That serve is still a liability. Peak Sjogrenus 11 DF's, 3 when serving for the match at 5-4, 4 when serving at 6-5. Like watching someone on life support . Wasted a 5-3 lead got broken to 5 all but then miraculously managed to break Larsson. Hitting 63 mph serves all in all one of the most painfull matches i' ve ever seen. Jo La also sucking on big points.
Serena and Sloane hugging out of relief.... at least she won though
Y'all stfu!!!! Despite adversity (Sjogren's, back probs, etc), Venus competed and fought fiercely to the bitter end, unlike some of her compatriots who are 10 yrs younger & just fade away in the face of pressure. Congrats Team USA anchored by the Williams Sisters
I am glad I did not watch the match, but happy she won.
Obviously, she still has work to do, but at least she did not MJF down for switch things around in the middle of the tournament.
Off topic: Apparently Sloane kinda rolled her eyes and sneered (i believe) when the interviewer asked Venus about being chosen over Sloane. The camera panned over to her and caught it.
Apparently, Jo-La is almost a fangirl of the WS and playing them for the first time with the added pressure of being in a must-win situation put her in a very tough position. Like I said after the Serena match, you could see Jo was much more subdued and less full of vinegar than she usually is, even against other highly ranked players. I think it also showed in her inability to take advantage of Venus today.
I'm also a fan of Sloane, but I think Larsson might actually have had a shot against her today. Jo-La thrives on playing for Sweden and Sloane would have felt the pressure worse than Larsson.
My two cents. I think Vee had this one won before it started even with her health issues.
Anyway, I'm glad that Vee won. Rooting for her was natural, unlike last night when I had to keep remind myself "Oh, wait, I want Sarin to win this one." :lol:
Anyway, I'm glad that Vee won. Rooting for her was natural, unlike last night when I had to keep remind myself "Oh, wait, I want Sarin to win this one." :lol:
That was dreadful from Venus at the end. I hope she rests the back and skips Madrid or Rome, maybe not even play either of them. There is no use wasting energy or potentially hurting her back more for the clay season. She needs to pick her spots and take care of her body. I want to see her full energy going towards Wimbledon this year.
Clearly Venus was having back issues towards the end of the 2nd set. She was lucky to win this in straight sets with some of her serves falling into the 60s mph. Hopefully she won't be out of action too long this time.
GIRLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!! Be glad you did miss it. I was watching online thinking it would be routine (although I don't know what the hell I was thinking because nothing seems to be routine for Venus these days). So I saw the see saw of the second set and then saw Venus serving for it at 6-5 and saw all these back and forth deuce, MP, and BP and had to watch it so I got on the live link cuz I wasn't home where I had the tennis channel. Just the 5 minutes of watching her barely hit serves in and spray backhands and forehands was enough to almost stroke me out so I can't imagine how it must have felt for people who watched the whole match, particularly from about 3-3 in the second set. Five minutes of watching it almost sent me over the edge because I had a feeling if it went to a tiebreak she would lose and if it went 3 she would've definitely lost.
I'm not going to second-guess MJ at this point. We won. We get to play with the big kids again. That's all that matters to me.
I would hope that our team is mature enough to realize that that's what they are, a team. Vavara did the heavy lifting last time, this time it was Serena.
Credit to both, and to Venus for finishing off Jo-La. I know I'm biased, but my blonde pal can be a dangerous and tricky player. This was a good win for Vee and the USA.