Can Konta beat Venus... whose life is one long off-court drama?
WHen Venus Williams strides on to Centre Court for today’s semifinal against Johanna Konta, she will be carrying the large red sports bag she takes to every tournament.
It contains eight rackets but also eyeliner, nail-polish remover and a manicure set – a reminder that this is a champion who has never been afraid to break the mould.
Hoping to win the Wimbledon women’s singles title for a sixth time, at 37 she is 11 years older than Konta and four years older than Martina navratilova, the oldest women’s champion of modern times, when she won in 1990.
But then after the extraordinary life Venus has led thus far, perhaps we should not be surprised if there are more dramas to come.
This is a woman whose father picked cotton in the Deep South and who moved her and younger sister Serena to a dangerous part of Los Angeles to toughen them up. Venus saw her father accused of beating her mother, was diagnosed with an auto-immune illness and, recently, was cleared of causing the death of an elderly man in a car crash.
She and Serena, 35, were set on their path to fame by their father Richard, who grew up in Louisiana and moved to California as an adult, hell-bent on ensuring that his family would never suffer the poverty he did.
By 1979, when he met widowed nurse Oracene Price, he was running his own security firm.
Watching TV, he saw a female tennis player winning the equivalent of £110,000 today – and decided that one day a daughter of his would bring the family similar riches. When he and Oracene married in 1980, none of her three girls by her first husband showed any interest in the game. Richard would later claim that, since Oracene was reluctant to have more children, he sabotaged her contraceptive pills, resulting in the birth of Venus later that year and Serena the following year.
It’s not clear whether he was entirely serious. But he certainly went to incredible lengths to turn the two girls into champions, despite never having picked up a racket in his life. He move the family to Compton, the most dangerous Los Angeles neighbourhood, believing this would make the girls hungrier for success. They played on courts riddled with potholes, sometimes missing nets. He hardened them up by arranging for gangs of children to stand around shouting insults at them.
Beyond tennis, their world extended only as far as school, family and church – their mother was a devout Jehovah’s Witness. His tactics worked. At 17, Venus reached the final of the US Open despite being unseeded.
But her rise was not entirely smooth. During the 2001 Indian Wells tournament in California, Serena reached the final – Venus raising eyebrows by pulling out of the semi-final against her sister – and was booed by a crowd who preferred to cheer her Belgian opponent. Their father alleged there were racist taunts.
The following year there were accusations of domestic violence against Richard, specifically that he had broken three of Oracene’s ribs. Although police brought no charges, the couple were soon divorced.
THen in 2003, as if to remind the ‘Ghetto Cinderellas’ – their father’s term – of how far they had come, their oldest half-sister Yetunde Price, who had remained in Compton when the Williamses moved to Florida, was killed in a drive-by shooting.
‘Her death leaves a void that can never be filled,’ the family said. Despite such setbacks, the Williams sisters went from strength to strength on court.
Serena was the more successful – Venus has won only 11 of the 28 matches between them since 1998. But a documentary filmed in 2011 suggested that they remain great friends. At that time they were living together in Florida, both recovering from injury, and were shown singing karaoke duets.
That year, Venus was diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome, an auto-immune illness that causes exhaustion and swollen joints. This week, she was cleared of causing the death of an elderly American whose wife crashed into her car in Florida last month. But the strain was evident when she broke down at a press conference. She has carried on regardless and will be hoping to avoid the disappointment of last year’s semi-final loss to Angelique Kerber.
Whatever today’s outcome, in the final Venus will not face Serena, who is at home in the US. She is expecting her first child with fiance Alexis Ohanian, an internet entrepreneur.
Richard will not be there either. He remarried and has a fiveyear-old son Dylan by his wife Lakeisha. He suffered a stroke last year and is now suing for divorce, claiming Lakeisha is an alcoholic who has been forging his signature to steal from him.
Venus, who is said to be dating Cuban model elio Pis, will be supported by Oracene. She will no doubt be watching on Saturday if her daughter shrugs off her troubles to cement her place as one of Wimbledon’s greats.