Off-court issues plaguing Venus
Normally stoic star struggles to address questions about role in fatal car accident
WIMBLEDON, England — Venus Williams has long been the stoic of the two famous Williams sisters, containing her emotions, maintaining her cool. For the whole of her two-decades-plus professional career, Venus has left the public passion plays to Serena and has gone about her business with typically no more than a smile or a frown.
But mostly with the forbearance of a dedicated poker player.
And then came a news conference here Monday afternoon that was as stunning as it was revealing of an anguish she has brought with her to Wimbledon, with the grass-court surface most tailored to her game and special in her heart.
The questions about a fatal car accident in early June for which Williams has been blamed and sued — though not yet cited or charged by law enforcement — were posed gently but persistently. When she finally capitulated, asked if there was anything she wished to add to a statement of sorrow she had recently released, she described these past few weeks as devastating before being unable to punctuate her grief.
“There are really no words to describe, like, how devastating
and — yeah, I’m completely speechless,” she said. “It’s just — yeah, I mean, I’m just. …”
Overcome is what she was. Her lips trembled. Her eyes glistened. She averted her eyes, raised a hand to her chin and began to sob.
“Maybe I should go,” she said softly to the interview room moderator after several seconds had passed.
“Yes,” he said sympathetically before leading her out.
A composed Williams would return minutes later to field a few questions about her first-round match, a 7-6 (7), 6-4 victory over Elise Mertens, a promising 21-year-old from Belgium, whom Williams had defeated in straight sets last month in the third round of the French Open.
Lawsuit filed by relative
Horror descended on Williams’ life soon after the French Open. The car accident occurred June 9 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., taking the life of Jerome Barson, 78, a retired schoolteacher.
He died June 22 from injuries sustained when Williams entered an intersection in her 2010 Toyota Sequoia sport-utility vehicle, was obstructed by traffic and run into by Barson’s wife, Linda, who was at the wheel of their 2016 Hyundai Accent.
The Palm Beach Gardens police, who are reportedly still investigating the crash, said in their report that Williams caused the accident by “violating the right of way.”
A lawyer for Williams has said the light was green when she proceeded through it, but witnesses told the police she had run a red light.
A daughter of Jerome Barson filed a wrongful-death suit in Palm Beach County circuit court, citing unspecified damages. The news broke last week, on the eve of Williams’ 20th Wimbledon appearance.
“Well, today, walking on the court, I love it here, so it’s always a feeling of coming back home,” she said to the first question about her current emotional state.
She was not being flippant, just evasive, as she tried to steer each question about the accident to tennis and this tournament, where she is a five-time champion and carries the aura of stately, unflappable royalty.
Nurtured by the protective, measured Venus in their early days on tour, the younger Serena Williams has always been the showy sister — just recently pregnant and mostly nude on a Vanity Fair cover. Here, and everywhere, interviews with the more private Venus on any delicate subject could be a study in her steadfastness bordering on stubbornness.
Different situation
She used to be peppered with questions about her demonstratively chatty and occasionally tactless father, Richard, to no avail. She has seldom wanted to discuss her autoimmune disease, Sjogren’s syndrome, and the effects it might have had on her tennis in any given match.
She has been an advocate for women’s tennis, particularly on the issue of equal prize money, but is deliberate about when and where to take up the fight.
So Williams is well practiced at these cat-andmouse conferences, and has been in control of them as much as any contemporary player.
That is, until she was asked Monday about how, in what has been a com- petitively resurgent season, she was dealing with an unforeseen challenge, her action that had led to a tragedy, when she wanted only to be dwelling on a Serena-less Wimbledon that any number of players, herself included, could conceivably win.
“Yeah, life, you can’t prepare for everything,” she said. “I prepared for a lot of matches, tried to get ready for whatever my opponent will throw at you, but you can’t prepare for everything.”