There is saying and there is doing. Thankfully for the good of women’s tennis Serena Williams has concentrated on doing the later this week with little time for much of the former.
Now guaranteed to end the year world No1 after Dinara Safina declared the agony in her back meant anymore tennis in 2009 is completely out of the question, Serena stacked up three wins out of three from the round-robin preliminaries to ensure she will be involved at the sharp end of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships here in Qatar.
A sound and sincere playing performance from the Australian Open and Wimbledon champion was more than a little necessary at this calendar ending event. Who can forget just how she disgraced the sport by her threatening tirade at the line-judge during the US Open semi-final that should still be punished by a ban that prevents her from defending her Aussie title at Melbourne Park next January.
Some are insistent that the longer the Grand Slam Committee deliberate on the punishment for her Flushing Meadows fusillade, the better it will be for Serena but such supposition may well be wide of the mark. There are many who judge the rights and wrongs of the game who were appalled by what they saw that Saturday evening on Arthur Ashe Stadium but they are not arbitrators who will be rushed into knee-jerk reactions. Most certainly the no.1 has not been excused anything just yet.
Here at Doha, there has been the normal moans and groans about weariness and fatigue. Safina succumbed to the physical stresses of a long season, Caroline Wozniacki was reduced to tears as the ravages of cramp tested her to the limit before she finally overcame Safina’s substitute Vera Zvonareva and to the surprise of nobody, Jelena Jankovic has once again complained that all is far from well in both her game and physical preparation.
But Serena has not said much at all, preferring to scowl and simply nod through a lot of the verbal inquisition she has been subjected to over the last few days. On the face of it, this is another case of bad manners and there can be no debate that at times she is downright contemptuous of the press who have reported on her great triumphs as well the less savory moments of her career.
The way she simply refused to have any inter-reaction with former Grand Slam champion Tracy Austin in the admittedly intrusive but nevertheless requisite quick interview before walking onto court annoyed many who witnessed the meeting. “I was not too bothered because I was expecting it,”said Austin who is an experienced broadcaster in this situation. “All through the American summer it was the same with Pam Shriver and Mary-Joe Fernandez who is Serena’s Fed Cup captain and will sitting beside her on court in next weekend’s final against the Italians in Reggio de Calabria. The fact of the matter is Serena has decided to walk on court with her game face ready and we accept the fact.”
Few should be really surprised that the only opponent who has managed to subject Serena to three sets this week has been big sister Venus who even registered a match point before finally succumbing in a decisive tie-break. Svetlana Kuznetsova fell in straight sets and so too did Elena Dementieva who proved in Toronto that she could overcome the Williams might after coming so close in the best contest of this summer’s Wimbledon.
One of Serena’s few admissions before walking onto court this week is that she feels fresher than she has done for some time and it seems to show. Admittedly she played with supportive bandages on a nagging thigh muscle but it didn’t seem to impede her too much as she went through the full repertoire of forceful shots to overcome Dementieva 6-2,6-4.
Serena Williams is unquestionably one of tennis’ great champions and is now enjoying her fifth spell at the top of the women’s world rankings. Many would make a case for her being the most powerful woman player of all time and it’s hard to argue. However how gratifying it is to see her simply get on with the task of winning tennis matches rather than bring the sport into disrepute as she did so appallingly in New York. Let’s try and forget the fact she’s a bad loser and hopefully over the next few days rejoice in just how stunning a winner Serena can be.
Now guaranteed to end the year world No1 after Dinara Safina declared the agony in her back meant anymore tennis in 2009 is completely out of the question, Serena stacked up three wins out of three from the round-robin preliminaries to ensure she will be involved at the sharp end of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships here in Qatar.
A sound and sincere playing performance from the Australian Open and Wimbledon champion was more than a little necessary at this calendar ending event. Who can forget just how she disgraced the sport by her threatening tirade at the line-judge during the US Open semi-final that should still be punished by a ban that prevents her from defending her Aussie title at Melbourne Park next January.
Some are insistent that the longer the Grand Slam Committee deliberate on the punishment for her Flushing Meadows fusillade, the better it will be for Serena but such supposition may well be wide of the mark. There are many who judge the rights and wrongs of the game who were appalled by what they saw that Saturday evening on Arthur Ashe Stadium but they are not arbitrators who will be rushed into knee-jerk reactions. Most certainly the no.1 has not been excused anything just yet.
Here at Doha, there has been the normal moans and groans about weariness and fatigue. Safina succumbed to the physical stresses of a long season, Caroline Wozniacki was reduced to tears as the ravages of cramp tested her to the limit before she finally overcame Safina’s substitute Vera Zvonareva and to the surprise of nobody, Jelena Jankovic has once again complained that all is far from well in both her game and physical preparation.
But Serena has not said much at all, preferring to scowl and simply nod through a lot of the verbal inquisition she has been subjected to over the last few days. On the face of it, this is another case of bad manners and there can be no debate that at times she is downright contemptuous of the press who have reported on her great triumphs as well the less savory moments of her career.
The way she simply refused to have any inter-reaction with former Grand Slam champion Tracy Austin in the admittedly intrusive but nevertheless requisite quick interview before walking onto court annoyed many who witnessed the meeting. “I was not too bothered because I was expecting it,”said Austin who is an experienced broadcaster in this situation. “All through the American summer it was the same with Pam Shriver and Mary-Joe Fernandez who is Serena’s Fed Cup captain and will sitting beside her on court in next weekend’s final against the Italians in Reggio de Calabria. The fact of the matter is Serena has decided to walk on court with her game face ready and we accept the fact.”
Few should be really surprised that the only opponent who has managed to subject Serena to three sets this week has been big sister Venus who even registered a match point before finally succumbing in a decisive tie-break. Svetlana Kuznetsova fell in straight sets and so too did Elena Dementieva who proved in Toronto that she could overcome the Williams might after coming so close in the best contest of this summer’s Wimbledon.
One of Serena’s few admissions before walking onto court this week is that she feels fresher than she has done for some time and it seems to show. Admittedly she played with supportive bandages on a nagging thigh muscle but it didn’t seem to impede her too much as she went through the full repertoire of forceful shots to overcome Dementieva 6-2,6-4.
Serena Williams is unquestionably one of tennis’ great champions and is now enjoying her fifth spell at the top of the women’s world rankings. Many would make a case for her being the most powerful woman player of all time and it’s hard to argue. However how gratifying it is to see her simply get on with the task of winning tennis matches rather than bring the sport into disrepute as she did so appallingly in New York. Let’s try and forget the fact she’s a bad loser and hopefully over the next few days rejoice in just how stunning a winner Serena can be.
