NO LAST STAND
Venus exits, but won’t talk retirement
WIMBLEDON − Venus Williams is 34 years old and has been coming to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club for half her life. As she walked off of Centre Court early Friday evening, she waved her right hand and the crowd stood and cheered, and then she disappeared behind a green wall and was gone, and you wondered how many more times you would see her on this most famous of courts, or any of these courts.
You wondered how long she could keep summoning the strength and skill that she did Friday, in the best women’s match of the tournament, that 6-1 physique with the wingspan from here to Heathrow still running and smacking balls all over southwest London.
It was easy to feel nostalgia as heavy as Big Ben as Venus Williams departed, but she was having none of it.
“It’s a shame that there had to be a loser in this match and more of a shame that it had to be me,” she said. Somebody said she looked emotional when she left and asked if she had any thought about not returning, and she swatted that one away like another high backhand.
“People have been trying to retire me since I was 25,” she said. “For some reason in tennis we always do that to our players. It’s weird. We don’t encourage them to stick around. It’s like, ‘Get out of here.’
“I’m not getting out of here. I think this year has been a great year for me (she won in Dubai in February). I’m proud of myself for what I’m achieving on the court.”
Venus Williams was the greatest African-American champion the sport of tennis has ever seen, until her sister surpassed her. Together they are part of an athletic narrative that might never be equaled, two ghetto kids from Compton, Calif., taking over a country-club sport. Venus Williams has won Wimbledon five times, the last time coming in 2008. The overwhelming likelihood is that she will never win it again, not having been past the quarterfinals since 2010, not with an autoimmune disease, Sjogren’s syndrome, that requires constant vigilance.
This year’s tournament ended for her in the third round, against a tough former champion, No. 6 Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, at 24, 10 years her junior, the score 5-7, 7-6 (2), 7-5. Williams, seeded No. 30, was belting running forehands and digging out backhands and was two points from winning in straight sets at 4-5, 15-30, when Kvitova smacked an ace and a service winner, and then Williams netted a backhand return for 5-5. Kvitova fired another ace to force the breaker and took it on a couple of netted forehands and a Williams double fault. Still, Williams’ play was CentreCourt caliber right to the end; her serve was broken only one time, in the final game, and it cost her the match.
“She’s a huge player, big champion,” Kvitova said. “You are expecting everything from her.”
Said Williams, “The battle is always a little more enjoyable when you win.”
Williams talked about how Kvitova kept ripping away and going for winners − she had 48 of them − and always seems to raise her game against her. It left little margin for error, so when Williams’ backhand went haywire in the final game, the last one into the net, the hope of a second week, title No. 6 was over.
Williams did not want to dissect the defeat, or indulge even a shred of nostalgia. She said she would keep working, and keep improving. Kvitotva believes that Williams can win titles again if she keeps playing this way. Venus Williams believes that, too. You watched her walk off Centre Court, and disappear behind that green wall, and you just hoped you’d see her again next year.
“I gave it my all,” Venus Williams said. “Sometimes it's not enough.”