A Williams Sisters Final Holds Great Promise
Leaving Centre Court 15 minutes after Serena completed the Sisters destiny, a Saturday Wimbledon final, and there was a throng gathered at the base of the staircase outside our NBC broadcast location.
I have never seen that kind of gathering so I paused to assess.
It was Richard Williams holding court.
My views on the man are clear: he is reprehensible in his words (racist) and deeds (the abandonment of his first family including three kids, see VENUS ENVY by Jon Wertheim for more details.)
My views on the father are also clear: he and Oracene Price raised two intelligent, talented and increasingly classy women.
He has said he is leaving Wimbledon, that he can’t watch the Sisters face each other. It doesn’t matter that he won’t be here. He has already won.
Women’s tennis is in a precarious state. Globalization doesn’t sell in America, the best emerging American player in recent years won’t acknowledge the U.S. (Maria Sharapova), the tour is losing its title sponsor and the world’s best player abruptly quit.
So enter the women who propelled the tour to new heights in the early part of this decade. They have been part-time players since with part-time success. But now, with a vacuum at the top of the sport, temporarily occupied by Ana Ivanovic while Sharapova flounders through the summer, Venus and Serena have made women’s tennis relevant again.
When they play Saturday, for the third time in a Wimbledon final at a Club they have owned (only one women’s final this decade has been without a Williams), America will watch. And that matters in tennis. The world will also watch, if nothing else but to see how time has treated the Sisters.
They will see a mature Venus who carries herself with grace and has superior grass court movement. They will see a pleasantly maturing Serena, who has finally tempered the loose tongue that has often dismissed and disrespected opponents.
Venus is never more confident than on Centre Court. It is her Magic Kingdom. Serena is healthy, playing in her eighth consecutive Slam, a personal record.
They were both pressed in the second sets of their semis, but neither was threatened with defeat. They simply serve too well.
But they have faced overmatched competition to this point, particularly Venus. No one else can challenge them thus the challenge must come from each other.
Rarely in their previous Slam finals did that happen. Five years of wisdom and maturity could well lead to a better match. As unpleasant as the assignment may be, I think the Sisters will put their lives on hold for two hours and give us a worthy final Saturday. 
July 5th, 2008 at 2:37 am
You are really annoying…. you pseudo moral judgements on this family is ludicrous….You need to do something about your loose tongue its really aggrivating.