Black Tennis Pros

It would seem that the reports of Williams’s demise have been exaggerated. At the age of 33 and suffering from Sjorgen’s Syndrome, she is supposed to be a spent force, past it, consigned to history. But you write off Venus at your peril. The former champion has no intention of going anywhere for a very long time to come.

She moved impressively into the third round with a 7-6, 6-1 win over the diminutive Kurumi Nara on Wednesday, the world No. 41 from Japan, and much as a couple of wins does not constitute a championship-winning run, she clearly has plans to stay in town for a while. She served well enough, she hit 46 winners, she kept the error count down to a respectable 16 and she bossed the show once the first set was done.

Back in 2011, Venus revealed that she had been diagnosed with Sjorgen’s Syndrome, an auto-immune disorder that leaves the sufferer with a range of symptoms from a dry mouth to joint pain and chronic fatigue. Yet, through diet, careful management of her schedule and grim determination not to be beaten, she has found a way to compete at the top level despite everything. There are still good days and bad days, but Venus will not give in. And as she pushed Nara this way and that on No. 3 Court, it was the Japanese who was struggling physically, not Venus.

As for the future, Venus was adamant. Nothing, not a disease, not a syndrome and not another birthday, was going to stop her.

“I feel like I am still a great tennis player,” she said earlier this year. “When I’m ready to go, I’ll go.”

But clearly not just yet.


source:  wimbledon.org