Wimbledon 2005 News
By Eleanor Preston | June 25, 2005

Given the uneven nature of her first two matches at Wimbledon, Serena Williams’ late night 6-3, 7-6 third round defeat to veteran American Jill Craybas was hardly a shock but her tearful reaction afterwards suggested that she was surprised even if no-one else was.

“I’ve never been one to lose well,” last year’s runner up admitted, through sniffles. “I hate to waste time and I worked pretty hard for week before coming here. I guess you have to work more than a week. It’s hard when you are used to winning those matches. I’m not used to going out so early.”

Williams match was bumped to Court Two by Andy Murray’s epic against David Nalbandian and didn’t get underway until 7.30pm but afterwards she refuses to blame the schedule change or the fading light.

“I shouldn’t have lost this match, she didn’t have to do anything exceptionally well today. She pretty much just have to show up,” said Williams, who would have played her sister Venus in the fourth round.

Williams was hampered in all three of her matches by an ankle injury, though afterwards she said it didn’t affect her mobility. Perhaps a bigger handicap was her lack of matches and impaired fitness after she missed most of the clay court season thanks to the ankle, which she claims is fractured.

“I definitely think it’s important for me to practice harder,” she admitted. “I think there are some places I can work harder at. By the US Open I’ll be in a lot better shape.”

To say that Lindsay Davenport has been under the radar this Wimbledon is something of an understatement for she has accomplished the extraordinary knack of being the top seed and yet, at the same time, the most underrated player in the draw. The invisible woman of tennis continued her quiet progress through to the fourth round on Saturday with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Dinara Safina but we have bad news for her – there is no hiding place in the second week of a grand slam.

Davenport takes on Kim Clijsters next, who rivals Maria Sharapova for the tag of the most in-form grass court player in the women’s draw. Sharapova, who won the tune-up in Birmingham two weeks’ ago, continued the defence of her Wimbledon title with a 6-2, 6-4 third round win over Katerina Srebotnik which was a good deal tougher than she made it look.

Clijsters licked her grass court game into shape by winning the title in Eastbourne, her third tournament victory of a year that only began in March. She looked totally at ease during her 6-3, 6-4 win over Roberta Vinci and while Davenport hasn’t yet been tested, the American can expect the sternest of examinations from Clijsters and though her victory over the Belgian at the same stage at Roland Garros a few short weeks ago might be interpreted as a promising portent, the knee Clijsters injured prior to arriving in Paris seems to have healed plenty since then.

“I've played three opponents that I've been able to take control of the match and dominate,” said Davenport. “So it's been nice that I've been able to step up and do that. Monday's going to be a lot different story.  Kim's not going to let me do that so easily and will get more balls back and will really press me a lot more than I've pressed so far.”

Richard Williams is seldom invisible and he did his best to get his photograph in the paper during Venus’ 7-5, 6-4 win over Daniela Hantuchova. At one stage he brandished a shoe at a passer by, a move which didn’t distract his daughter from her task.

“I definitely felt like Daniela would come out and probably feel like she didn't have anything to lose,” said Venus, “and I think she did play that way a lot of the times. It was definitely a good day.  The first set was definitely close.  In the second set, I think I just maybe lost focus a little bit and missed a few shots, but I was able to regain it which, you know, is the important part.”

In the men’s draw Andy Roddick looked in comfortable, confident form in beating Igor Andreev 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 to seal his fourth round spot and while Roger Federer needed four sets and, at times, some remarkably fine tennis to beat Nicolas Kiefer in four sets, the Swiss knows that what happens in the next week is what really matters.

“In the end, you know, if I win in five, five hours on court, or in one hour, you know, it doesn't matter as long as I keep on winning,” he said. “I think I have to keep that in mind. Now that I'm in the second week, you know, it's just four matches left, you know, once again.”

For Serena, there is only a plane journey home.

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