Wimbledon 2005 News
By Eleanor Preston | June 28, 2005

VENUS RISES AS SERENA FALLS

The feeling that the Williams sisters have traded places at Wimbledon grew yesterday when their father Richard issued a broadside to Serena for being in “the worst condition” while Venus was busy charging through to her first grand slam semi-final in two years.

Venus romped through the first set and nearly Mary Pierce, but had to battle in the second set, staving off set-points against the Roland Garros runner-up before sealing a 6-0, 7-6 victory to set up a semi-final against Maria Sharapova.

Richard Williams, meanwhile, was in typically voluble form in talking to BBC Television. “Serena needs to get into condition, she’s in the worst condition,” he said, before contending that neither of his daughters was that interested in tennis anymore. “Tennis is not the most important thing in their lives anymore,” he said. “"They understand there's a lot more to life". God is first and then family, education, business, and then fifth you have to feel good about yourself.”

“It was a tough tiebreak, it really was,” said Venus. “It was a tough second set.  I played really well in the first set.  I think she played well, too, but maybe she just wasn't expecting me to play as well as I did. I had quite a few set points against me.  To pull that out and not have to go to the third is really good.  And, plus, she was playing unbelievable.  I mean that could have been a finals match, how well she played.”

Wimbledon 2003 was the last time Venus got this far in a slam and it is a coincidence of her rejuvenation that she has chosen the lawns of SW19 to remind everyone that she is still a contender for grand slam titles despite the fact that she has been in an undeniable slump and hasn’t won a grand slam title since the 2001 US Open.

I'm always playing well, to be quite honest.  I lost a lot of points in the clay court season.  I couldn't go to some tournaments to defend points, so I fell out of the Top 10 because of that, too.  Then I didn't play that great at the French. I feel like I deserve to be in the semifinal.  Just take it from here.”

Sharapova has won both of their previous matches, indoors in Zurich in October last year and, most recently, in the Nasdaq-100 quarter-finals in April. The defending champion has yet to drop a set and looked far too good for Nadia Petrova in beating her fellow Russian 7-6 (6), 6-3 but, for all that, she is wise enough not to underestimate Venus.

“She has a big game, you know, is a great fighter,” said Sharapova. “So every time we play we always have really tough matches.  Just have to go out and battle it out and see who can come out and win the fight.”

A year ago Lindsay Davenport was ambling through the draw and talking retirement. This time around she looks far more intent on making the final and, if she can, winning the title. The World No.1 is always underrated but has been so far under the radar at this tournament as to be virtually invisible, while all the time playing with venom and purpose. She had plenty of both against Svetlana Kuznetsova, beating the reigning US Open champion 7-6, 6-3.

The American plays Amelie Mauresmo next after Mauresmo ended Anastasia Myskina’s brave run to the quarter-finals, beating the former French Open champion 6-3, 6-4. Myskina was not helped by an energy-sapping run to the last eight but Mauresmo is an adept grass court player when she puts her mind to it.

“It's going to be a totally different match-up than any of the girls I've played here so far.  I'm going to see somebody at the net trying to come in all the time.  I'm going to see a lot of slice backhands; I'm going to see some serve and volleys.  In that regard, I think I do have to take into consideration how my opponent is going to play,” said Davenport, who was happy to reveal her game plan against the Frenchwoman. “I've always believed that if I can return well and serve well and do those couple things well on grass that I'm going to be okay.  I'm going to have to probably aim my returns a little bit differently because she will be coming in.  I'm going to have to try and mix up my second serve so she's not always looking at the same return trying to come in.  And try and be the one keeping her on the baseline with hard, deep shots and not letting her move her way forward.”

Mauresmo came very close to beating Serena in the semi-finals last year but, not for the first time, let things slip in a big match. The defeat clearly still rankles her.

“I thought that my game was pretty consistent last year,” said Mauresmo. “Just a little bit like the way I played today, really aggressive, coming in very often, and I was very close, you know, to beating Serena in the semi last year.”

She will not have to worry about Serena. There is only one Williams sister in contention for Wimbledon this time around and for the first time in a while, it’s Venus.

///BACK