Sunday, April 4, 2010

Venus Ascending

So I bet Venus Williams isn't feeling too pleased with herself right now. To get absolutely smashed like she got in the final of Miami... well, no one likes that. And I imagine it's pretty hard to simply be glad you got to the final (a la Federer in Roland Garros in 2008).

We have to talk about Kimmie for a little bit, because, come on, that was seriously Kimpressive. There have been a few question marks over her since Australia and that weird loss to Nadia Petrova - was the US Open a fluke? I have to give that one a big resounding no. Kim's comeback is THE comeback against which all comebacks will be judged, even that of her Belgian compatriot and, arguably, tennis superior Justine Henin. The Kim now is better than the Kim then, and I don't think anyone will naysay that.

The Kim then probably couldn't have whaled on Venus like the Kim now did, but I think Venus has to wear a lot of today's loss. She checked out, plain and simple. She just didn't show up to the match. There are definitely two Venuses: the awesome Venus, who has been here for the majority of this week, and the not-awesome Venus. And the not-awesome Venus isn't like Rafa's evil twin Shmafa, who is still a pretty good player. The not-awesome Venus is... well, not awesome.

This said, and this hard loss taken, I think this has been a great result for Venus this week. She has been strong for a couple of months now - it's easy to forget how well she did in Australia because of that dreadful match she played in the quarters, but hello, the quarters is pretty good. And then you have her sweet results in Acapulco and whatnot... Venus has been coming hard all year, and I would argue she's looked better in the early part of this year than she has in a couple of years.

So watch out for Venus on the red stuff - because if she's coming hard now, I think she's going to come hard in the leadup to Paris. And in Wimbledon? That's Venus's turf. And if she continues wearing her awesomepants to matches (unlike today) she is going to be a serious force to be reckoned with.

1 comment:

Overhead Spin said...

Thank you for making this Venus fan feel a lot better. I was devastated by her performance in the final as I could not believe that this was the same person that I had been watching all week. I think her body just did her in and she could not find that little 10% that she is usually able to muster up to fight. Kudos to Clijsters for stepping up and not choking but this one will eat at my poor little Venus heart for a long time to come.