Venus
[Garbine Muguruza of Spain] powered her way to her first title at Wimbledon and second at a Grand Slam tournament Saturday, beating a fading Venus Williams 7-5, 6-0 by claiming the final’s last nine games. …
At 37, Williams was bidding for her sixth championship at the grass-court major, 17 years after her first. And she was so close to gaining the upper hand against Muguruza, holding two set points at 5-4 in the opener.
(CBS News, July 16, 2017)
Unfortunately, that Sjogren’s syndrome kicked in. That, of course, is the “energy-sapping autoimmune disease” Williams made famous. She was diagnosed in 2011 but was presenting telltale symptoms as early as 2009.
In fact, despite many impressive results, she hasn’t had enough energy to win a Grand Slam tournament since winning this one in 2008. Sure enough, only Sjogren’s explains the way Williams appeared to just throw in the towel on Saturday – after losing a hard-fought first set.
A win would have banked her eighth Grand Slam. And, entering Centre Court, she would have been forgiven for thinking it was money in the bank. After all, she had won five of her seven Grand Slams at this most prestigious one of them all (the other tournaments being the Australian Open, French Open, and US Open).
Even so, Williams still managed to rewrite the record books. She became the oldest woman to make a Grand Slam final in the Open Era.
Granted, her professional accomplishments pale in comparison to those of her trailblazing sister Serena, whose record-setting 23 Grand Slams make her the greatest of all time. But Venus remains not just my favorite Tennis player, but my favorite professional athlete.
Nothing demonstrates why quite like the grace with which she handled this emotionally challenging development in the early stage of this tournament:
Last week, it was revealed through a police report that Williams was found at fault in a car accident that left a 78-year-old man dead. …
She was asked about the … car accident Monday [after her first-round match], and became very emotional. …
The news conference ended shortly after with no further questions.
(Sporting News, July 3, 2017)
As it turned out, the police made a 180 just days later, releasing video surveillance to support a new finding that Williams was not at fault. Remarkably, this did not deter the man’s family from filing what can only be described as a vexatious wrongful death lawsuit.
Therefore, in addition to dealing with the trauma this accident caused, Williams had to cope throughout with the intentional infliction of emotional distress this lawsuit caused. Two days after that emotional news conference, her lawyers filed an emergency court order to protect her as much as possible from litigious harassment. Perhaps that helped.
This might prove her swan song, however. Because, given her record over the past eight years, she’s unlikely to ever repeat the improbable feat of making it to another Grand Slam final, let alone making it to two in one calendar year.
Recall that she also made it to the final of the Australian Open earlier this year, where she lost in straight sets to Serena. But it’s arguable that Venus would not have reached the final of this tournament if Serena were not taking time off to have her first child.
Still, I can think of no better tribute than to say farewell to Venus, the Grand Slam contender, the way I said hello to Venus, the Grand Slam winner, 12 years ago – the first year of this weblog:
Here’s to Venus – the most athletic, graceful, intelligent and poised player ever in Women’s Tennis (and the most articulate too)!
(“Venus Williams Wimbledon Champion…Again,” The iPINIONS Journal, July 4, 2005)
Roger
What can I say, especially given my declared preference for Women’s Tennis, which I first made in “Hail to 4-Time Wimbledon Champion Venus Williams,” July 9, 2007.
Roger Federer became the first man to win Wimbledon eight times and extended his record to 19 Grand Slam titles with victory over Croatia’s Marin Cilic.
The Swiss third seed won 6-3 6-1 6-4 as seventh seed Cilic struggled with a blister on his left foot and broke down in tears during the second set. …
Federer surpasses Pete Sampras and William Renshaw, who won their seventh titles in 2000 and 1889 respectively, with only Marina Navratilova still ahead in terms of Wimbledon singles titles on nine.
(BBC, July 16, 2017)
Except that there is something to be said for Federer besting Williams by becoming the oldest man to win this tournament.
Mind you, he’s only 35. Still, his performance smacked of rejuvenation given the context:
Federer has now won three Grand Slam titles since turning 30, adding to his wins at Wimbledon in 2012 and at the Australian Open earlier this year. Only Rod Laver (four) and Ken Rosewall (four) won more majors after turning 30. Federer also becomes the second man at 30 or over to win multiple Grand Slams in a year since Laver completed the Calendar Slam – winning all four majors in a calendar year – in 1969.
(ESPN, July 16, 2017)
So kudos to Federer for his age-defying feat, which moved one match announcer to hail him as “the ageless wonder.”
On the other hand, what are we to make of his cry-baby opponent, Cilic? After all, he took a three-minute timeout midway through the second set, during which he sobbed inconsolably because he developed a boo boo on his foot.
That was bad enough. But the commentators kept speculating throughout the remainder of the match that a mysterious injury was hampering his play.
In doing so, they undermined Federer’s eventual victory. And they compounded this unfairness by failing to mention that Cilic could only have suffered his alleged injury because the masterful Federer had him running all over the court like a chicken with its head cut off.
Related commentaries:
Venus Williams…
Serena Williams GOAT…
Hail Venus…