Off-court issue puts Venus to the test
Fatal car accident, lawsuit hang over her favorite major
Venus Williams is being tested at Wimbledon in ways she never would have dreamed and never would have wanted.
On June 9, eight days before her 37th birthday, she was involved in a collision with another car in the middle of an intersection in Palm Beach County, Fla. Witnesses told investigators that Williams ran a red light just as a car being driven by Linda Barson, 68, entered the intersection on a green light.
Williams’ attorney said Venus had a green light when she drove into the intersection but was slowed because of traffic and was going 5 mph when the two cars collided. The police report said Williams was at fault for “violating the right of way,” although she was not cited.
On June 22, Barson’s 78-yearold husband, Jerome, a passenger in the car, died of injuries he suffered in the accident.
On June 29, four days before Williams’ first match at her 20th Wimbledon, the Barsons’ daughter filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Williams.
The next day, Venus posted this message on Facebook: “I am devastated and heartbroken by this accident. My heartfelt condolences go out to the family and friends of Jerome Barson and I continue to keep them in my thoughts and prayers.”
How do we segue right to tennis after this? You navigate those devastating paragraphs, then move right along to Wimbledon? But the fact is, there is no separating Venus from the tournament for which she is known best, and she’s there, and she’s winning, so here we go.
Williams, who has won the Wimbledon singles title five times, the latest in 2008, has played two matches so far. She has won both of them, most recently a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory against China’s Wang Qiang on Wednesday.
With her sister Serena pregnant and not playing this year, Venus is poised to make quite a run in this tournament. It wouldn’t be surprising to see her in the semifinals — and perhaps even in the final, just as she was at the Australian Open this year, losing to Serena in straight sets.
For as much as the sports world focuses on Serena, and rightly so, when summer comes and Wimbledon is upon us, Venus comes home. This is where she won those five singles titles in nine years, along with six doubles titles over the length of her career and the 2012 Olympic doubles gold medal with her sister.
Wimbledon also is the venue where she spoke out so eloquently for equal pay for women tennis players a decade ago, and won, and where she has continued to show up and compete since her 2011 diagnosis of Sjogren’s syn- drome, an autoimmune disease that causes fatigue along with muscle and joint pain.
There is no way to know what’s going on inside any athlete, even those we think we know well, athletes like Venus.
But sometimes we get clues. Monday after her first-round victory, Venus was asked about her Facebook message concerning Jerome Barson.
“There are really no words to describe, like, how devastating and — yeah. I’m completely speechless. It’s just …”
Crying, unable to continue, Venus left the interview room.
But that was not the end. Moments later, after composing her- self, she commendably returned to answer a few more questions about tennis.
Venus has rarely shied away from the real-world issues that sometimes accompany a tennis tournament. Now, those realworld issues are hers.
Tennis is a mirror of the world at large, certainly, but it’s also an escape. If anyone understands this, it’s Venus, which is why she of all people might appreciate this Wimbledon fortnight more than any other.