JUST A GRIZZLE IN THE DRIZZLE
Serena makes most of break to blitz Kuznetsova
ALL across Wimbledon, they were playing on. Not a single umbrella was reached for. But on Centre Court Serena Williams was virtually on strike.
Her radar was alert to the faintest specks of rain and to the greater chance of her own redemption in a fourth-round match against Svetlana Kuznetsova that was turning into an ordeal.
A break was just what the garlanded American needed to re-adjust herself and break the Russian’s challenge, with the score locked at 5-5 in a long, hard first set. So desperate was Williams that she threatened to ‘sue’ Wimbledon ‘if I get hurt’ had they failed to bow to her request.
It is quite true that the grass was slippery, but the passion with which she made her case to umpire Marija Cicak and tournament referee Andrew Jarrett showed that she understood how walking off might change the momentum. It did. She won 7-5, 6-0. The first set lasted 56 minutes, the second was 20 minutes of pure butchery.
Once play resumed Williams, searching for the 22nd Grand Slam title that would put her level with Steffi Graf’s record, did not lose another game.
The rain was extremely faint but, in fairness, Williams had already fallen — spread-eagled as a Kuznetsova winner flew past her — and a ball boy slipped as he rounded the back of the court. While Williams was making her view plain, her elder sister Venus, 36, was continuing her match on the adjacent Court One, beating Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 7-6, 6-4.
However, play was later briefly suspended across Wimbledon as the rain became more intense.
Serena said: ‘It was really tricky out there because even though it wasn’t raining hard, it was dewy. You can fall really easy.’
Double Grand Slam winner Kuznetsova, who blamed her serve letting her down for being unable to beat Williams for a fourth time, said: ‘The umpire said they didn’t want to close the roof because they did not think it would rain harder. I said: “I don’t know. You take the decision. I am here to play”.
‘They asked if I thought it was difficult to play on. I said: “Yes, it’s slippery”. It would have been better for me in terms of the match to stay out there but there was still a problem about injury.’
Williams’s threat followed Frenchman Gilles Simon’s similar warning during his second-round defeat by Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov when he thought conditions were too dangerous to continue playing.
Away from the controversy, it was a great fourth of July for the Williams pair, whose combined age is 70. They are not scheduled to meet before Saturday’s final for the first time since 2009. One for the ages. Serena, in particular, showed she is likely to get there. The ball flew off her racket like cannon fire.
‘The break gave me a little time to think and just calm down, really just relax,’ said Serena, who plays another Russian, 21st seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, in the quarter-finals. ‘I talked to my coach (Patrick Mouratoglou) and that really helped me a lot. He gave me some tips. I felt like I was dialled in and focused.’
Long after her match, Serena said her comments about a lawsuit were made in the ‘heat of the moment’ and she had no intention of suing anyone.
Venus’s victory, meanwhile, showed her remarkable resilience. She has been affected by Sjogren’s Syndrome, a condition that causes exhaustion and joint pain. Her lifestyle has had to change, including a move to a vegan diet.
She now plays unseeded Russianborn Kazakhstani player Yaroslava Shvedova for the first time. So how is Venus playing compared to 2009? She said: ‘Let’s hope I can get to that level. Hey, that means finals time. My game now is wonderful when everything is working. I don’t focus so much on: “Oh my gosh, everything feels good”, or, “Oh shoot, it feels bad”. It’s about: “Can I make this play right now? That’s the mentality I go with.’ And what about her sister, the sixtimes champion? Is her intensity ever a problem? ‘Well, she’s No 1 in the world,’ said Venus. ‘She’s got more majors than you can count. She’s pretty much figured it out, I’d say.’ Dominika Cibulkova won a classic against No 3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, winning 6-3, 5-7, 9-7. But now she has a problem — the women’s final is on Saturday, when she is due to marry fiance Navara.