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| momoko |
| Posted: Jul 3 2010, 06:25 AM |
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(IMG:http://2010.wimbledon.org/images/pics/large/b_10_swilliams_37_prosport_t_hindley.jpg)
Damn the torpedoes, full speed alhead, Serena! :up: :lock :lock
This post has been edited by momoko on Jul 3 2010, 06:27 AM |
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| momoko |
| Posted: Jul 3 2010, 06:35 AM |
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"The motivational reasons may be obscure, but Serena Williams, the defending champion, the world number one and the overwhelming favourite to win her 13th Grand Slam title on the lawns of south-west London this afternoon, says she intends to prepare for the demands of her final against the Russian, Vera Zvonareva, by catching up on some missed episodes of Desperate Housewives.
One might have thought that, if the distraction of a TV screen was necessary, Serena might have gone for something with the word "million" in the title - a rerun of the Clint Eastwood movie Million Dollar Baby perhaps. Except that in this case Serena will be punting for a million pounds rather than dollars, the first time the Wimbledon prize money has hit seven figures. Not that someone whose earnings from the sport have already exceeded $30m is going to be overly concerned about the financial incentives on offer. It's the honour, the prestige, the excitement of holding aloft the Venus Rosewater Dish, emblematic of world domination, which will spur on Serena, plus the desire to extend the astonishing domination exerted by the Williams family on this title for the past decade.
"It's been a great decade and I feel honoured to have been a part of it," said Serena on the eve of today's final, going further with the comment that "just to have my name mentioned at Wimbledon is amazing". Hardly anybody's else's name, except that of her older sister Venus, has been mentioned here since the Millennium in fact. Their domination, plotted by their canny father, Richard, has been one of the wonders of any sport, never mind tennis. And they will be back next year, Serena promises.
Since the tennis world is teeming these days with players from eastern Europe with names that terminate in "ova" or "eva" it is fitting that the opposition for Serena will come from one of that battalion, Vera Zvonareva, resident of Moscow and the 21st seed here.
Maria Sharapova was the last "ova" in a Wimbledon final and she did a comprehensive demolition job on a certain Serena Williams in 2004. And let us not even begin to think about forgetting Martina Navratilova, nine times the champion here, albeit as an American citizen by that stage of her brilliant career.
Can our Vera emulate Martina and Maria? The omens are not propitious. Apart from a walkover in San Diego six years ago, Zvonareva has come out on top only once in six battles with Serena, and has lost to her in the Grand Slams of France and the United States.
She has, however, been playing some nifty tennis over the past fortnight. She has won six rounds in just 115 games, a mere three more than Serena required. Her won/lost record of 75/40 compares most favourably with Serena's 76/36 and she has spent only 11 minutes longer on court winning those six rounds. Only when it comes to aces is Vera lagging.
The younger Williams has walloped 80 so far, the highest total ever recorded by a woman at Wimbledon and exceeding her previous record of 72 set last year. Vera's total is 23 and the difference has not escaped her notice. "Serena can serve hard but also with precision," she observes. "She doesn't need to use the full power. She can put the ball on the lines and that's what makes it difficult against her." But the Russian further points out: "She's lost a few matches in the past, it's always possible to beat her. I will just have to try to play the game that's bothering her the most."
Actually, she has already done just that, teaming with Elena Vesnina to knock the Williams sisters out of the doubles on Thursday at the semi-final stage. Sensibly, Vera acknowledges that today is a new day and that, since she has never played Serena at singles on grass, the road is likely to be a rough one.
Serena has let on that she would rather be playing her sister, as she has done in four previous Wimbledon finals "because I would know for certain one of us is gonna win something and take something home".
But now, she reckons, she has a 50-50 chance. Most of the bookmaking fraternity would tend to tilt the odds rather more heavily in Serena's favour, and they will be happy to hear that she never considers herself guilty of over-confidence on occasions such as this. "I did that once a long time ago and ended up losing the match. So you never do that again."
Applying such wisdom has brought riches indeed to Serena Williams: 36 titles, including 12 Grand Slams, the most for any active woman player, and a firm grasp on the number one ranking, which she has held for in excess of 100 weeks. Plus the aforementioned millions of dollars.
Zvonareva is contesting her first Grand Slam final, and seven previous Wimbledons have yielded nothing more rewarding than a couple of fourth round showings, though she was a semi-finalist at the 2009 Australian Open.
Capturing the title at Pattaya City was her personal highlight of the 2010 season until Wimbledon, but she has done well to get back into competition after missing much of the 2009 season with an ankle injury and subsequent surgery. There have also been problems in the past with what her media conference questioners have diplomatically referred to as "emotions".
These occasions are stoutly defended by Vera: "I think emotions are good. They should be there. It's sport. It shows that you care, that you are trying your best out there." Which she will be doing today, and good luck to her.
by Ronald Atkin"
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| momoko |
| Posted: Jul 3 2010, 07:44 AM |
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Serena takes the first set: 6/3. |
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| llws |
| Posted: Jul 3 2010, 08:08 AM |
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Distinguished Great
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well this is a clean up!....i cant believe Venus let this opportunity to be in the finals just slip through her fingers...now Serena is gonna invade the one territory that Venus could call her own...Wimbledon...*sighs*
Good for Serena :lock ...she hasn't played alot this year but when it has mattered at the majors shes found ways to go deep or to even win....Venus needs to wake up and smell the coffee....time to draw some inspiration from Serena and add her own twist on top of it |
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| momoko |
| Posted: Jul 3 2010, 09:41 AM |
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"After winning the first set at a major Williams was 174-3, and after winning the first set in major finals she was 10-0 - the 28-year-old American's record was phenomenal in the situation and that trend continued, as she made it 175-3 and 11-0 with a 63 62 victory.
Williams' serving throughout the tournament was a centerpiece of her success. She was out-acing even the best men's players in the world (going into the semifinals she had over 1.6 aces per service game while none of the men's semifinalists even had 1) and she smashed the women's tournament ace record of 72 (which she set herself last year), finishing with 88 after the final."
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| tripp |
| Posted: Jul 3 2010, 10:21 AM |
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let's go usa!
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congrats serena! :wavey: |
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| robberté |
| Posted: Jul 3 2010, 01:18 PM |
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Come on Serena! |
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| momoko |
| Posted: Jul 3 2010, 07:52 PM |
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Incredible top level performance by Serena. :up: :lock |
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| tripp |
| Posted: Jul 13 2010, 05:19 PM |
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let's go usa!
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| QUOTE (llws @ Jul 3 2010, 09:08 AM) | well this is a clean up!....i cant believe Venus let this opportunity to be in the finals just slip through her fingers...now Serena is gonna invade the one territory that Venus could call her own...Wimbledon...*sighs*
Good for Serena :lock ...she hasn't played alot this year but when it has mattered at the majors shes found ways to go deep or to even win....Venus needs to wake up and smell the coffee....time to draw some inspiration from Serena and add her own twist on top of it |
Venus was injured yet again... she does not want to say she was injured maybe due to what happened at Indian Wells...
It's so annoying that people are now jumping on serena's bandwagon just because Venus has been injured the last 2 years at Wimbledon.
At her best, Venus outserves Serena at Wimbledon. There is not contest. Serena would need to grow about 5 inches taller.... |
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| momoko |
| Posted: Jul 22 2010, 01:14 PM |
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FREE. Free as the wind blows.
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I watched the last quarterfinals at the US Open between Serena
and Capriati. A good strong match between two good
athletes. Too bad that Jennifer has hung up her racket. :cry: :love: |
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