OT: Venus & Serena

[wire chief]

The ladies are in the 2nd round of the US Open today. Serena should not be tested by an unseeded player about 4pm. The younger sister did not give her fans a lengthy match at night on Tuesday.
Venus is under the lights against top ten German Angelique Kerber who knocked Venus out of the Olympics. Venus stated that she rushed her reentry from rehabilitation because of her desire to compete in the Olympics. Anyway, if Venus can serve as well as she did Tuesday, she has a good chance, but Sjogen's Syndrome can play nasty at any time.

 

[VAMike23]

Venus's serve looked wicked on the highlights I saw from her last match. She appears to be tossing it out just a little bit wider than usual, and coming around it. Whatever she's doing, it's working so far !

 

[easttexastrash]

I would love to see Venus pull off the upset. Kerber knocked off Serena just a couple of weeks ago.

 

[alexrgct]

Very fascinated to track Serena's progress through this tournament. Coco V simply doesn't have the toolkit to challenge Serena on a consistent basis, regardless of what happened at Stanford a month ago. The wind didn't help (Serena, amazingly, seemed completely unfazed serving through the gusty conditions).

Here's the thing: Steffi won her first major in 1987 and her last in 1999. Martina won her first in 1978 and her last in 1990. Chrissie won her first in 1974 and her last in 1986. Coincidentally, those are all 12-year spans. Meanwhile, Serena is already at a 13 year gap between her first and last (1999, 2012). And that's not all; over the course of the second week of Wimby and the Olympics she played not only some of the best tennis of her career, but some of the best tennis any woman has ever played. If she can keep that up, she might just be able to pass Martina and Chris for majors won and stake a legitimate claim to the greatest of all time. At least one more French title would help. So would a fourth US Open crown.

If Angelique Kerber is ready to be a contender rather than a pretender, this is a match she has to win. Venus may be a HoFer, a legend, and a seven-time slam winner, but she hasn't won a major in four years and hasn't won a major other than Wimbledon since 2001. Is Kerber ready for it to be her time?

 

[wire chief]

Very fascinated to track Serena's progress through this tournament. Coco V simply doesn't have the toolkit to challenge Serena on a consistent basis, regardless of what happened at Stanford a month ago. The wind didn't help (Serena, amazingly, seemed completely unfazed serving through the gusty conditions).

Here's the thing: Steffi won her first major in 1987 and her last in 1999. Martina won her first in 1978 and her last in 1990. Chrissie won her first in 1974 and her last in 1986. Coincidentally, those are all 12-year spans. Meanwhile, Serena is already at a 13 year gap between her first and last (1999, 2012). And that's not all; over the course of the second week of Wimby and the Olympics she played not only some of the best tennis of her career, but some of the best tennis any woman has ever played. If she can keep that up, she might just be able to pass Martina and Chris for majors won and stake a legitimate claim to the greatest of all time. At least one more French title would help. So would a fourth US Open crown.

If Angelique Kerber is ready to be a contender rather than a pretender, this is a match she has to win. Venus may be a HoFer, a legend, and a seven-time slam winner, but she hasn't won a major in four years and hasn't won a major other than Wimbledon since 2001. Is Kerber ready for it to be her time?

There are those, and not just a few, who argue the Serenaa is already the greatest of all time. Navratilova is on record as saying that when Serena is at her best, she'd knock anyone off the court.

 

[alexrgct]

There's no doubt in my mind that Serena playing her best tennis would beat any women's player ever. However, overall career accomplishments, dominance in one's era, and consistency have to count for something. It's not only about who wins the most majors, given that basically no one thinks Margaret Court is the GOAT. But it would help if she had some dominant years in a row. Steffi had 1988, 1989, 1993, 1995, and 1996. Martina had a nasty run between 1982 and 1987. Serena, meanwhile, had a dominant two-year run in 2002 and 2003, then proceeded to win only three majors between 2004 and 2008, and then injuries robbed her of a run that would probably have included 2009-present. If she can go on a run for a couple years here and get to 18 or 19, I think the greatest ever title is hers.

 

[wire chief]

Oh, so close...

Venus began her match about 9:30 last night against 6-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany.
In the first 10 games Venus could not hold her serve, and as she was down 2-6 and 0-2, it looked like I could follow my normal bedtime.
Of course Venus was victim of her lousy serve percentage, unforced errors and double faults, but she's also playing a successful woman, who doesn't blow you off the court on serve or with Williams type power. But she is great at tracking shots down and returning them deep enough. Somebody like Venus will get impatient with having to hit so many balls to win a point.
Then Venus changed her racket grip. Her what?! Yeah it sounds merely psychological, but she then reeled off 7 games while Kerber only managed 3.
Now, the 3rd set becomesw really competitive, giving fans their money's worth, while loudly encouraging the American. At one point it's 4-4. Sadly, Venus let the next 2 games get away and hence the match.

This is a tournament of culminations. Kim Clisjters is hanging up her shoes and so too is Andy Roddick.
But just one man's opinion doesn't see that yet happening with Venus. This shortened season (for her) has included an Olympics gold medal in doubles, reaching the semis of a US Open lead-up event and now hanging tough vs. a top ten player. Methinks Venus likes her progress and thinks there will be time enough to focus on her charity work and fashion business later.

Oh, and her sister? Sure, she is through to the 3rd round pretty easily.