Serena Ready to Retain Title
Thursday, June 3, 2004
It would seem that the burning question of whether Serena Williams would return to defend her Wimbledon title has been settled. She is definitely back and her return will be welcome across the tennis world.
The then world number-one won The Championships – her sixth Grand Slam title – by defeating her ailing sister Venus in July 2003. She then effectively disappeared from the tennis circuit for eight straight months, pulling out of 12 tournaments, due to a knee problem which was corrected by surgery last August.
Her recovery, however, proved much slower than even she expected, forcing her to skip both the US and Australian Opens. “I can’t wait to start back playing again,” the frustrated 21-year-old admitted at the end of last year, a sentiment shared by many in the game as her absence continued to fuel rumors of the opposite.
“She misses the competition,” sister Venus said in Australia in a bid to stem negative comment and assure the tennis fraternity that the Wimbledon champion would be back, and in top form.
But the rumors persisted as Serena used her time off court to pursue other personal ambitions, like launching a clothing line with her own designs, and acting, appearing in a film called ‘Beauty Shop’, and on TV as a teacher in ‘My Wife and Kid’ as well as a wrongly convicted woman in a drama called ‘Street Time’.
“I like to play dress up, make different things and design different things. It’s fun – and I like to go to events wearing my own designs now,” Williams admitted.
On top of those activities she has secured a massive US$40 million endorsement contract with Nike which reputedly will make her the highest paid female athlete of all time. But to achieve that she will not only have to continue her tennis career, but regain the standard and levels she achieved before undergoing surgery.
The big question is whether she can regain the supremacy that, between 2002 and 2003, won her all four Grand Slams in her self-dubbed ‘Serena Slam’.
Her win over Venus at last year’s Championships ensured her status within the game despite her earlier loss of her French title. So with six majors already to her credit, and a total of 23 tournament triumphs, everything looked well set for a decade of Williams domination but her enforced lay-off has seen the Belgians, Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters, take over at the top. A battle royale is expected when all four, including Venus, return fully fit to deal with the rigors of the circuit.
Neither of the Williams sisters has ever been worried about the competition, having been brought up to believe they are the best so, as far as either of them is concerned, Henin-Hardenne and Clijsters are just keeping the seats warm for them. However, their famous mental strength was truly tested when, last September, their sister Yetunde Price was murdered in Los Angeles. The loss and circumstances hit the family hard and even now, they can’t really talk about it in public as they fight for the custody of Yetunde’s three children, Jeffery, Justus and Jair.
Tennis, though, needs the Williams sisters, especially the flamboyant Serena but there is no doubt that her interest in the game is not as focused as it has been. “I’ve always wanted to play tennis – to leave a mark – and I think I’ll be able to leave that mark with what I’ve already done – and I’m still only 21,” she commented recently.
For the sake of tennis, let us hope she sticks with the sport that elevated her to icon status.
Unfortunately her initial return to the circuit didn’t augur well as she appeared in Doha only to withdraw with flu, but then went on to win the Miami title for a third consecutive year.
In April she was upset in the quarter finals by Nadia Petrova and later withdrew from Charleston with a knee inflammation but, in May, she reached the semi-finals of Rome where Jennifer Capriati ended a run of eight straight defeats at her hands. It was Capriati who again defeated her at Roland Garros, where Serena looked to suffer from hamstring problems.
For a player who has already contributed greatly to the sport, it is indeed interesting to discover that she declared her best tennis moment as being winning the first of her Wimbledon titles in 2002. As the defending champion, she will be keen to return to the All England Lawn Tennis Club fully fit and ready to retain her crown at this year’s Championships.
