Venus Williams has been struggling with her form as of late, with two defeats to Pavlyuchenkova in Asia and now a three set defeat to Elena Dementieva at the Sony Ericsson Championships, a woman she has not lost to in five years.
At 29 years of age and the oldest woman in the field, will she ever be able to cause any damage in Grand Slams again? I have major doubts about her desire, which is shown by constantly losing tight three set matches this year. Venus has played nineteen three set matches this year winning ten and losing nine. However, only two of those three set match wins came against Top 20 players. Six of her three set losses have come against Top 20 Players. Does this not tell Venus that the higher ranked girls are simply in better physcial shape than her at the moment?
The thing is does she really care? I get the sense, that although I think she wants to do well, she is not willing to put the hours on the training court in order to perform as well as she can in singles. I realised at the US Open, she still loves winning as she played through the pain barrier to win the US open doubles with Serena (If Serena was injured, she would have just pulled out). I dont know if others have picked up on this, but I have always noticed a difference in Venus' intensity at Wimbledon compared to all the other tournaments. She moves better, and she has that look in her eye, that she means business. Why cant she be like that all year round?
Having read recently that Venus is set to play in Hong Kong for her preparation for the Australian Open, I question whether she is playing there solely for money. She has not got past the quarter final in her past six attempts, so surely she should think about preparing in Australia than Hong Kong?
Do I think there will be a resurgence next year? No I dont. Unless she works her socks off on her fitness over the off season, next season she will continue losing matches in three sets and have early exits in the slams apart from Wimbledon.
Come on Venus, a tennis career is short lived, and you probably only have three years left in you, so go out there in the off season and give it a go!
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I felt the same way watching her yesterday. Actually i was infuriated and sent out expletive filled calls for her to retire. I've cooled down somewhat since then and after some clear thinking, i think Vee needs to just get over her infamous stubborness and just do a few things.
ReplyDelete1. Get a serve coach. Why in the world is Venus Williams not serving at least ten aces a match? with that height and reach and athleticism....why. And her second serve has been useless for YEARS....why is a top calibre player not able to fix this? She has the resources.
2. New hitting partner. Crosscourt forehand to crosscourt backhand exchanges like the ones so heavily featured in yesterdays meltdown against Dementieva just don't cut it. Not anymore. Venus still runs like a gazelle but so does any other player in the WTA who matters. Add some variety to your shots venus....get a hitting partner who's gonna give you different looks.
3.Show some intensity out there Venus. I know you're introverted and all and i don't want you to be Serena but a few come ons wouldn't be too bad would they?
I agree that unless she undertakes a drastic retooling of her game, she's toast....not toast as in can't contend in slams but toast as in can't win a wta tournament period.