U.S. Open 2014: Venus Williams Stays Serious Amid the Comical
A comedy routine broke out Monday during Venus Williams’s first-round match at the United States Open.
Just as her opponent, Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan, was about to serve in the second set, Date-Krumm began to duck, spin and swat the air, as if she were avoiding invisible punches. She was trying to get away from a bee.
Several ball boys and girls, with a white towel, joined the shadowboxing, and the crowd broke out in giggles. Date-Krumm smiled, too. It was hard not to: The entire episode lasted several minutes.
On the other end of the court, though, Williams was unamused. She loomed on the baseline, looking stonefaced as she readied herself to return a serve.
For Williams, there’s not much joking on the court these days. Her game, never that lighthearted to begin with, is more serious than ever.
At 34, Venus made it back into the top 20 a few weeks ago — her first top-20 ranking since early 2013 — but she is still trying to prove to herself that she can be as strong as she used to be, and that she can win like she used to, though those things don’t come as naturally anymore.
She’s a two-time U.S. Open champion, but hasn’t won here in 13 years and hasn’t made it past the fourth round of a Grand Slam in four years. It has also been four years since she ended the season with a ranking higher than 24th.
It has been a tough road for her, the other Williams sister.
While her sister Serena has dominated the circuit and commanded the world’s No. 1 ranking, Venus had been the quiet one. She’s the one who has long made the game look lovely and easy, while Serena made it seem impossible because of her mounds of muscle and ferocious power.
Venus would never berate an official, hardly even contest points, and isn’t the type to threaten to shove a ball down a lineswoman’s throat. (See Serena, 2009 U.S. Open.) She’s the one who, earlier this month at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, said the proudest achievement of her career was not “falling on my face, doing something stupid.”
“So once I’m done, I can look back and say, ‘I didn’t make a fool out of myself,’ ” Venus said, laughing, though it seemed like she sincerely believed it.
This year, she won a tournament in Dubai and lost in the final at the Rogers Cup, and is now making her way back to the top, despite many challenges. The biggest: battling Sjögren’s syndrome, which causes so much fatigue that it can be an accomplishment to simply get out of bed.
In her recent down years, Venus could have faded into the royal blue of the U.S. Open courts or the worn-green grass of Wimbledon, letting her younger sister fly the Williams flag solo. But she tried different drug regimens for her Sjögren’s, ate better, practiced and played smarter, including taking a little off her rocket-launcher serve to work on shots that would sap her of less energy.
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A comedy routine broke out Monday during Venus Williams’s first-round match at the United States Open.
Just as her opponent, Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan, was about to serve in the second set, Date-Krumm began to duck, spin and swat the air, as if she were avoiding invisible punches. She was trying to get away from a bee.
Several ball boys and girls, with a white towel, joined the shadowboxing, and the crowd broke out in giggles. Date-Krumm smiled, too. It was hard not to: The entire episode lasted several minutes.
On the other end of the court, though, Williams was unamused. She loomed on the baseline, looking stonefaced as she readied herself to return a serve.
For Williams, there’s not much joking on the court these days. Her game, never that lighthearted to begin with, is more serious than ever.
At 34, Venus made it back into the top 20 a few weeks ago — her first top-20 ranking since early 2013 — but she is still trying to prove to herself that she can be as strong as she used to be, and that she can win like she used to, though those things don’t come as naturally anymore.
She’s a two-time U.S. Open champion, but hasn’t won here in 13 years and hasn’t made it past the fourth round of a Grand Slam in four years. It has also been four years since she ended the season with a ranking higher than 24th.
It has been a tough road for her, the other Williams sister.
While her sister Serena has dominated the circuit and commanded the world’s No. 1 ranking, Venus had been the quiet one. She’s the one who has long made the game look lovely and easy, while Serena made it seem impossible because of her mounds of muscle and ferocious power.
Venus would never berate an official, hardly even contest points, and isn’t the type to threaten to shove a ball down a lineswoman’s throat. (See Serena, 2009 U.S. Open.) She’s the one who, earlier this month at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, said the proudest achievement of her career was not “falling on my face, doing something stupid.”
“So once I’m done, I can look back and say, ‘I didn’t make a fool out of myself,’ ” Venus said, laughing, though it seemed like she sincerely believed it.
This year, she won a tournament in Dubai and lost in the final at the Rogers Cup, and is now making her way back to the top, despite many challenges. The biggest: battling Sjögren’s syndrome, which causes so much fatigue that it can be an accomplishment to simply get out of bed.
In her recent down years, Venus could have faded into the royal blue of the U.S. Open courts or the worn-green grass of Wimbledon, letting her younger sister fly the Williams flag solo. But she tried different drug regimens for her Sjögren’s, ate better, practiced and played smarter, including taking a little off her rocket-launcher serve to work on shots that would sap her of less energy.
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