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Out of this world

© Michael Cecilio

It has been an incredible journey for Venus. From a wannabe champion to dual Grand Slam champion, Venus is no less than content with her progress and is understandably brimming with confidence every time she steps on the court. She enters the Olympics Games not having lost a single match since the French Open, which accounts for 26 consecutive match victories, 5 championship titles and 2 Grand Slam singles crowns. In fact, she has dropped a total of 5 sets in her 26 match-winning streak. Despite what they say, her opponents definitely have something to fear each time they face her on the opposite side of the net.

It’s not just the lower ranked players who are having a tough time dealing with the power and athleticism of Venus. World #1 Martina Hingis and world #2 Lindsay Davenport have not had it their way against Venus this year, despite holding winning records over the 6’1” American. They’ve given Venus some deft challenges along the way, but in the end, Venus’s improved consistency and her newfound ability to bring her best on the big points have contributed to their undoing.

Venus Williams won the US Open championships. However, the irony is that she probably was not the best player of the championships. Early on in the tournament, Martina Hingis looked spectacular in her matches, dropping a mere fifteen games en route to the semi finals. She was aggressive, she was attacking the net and she was making so few unforced errors that it seemed to be her destiny to win her first Grand Slam title of the year at the US Open. No matter how well she played in the earlier rounds though, she knew she had her work cut out for her in the semi finals as she had not faced anyone of Venus’s calibre. What a spectacular match it turned out to be! In one of the most awesome matches of the year, both girls were splendid in the way they took it to their opponent as they brought it down to the wire with their speed, their groundstrokes and most importantly their determination to win. On form throughout the championships, Martina would have been considered a slight favourite to win and in fact she had her chances to serve out the match at 6-4 3-6 5-4. It just goes to show how essential it is to have a big serve and an aggressive mindset on the top level of the tour these days. It also goes to show what a fighter Venus Williams is to have crawled her way back from 3-5 15-30 down in the third set to pull off a remarkable victory as such – she didn’t play her best, she made too many unforced errors throughout the encounter, but boy did she find a way to win when she was down. As they say, it’s the stuff that champions are made out of, and she certainly displayed her champion’s mettle when she looked down and out of the match.

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