Venus could still have a say in who wins Wimbledon
At 38, Williams is the sport’s grande dame. But the five-time champion remains a force to be reckoned with.
WIMBLEDON, England – Bring in the mower, trim the always manicured grass and chalk the boundary lines to a tennis court, and Venus Williams will be in her happy place.
The great lawns at Wimbledon have long served as the most successful backdrop in the career of the 38-yearold, who won its title five times (2000, ’01, ’05, ’07 and ’08) and appeared in four other finals, including last year.
On Wednesday, ninth-seeded Williams earned her 89th win at Wimbledon with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 second-round victory against Romanian qualifier Alexandra Dulgheru.
“I love winning here,” said Williams, flashing a smile. “I love winning everywhere, so ... That’s the goal when you go out to practice, come to the tournaments, is to win your match. Of course it’s happy.”
Williams, who turned 38 last month, has cut a regal figure at the All England Club on 21 occasions now, a record for Wimbledon appearances among active female players. She also owns the women’s record at 79 for Grand Slam tournament appearances in the Open era.
As impressive as all that might be, the challenge of trying to win an eighth Grand Slam title could prove grander than the current grand dame of the tour.
Williams, however, suggests a simple formula for why she remains a force to be reckoned with in the game.
Take last year for instance. Although she didn’t deliver a 50th career title to her collection, she was likely the most formidable overall player in the game in 2017 by making the Australian Open, Wimbledon and year-end WTA Championships finals.
“I think it helps if you’re good at it (tennis),” Williams said. “That definitely is a big plus. I do feel that I’m quite
good at it and I have a lot to give.”
What she was actually quite good at for the first time in a long time on Wednesday was chatting.
For the better part of the past year she’s been failing to offer her best comments to the great frustration of the media, who are well aware she’s a person with many opinions.
Williams’ reluctance to say much seemed to begin in her first news conference here last year when she was repeatedly asked about a car crash she was involved in where a passenger in the other car died. The always stoic Williams, who was found to be at no fault in causing the crash, walked away from that news conference in tears.
Even as recently as her news conference Monday, Williams had little to say, which resulted in a reporter asking if she was bored. She replied, “Yeah, you know, I have other stuff I need to do, like get ready for the next match (laughter). But I just keep it real, you know. If you like it or love it, it’s just real.”
She was more conversational Wednesday, talking about the match and her past involvement in pushing for women’s equality in the game.
She also addressed, with the author- ity of being the owner of V Starr Interiors design company and the driving force of her clothing company EleVen, what she thinks needs to be achieved for tennis, in general, to earn an even higher profile in world sports.
“I believe in tennis we can market our players, we can try to find a way to market our players better, because that grows the sport,” she said. “I think that would probably be one of the biggest changes. I happen to love branding, not like research marketing, leave that for someone else,” she added. “But perhaps I see myself in that sort of position after I’m done, or even now I think is a good time to, maybe, put into practice what I’ve learned my business into tennis.”
In terms of her tennis, Williams has displayed perseverance on court as she was stretched to three sets in both of her matches.
She was tentative at the outset against Dulgheru, surrendering her serve in the first game, which eventually cost her the first set. From there, her serve and forehand steadied and she won 12 of the last 13 games.
“She played well the first set; I have to give her credit,” said Williams, straight off the court. “It’s just about winning the match. If that’s your best or not your best it doesn’t matter if you win.”
Next up is 20th-seeded Kiki Bertens of Netherlands. Bertens defeated Anna Blinkova of Russia 6-4, 6-0.