Venus Williams is starting on an excellent re-enactment of her starring role as the WTA Tour's most feared player in 2000-2001 this week at the Bank of the West Classic. She followed up an impressive 6-2, 6-2 win over Maria Sharapova with an even more dominant 6-0, 6-1 thrashing of third seed Elena Dementieva in the semifinals. Williams played well from all over the court, moving well and on balance, hitting howitzer forehands, and blasting serves that drew return errors or set up winners on the next ball. “Usually I try to put pressure on her forehand, which was not her best shot, but today… wow. Maybe it was a better idea to send the backhands crosscourt.”
Venus Williams, mid-serve
Dementieva went on to include Venus, along with Serena Williams and Justin Henin, in the top three players she has ever faced when playing at their best. About Venus, Elena noted, “It feels like right now she’s playing her best. She looks very, very confident on court. Today, I don’t think there was something I could do to play an effective game, because she was just too solid. The percentage on my first serve was very low, and I was giving her a chance to attack me every time.”
Despite another impressive showing, Venus managed to find a few faults with her performance: “I felt my best games were the last two. Before that, I was making too many errors. Just not in rhythm, making some elementary errors. The last two games were a lot better.”
The elder Williams sister gives very controlled, opaque, nearly Garbo-esque answers to the media. When pressed to describe how she could play better, she commented “I can get my first serve percentage up a little more. And keep my errors down a little bit. I’m definitely focusing on what I can do better, no matter the score.” As to whether she has ever been impressed with herself on-court, Venus replied, “Maybe [at] Wimbledon.”
She also reflected on who might have shared the marquee with her in Sunday’s final, “[Stosur] has a lot of talent and she’s making good on it.”
Williams sisters scramble on a point en route to a straight-set win against Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Nadia Petrova
Venus returned to the court in less than an hour to join her sister in an entertaining 6-2, 6-2 doubles victory over Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Nadia Petrova. Venus and Serena are now in the finals at Stanford, and may well play more doubles at Cincinnati and Toronto en route to the US Open.
More photos from the 2009 Bank of the West Classic Tennis Tournament.
Photos: Scott Minor