers Svetlana Kuznetsova and Ana Ivanovic to return to her home - the Wimbledon final.

Expect Venus to utterly dominate France's Marion Bartoli tomorrow. Why? Because when the Williams sisters are at their pinnacle they lose to no one. Except of course when they have to play each other in the finals.


R.I.P. Andy Roddick's Effort to Grasp a Wimbledon Championship - I'm feeling for you Andy, things just don't bounce your way often.

Serena the Champion Deposes Injury

For those that think Serena Williams doesn't care about tennis and hasn't for some time - reconsider. Williams injured her thigh between points while up a set on and on serve at 5-5 in the second set today. Williams cringed and yelped in pain as the tournament trainer attempted to relieve her muscle spasms. Williams forefeited the next two points, presumably in the hopes of mustering out a service-game win and a tossup tiebreaker. Then the rain gods reigned supreme - slowing Hantuchova's attempt to win the breaker and race through the third set. When play resumed Serena lost the breaker but unleashed her uncanny power game. "Going for broke is all I could do pretty much. You know, I have that game," Serena reminded. Serena's backhand returns seemed to scoff at Hantuchova's second serve, daring it to come at its normal slow pace. Serena was Serena - slamming winners, yelling and egging herself on. She was the old Serena - the-best-player-in-the-world Serena. "I just decided at one point, you know, it was over and I was going to die trying," Williams said. "I figured my heart wouldn't give out, so I had a good chance of making it." Comments like this are the reflection of gutty champions. Whether or not Serena was feeling better in the third set really doesn't matter to me - the fact that she gave herself a chance to get there does. To me the chance she gave herself reflects more on her willingness and ability to wait out such a dire circumstances, rather than her unprecedented physical talent. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't Be Surprised

Williams glided to a 6-1, 6-2 Australian Open victory over Maria Sharapova when many thought her health should have kept her from playing in the tournament. Williams then mounted a charge at the French Open before falling to Justin Henin-Hardenne in the Quarterfinals, despite looming health concerns. Williams didn't impress herself or others in the match. Wimbledon commentators readily recall the lulling performance. Serena conceded her lackluster effort also, but she wasn't too impressed by Henin's performance either. Williams has been eying the imminent quarterfinal against Henin since the draw was unveiled. But she didn't get ahead of herself before the match began nor flail out when tested. Wake up bandwagon tennis fans - this champion's reemergence ensues.

Did Tommy Haas Get Paid Off?

I was forced to do classwork yesterday afternoon and couldn't allow myself to be distracted by Wimbledon - because there were no matches. To compound that issue, Tommy Haas had to get injured and botch his role for this week - at least be on Roger Federer's mind and potentially get him a little tired in your 4th round match against him. Now Haas has retired and Federer is strutting into the Wimbledon quarterfinal waiting for good weather, and his opponents to catch up with him. I wish I'd written about this last night when I thought about it - but evidently former pro tennis player Todd Martin beat me to it on the Worldwide Leader. Take a look:

Mother Nature puts Federer in the driver's seat

By Todd Martin
Special to ESPN.com
(Archive)

Updated: July 1, 2007, 4:29 PM ET

Advantage Federer!

On the eve of Week 2 at Wimbledon, Roger Federer has to be liking his chances more than ever. He is obviously in fine form as is the norm every year on the grass, not to mention every week of every year. Federer already is the best player in the world and has asserted himself even more robustly on grass, dominating the surface for the past four years.

Weather and a walkover have made Roger Federer even more of a favorite to win Wimbledon for a fifth straight year.

The best thing going for Federer has nothing to do with his play. His biggest advantage is that, most likely, the bottom half of the draw has been taken out of contention. Mother Nature has handed Wimbledon a bum hand so far this year and the club's tradition of being closed on the middle Sunday exacerbates the already tenuous situation. What Rafael Nadal and his fellow competitors in the bottom of the draw are faced with is the challenge to win five matches over the next seven days, daunting to say the least. I am not sure that even Nadal's strengths -- courage and stamina -- can hold up under the pressure of these conditions. With Nadal possibly operating on less than all cylinders come next Sunday, Federer's chances of winning the title for a fifth straight time are escalating by the day.

Being a bit of a traditionalist (some might say a "rigid" traditionalist), I have a soft spot in my heart for the way Wimbledon operates. However, when considering what is on the line every year at the All England Club, one has to take into account competitive fairness and the need for a tournament to provide an even playing field for all its participants. All it takes is one day of bad weather in the first week to create an untenable competitive environment for half the men's field. Each year half the draw is scheduled to play their third round on Saturday of the first week. If the rain hits hard that day, the tournament moves those matches to Monday of the second week, the same day the other half of the draw plays its fourth-round matches. Despite the challenges the weather presented this past week, if it was clear on Saturday, the men's singles competition would be right on track. What a difference a day makes.

I believe it is time for Wimbledon to address this issue. This traditionalist believe there should be greater willingness to play on the middle Sunday of Wimbledon. In this year's scenario, it would be automatic, as none of the eight third-round matches were completed Saturday. It is the only way to preserve some element of fairness. Yes, the roof going on Centre Court by 2009 will help in the completion of some matches, but even that improvement won't allow for all of the early-tournament contests to conclude. Wimbledon can't control the weather, but it can react to it and do what is right for everyone involved.

Let me touch on a peculiar dilemma for Federer. Tommy Haas has defaulted their fourth-round match. Now, Federer has to figure out how to keep himself sharp during a four-day layoff in the middle of a tournament."

And it moves on from there.... In essence, Americans, pray hard for Andy Roddick because Federer's already thinking about their potential match. Andy still has to play.