Bill Simons
If there were a prize for being a teen phenom who took the world by storm and became a beloved elder, Venus would get the medallion. Williams, who emerged amidst a frenzy of media attention when she was 14 (and her kid sister Serena was an unknown), is now the grand lady of tennis at age 40. She keeps on rolling. After all, today was one of the greatest days ever for 40-something athletes. While Venus scored a stunning first-round win over Kristen Flipkens not far from Melbourne Bay, in Tampa Bay Tom Brady lit it up at the Super Bowl.
True, four years ago Venus reached the Aussie Open and Wimbledon finals. But last year, she won only one of her nine matches. She was sullen in press rooms and there were whispers. Why was the once glorious champion and former No. 1 who has won seven Slams, four Olympic golds and 49 tournaments overall, soldiering on? Why was this fabled legend enduring one defeat after another? One imagined the aging Willie Mays in a Mets uniform, seeming forlorn in centerfield. Venus had lost all four of her last Slam matches and she wasn’t able to claim a set in any of them.
But a week ago, after Venus beat No. 70 Aranxta Rus in her first match of the year, Prakash Amritraj observed, “It looked like she had a case of the Benjamin Buttons.” When asked why she plays on, Venus said, “It’s fun to win. I’m good at this. I love my job. So here I am.” And today, Venus again flipped on a switch as she flipped the story line of “Flipper.” Translation: In a convincing, seamless performance, Venus downed Kristen “Flipper” Flipkens, who’s been ranked as high as No. 13, 7-5, 6-2. Williams seemed to be defying time. She moved with ease and hammered her foe’s backhand. Her ball-striking was sublime; her strength and intent were breathtaking.
After her victory Venus glowed and offered her celebrated victory twirl. As always, she didn’t go into any in-depth analysis about her match. She didn’t reference her foe’s gimpy ankle or 33 unforced errors. “I was trying to do more that worked for me and less that wasn’t,” she said.
When asked what she was looking forward to, she replied with a sparkle in her eye: “Winning – that never gets old.” She commented that Flipkens was “very tricky.” And speaking of tricks, a few years ago Venus cautioned the tennis universe not to write her off. She told us, “This old cat still has some tricks up her sleeve.”
The kid who long ago came out of Compton as a 14-year old pro again amazed many, including Milos Raonic. “She’s out there on court training. She takes it incredibly seriously,” noted the Canadian. “She doesn’t have to be out there, other than it’s her own desire and passion for the sport. People draw a lot of inspiration from that.
“She’s constantly here, because she loves it. She’ll take whatever opportunity and make the most of it and give it her all. It’s always a plus seeing her.”
The other day Naomi Osaka said, “As long as Serena is around, she’ll be the face of tennis.” Today she connected the dots: “Venus is sort of the reason why Serena is where she is,” noted Osaka. “Of course, I always love to pay homage to her. My being a little sister, I kind of talk about Serena all the time because she’s also the little sister…[But] whenever I see Venus, it’s really amazing just to watch how much she loves tennis. I see her smiling so much nowadays. It’s really nice. She just has this aura of loving the sport and this infectious energy. I hope I can learn a lot from her.”
Sister Serena observed, “Venus is such an inspiration because she never gets frustrated about her situation, health-wise. She’s always looking on the bright side. She works so hard. She’s been great. We were hitting partners for the first two and a half weeks, since we got here in Australia. It was so good to train with her every day. It’s inspiring because she still pushes me to a level that no one’s able to push me to. It was incredibly helpful.”
IT asked Venus what she would like people to learn from her career. “I’m trying to get better every day,” she began. “No matter what happens to you in life, you always hold your head up high, you give a hundred million percent. That’s what I do every single day. That’s something that I can be proud of.”
In 1994 we saw the incredible strength, the unshakeable will of a skinny 14-year old stepping out in front of 14,000 Oakland, California fans to play in one of the most hyped tennis events ever: the first match of her career. The kid dazzled us then. She did so again today. They say, “Never underestimate a Williams.” The indomitable will of those Williams sisters is a force like little else in the history of American sport.
YOU KNOW TENNIS IS BACK IN GEAR: After all, Serena and Venus both won their first matches today.
SERENA ON BRADY: Serena Williams, who watched bits of the Super Bowl today, said Tom Brady is “unbelievable.” Then a reporter noted that the Buccaneer had banished his three-year old son while he prepared for the Super Bowl. Serena seemed a bit stunned. “I would not be able to function without my three-year-old around,” she confided. “I think I would be in a depression. We’ve been together every day of her life, so…Is that healthy? Not at all (laughter). Not even close. But every single day I just want to be around her. It’s great. Everyone’s different. I can totally understand why he would banish [his son] because if I had the strength to do it, I would too. I could see it’s definitely a distraction…I finally am starting to get better at it. The first two and a half years were very difficult. I wasn’t strong enough to do the banishment.”
PUTTING ON THE FRITZ: America’s highest ranked player in the Aussie Open, Taylor Fritz, started his campaign today with a win over Albert Ramos Vinolas. The talented Californian, ranked No. 30, has never gotten beyond the third round in a major. And it would be quite an achievement to do that in Melbourne: he could well face Novak Djokovic in the third round.
SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT TO US: Writer Jon Toney, the author of the insightful book The Honest Racquet, summarized the great effort by Aussie authorities in four words: “resiliency, tenacity, honesty, optimism.”
TILEY’S TRUTH: Aussie Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley reflected on working with all the players prior to the Open. He told the Tennis Channel, “At the beginning, the players had to get used to the quarantine process, but once they did everything settled down. Most of the players have been fantastic. There are always one or two who are standouts, but you are always going to get that in a group. But they all have been brilliant and responded very well…They’ve all been following the protocols. They are playing for $86 million in prize money and I think they’re appreciative of the opportunity.”
As for the huge adjustments he had to make last week, Tiley said, “When you get a call Wednesday night from the health office to let you know [there’s been a positive test] it’s like, ‘Oh geez, what else is going to come?’ But we tested 500 players within the space of 24 hours and got the results back. Everyone was negative and then we were up and running.”
NUMBER OF THE WEEK: Over 1,000 players were flown in to Australia from over 130 countries around the world on 17 charter flights. But the number that stands out to us is 54 – the number of hours Aussie Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley went without sleep.
FASHION FAIL: Alexander Zverev’s floppy sleeveless shirt drew criticism. One commentator claimed you have to have muscles like Rafa to look good in a shirt like that.
