GogoGirl
Nov 9th, 2002, 05:45 PM
What a wonderful and fantastic quarter Venus & Monica played. As a fan though - I was sticking w/Venus. She usually gets very up when she has to play Monica. And one of the reasons is one she mentioned last night.
She grew up idolizing and copying Monica. She pretended she was on the grass at Wimby w/her. She dreamed of playing her and beating her. Winners dare to dream.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20021109-9999_1s9tennis.html
Venus outruns Seles in a loud quarterfinal
By Jerry Magee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 9, 2002
LOS ANGELES – Growing up, Venus Williams admired Monica Seles so much that she even copied her grunt. Good thing.
The senior of the tennis-playing Williams sisters, playing in only her second tournament since the U.S. Open, had to huff and puff plenty at Staples Center last night before she could get past Seles 7-5, 6-4 and gain the semifinals of the WTA Championships, also known as the Home Depot Championships presented by Porsche.
Seles led in both sets, 4-1 in the first and 2-0 in the second. She demonstrated to a crowd of about 5,000 – yesterday's two sessions totaled 8,782 – that she could hit with Venus and even handle her serve. But she can't move with Venus.
"Which is why she is No. 2 and I'm No. 6," said Seles.
As a grunter, or course, Seles is in a league of her own. "I can't keep up with her in that part," acknowledged Venus. "Maybe I'm not getting the best out of myself."
Venus remembered that she had not grunted on a tennis court before she heard Seles doing it. "And now I can't stop," said Venus.
Venus may have to expel her breath explosively some more before this $3 million event concludes. In the semifinals, she is to oppose Kim Clijsters, a 6-2, 6-1 winner yesterday over Justine Henin, her countrywoman from Belgium.
At this point in the Sanex WTA Tour's long season, most of the women are dragging. In comparison to her peers, Clijsters is positively buoyant. She also is playing strongly, having won six straight matches and 13 of 14.
"Maybe some of the other players are looking forward to going home," said Clijsters. "Maybe that's why they're getting tired. I want the year to end well, and there are four matches you can play here. It's nothing, four matches, so you try to really focus and be very professional."
Of the matches conducted here, only two have been compelling, both involving Seles – her opening-round conquest of Lindsay Davenport, when she resisted seven match points against her, and her encounter last night with Venus Williams.
"There were some great points, for sure," said the winner, "and some long games. It was a two-set match, but it lasted almost two hours."
Ultimately, Venus' vastly superior court coverage enabled her to run her career advantage over her veteran opponent to 9-1. The only time Seles has won: at this year's Australian Open, when she prevailed 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-3.
Seles consistently sped back stunning service returns; in seven of Venus' 11 service games, Seles had advantages. But she could convert only three of 13 break points. Venus delivered on five of 10 break points and scored breaks in three of Seles' last four service games.
Seles' best opportunity arguably came in the first set. In this set, after falling behind 1-4, Venus was serving at 3-4, 30-40. Here, she had a forehand hit the top of the net and trickle over. Had the ball fallen the other way, Seles would have had a 5-3 advantage. Instead, it was deuce and Venus later won the game to even the match.
At 5-5, Williams broke Seles at love and served out the set. But still the winner had to labor. An example: down 2-3 in the second set, she served a game that included 26 points and went to deuce nine times. Venus twice turned away break points and finally won the game and, a bit later, the match.
After it was over, Seles was presented a large glass tennis ball as "Sanex Hero of the Year" for being named the tour's most popular player in a poll conducted on a web site. No, Seles said, she has no to plans to retire.
In Clijsters, Venus is to go against the only player to extend her while she was capturing the Acura Classic at La Costa in early August. Venus scored in the quarterfinals 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 and went on to whip past Davenport and Jelena Dokic with the loss of only seven games.
Clijsters took only 59 minutes to dispatch Henin. Clijsters breezed through it, hitting 15 winners to her rival's five, making just 22 errors to Henin's 33 and never having her service severed.
She grew up idolizing and copying Monica. She pretended she was on the grass at Wimby w/her. She dreamed of playing her and beating her. Winners dare to dream.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20021109-9999_1s9tennis.html
Venus outruns Seles in a loud quarterfinal
By Jerry Magee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 9, 2002
LOS ANGELES – Growing up, Venus Williams admired Monica Seles so much that she even copied her grunt. Good thing.
The senior of the tennis-playing Williams sisters, playing in only her second tournament since the U.S. Open, had to huff and puff plenty at Staples Center last night before she could get past Seles 7-5, 6-4 and gain the semifinals of the WTA Championships, also known as the Home Depot Championships presented by Porsche.
Seles led in both sets, 4-1 in the first and 2-0 in the second. She demonstrated to a crowd of about 5,000 – yesterday's two sessions totaled 8,782 – that she could hit with Venus and even handle her serve. But she can't move with Venus.
"Which is why she is No. 2 and I'm No. 6," said Seles.
As a grunter, or course, Seles is in a league of her own. "I can't keep up with her in that part," acknowledged Venus. "Maybe I'm not getting the best out of myself."
Venus remembered that she had not grunted on a tennis court before she heard Seles doing it. "And now I can't stop," said Venus.
Venus may have to expel her breath explosively some more before this $3 million event concludes. In the semifinals, she is to oppose Kim Clijsters, a 6-2, 6-1 winner yesterday over Justine Henin, her countrywoman from Belgium.
At this point in the Sanex WTA Tour's long season, most of the women are dragging. In comparison to her peers, Clijsters is positively buoyant. She also is playing strongly, having won six straight matches and 13 of 14.
"Maybe some of the other players are looking forward to going home," said Clijsters. "Maybe that's why they're getting tired. I want the year to end well, and there are four matches you can play here. It's nothing, four matches, so you try to really focus and be very professional."
Of the matches conducted here, only two have been compelling, both involving Seles – her opening-round conquest of Lindsay Davenport, when she resisted seven match points against her, and her encounter last night with Venus Williams.
"There were some great points, for sure," said the winner, "and some long games. It was a two-set match, but it lasted almost two hours."
Ultimately, Venus' vastly superior court coverage enabled her to run her career advantage over her veteran opponent to 9-1. The only time Seles has won: at this year's Australian Open, when she prevailed 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-3.
Seles consistently sped back stunning service returns; in seven of Venus' 11 service games, Seles had advantages. But she could convert only three of 13 break points. Venus delivered on five of 10 break points and scored breaks in three of Seles' last four service games.
Seles' best opportunity arguably came in the first set. In this set, after falling behind 1-4, Venus was serving at 3-4, 30-40. Here, she had a forehand hit the top of the net and trickle over. Had the ball fallen the other way, Seles would have had a 5-3 advantage. Instead, it was deuce and Venus later won the game to even the match.
At 5-5, Williams broke Seles at love and served out the set. But still the winner had to labor. An example: down 2-3 in the second set, she served a game that included 26 points and went to deuce nine times. Venus twice turned away break points and finally won the game and, a bit later, the match.
After it was over, Seles was presented a large glass tennis ball as "Sanex Hero of the Year" for being named the tour's most popular player in a poll conducted on a web site. No, Seles said, she has no to plans to retire.
In Clijsters, Venus is to go against the only player to extend her while she was capturing the Acura Classic at La Costa in early August. Venus scored in the quarterfinals 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 and went on to whip past Davenport and Jelena Dokic with the loss of only seven games.
Clijsters took only 59 minutes to dispatch Henin. Clijsters breezed through it, hitting 15 winners to her rival's five, making just 22 errors to Henin's 33 and never having her service severed.