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Venus Williams for the French Open title? Quite likely indeed...

© Michael Cecilio

Can anyone stop Venus Williams?
This girl has been on absolute tear!! Is there anyone out there who can end Venus Williams' run?!?!? I doubt that there are too many out there today who can outhit or outslug or outsmart Venus Williams on the tennis court. She has compiled a 19-1 record since February, her only loss in that time coming at the hands of unknown Sonya Jeyaseelan in Venus's debut claycourt match. And as of this fortnight, she has won back-to-titles for the second time this year, having won at Hamburg and Rome in consecutive weeks.

Undoubtedly, clay is perhaps the least favourable surface of Venus and her sister Serena as it neutralises their power, giving players more time to react to their heavy returns. However, Venus has proven that she can be a major force on all surfaces, including clay. Success on the dirt hasn't come naturally for Venus, as she has made a number of adjustments in her game in order to succeed. Not only does she power from the baseline, but she has added a lot of variety into her game by adding touch dropshots and volleys and also waiting patiently for the right time to pound on the ball, a must on the slow claycourts of Europe. Since arriving in Europe three weeks ago, Venus has compiled a nine match winning streak, translating into two titles. What is remarkable is the fact that Venus had not won a claycourt title previously in her career and now she jets off to Paris having won two prestigious clay tournaments back-to-back of each other!

Is there anyone at all that can put up a fight against Venus Williams? Two players who have certainly felt the sheer terror of facing Venus at the other end of the court are Martina Hingis and Mary Pierce, two talented and experienced players on the WTA tour, and who have each had Grand Slam success. None of this mattered to Venus Williams. Martina Hingis was left the arduous task of facing both Williams sisters in consecutive matches in Rome, and was attempting to become just the third player to defeat both sisters in the same tournament since Steffi Graf in Sydney last January. It was obvious from the start of the week which players Martina Hingis was keeping a close eye on, knowing the full strength of Venus's game and also having been defeated by Serena in straight sets last March at Lipton. She had sent out a message earlier in the week saying she had never before felt stronger than she did in Rome that week. Not only that, but she vowed to take Serena more seriously than she had last time, and in an effort, actually did the unprecedented and took up Serena's offer of practising together as hitting partners.