Saturday, July 5, 2008

The Williams Way

Watching Venus take out Serena this morning was quite enjoyable. It was tennis' ultimate stage hosting the game's ultimate women competitors of the last decade in a battle that may have only been two sets, but was all the makings of a Wimbledon classic.

When I wrote yesterday about being plain excited for this weekend, my focus was on the personalities featured over these two days, but this morning Venus and Serena reminded me: it's all about the tennis.

The two women produced tremendous tennis this morning, especially Venus, who belted away and capitalized on her opportunities to win the match 7-5 6-4.

While Mary Carillo blabbed away during the match, what transpired on my TV screen was a high-quality game of grass court tennis that featured strong serving, incredible baseline exchanges, terrific net play and tremendous movement. Venus proved - surprisingly - to be the more consistent sister and to capitalize on her chances. That stat, break point conversions, proved to be the title clincher.

On the girl's side of things, it was no epic sister battle, but instead, a bright 14-year-old British girl winning the title. Laura Robson beat Thailand's Noppawan Lertcheewakarn 6-3 3-6 6-1. Robson, unseeded and ranked 36th, beat the girl's number one seed in the second round of this tournament, hadn't played a junior grand slam draw ever, as far as I can tell.

More on that story as it develops. But England may have just found its counterpart to Andy Murray in the next generation of British tennis.

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