Black Tennis Pros

The Williams’ last Slam doubles victory was on the SW19 lawns two years ago, and they had lost their only previous doubles outing this year in the United Arab Emirates. With a ranking of 88, they are seeded No.8 here in a nod to their record at the All England Club.

It should not be overlooked that the two women now have a combined age of 66, in contrast to 26-year-old Savchuk and 23-year-old Kalashnikova. The years may not always favour the sisters now – both arrived on court in long-sleeved tops, with Venus additionally in capris, none of which extra warmth was required by the opposition – but the trade is that all that experience does no harm at all. Moreover, time seems to make no impression on their competitive hunger, with both sisters determined to wring the very most from their careers.

Venus held her opening serve, the first game of the match, so quickly to love that the clock had yet to register even one minute. Amid some fabulous volleying exchanges they broke Kalashnikova’s serve for 4-2. But the Russian-Ukrainian pair were up for the fight and not only leveled but powered on, increasing their service accuracy. At five-all Serena attempted a backhand down the line which fell way short of requirements, and moments later a Kalashnikova volley yielded the crucial break.

But at the start of the second the sisters combined brilliantly to break for 3-1.
With Serena pounding the ball from the baseline and Venus doling out the punishment at the net, the set went by in a flash. Yet at the start of the third confusion reigned as the two literally bumped into each other at the net, while Savchuk and Kalashnikova capitalised to go 3-0 up. Serena expressed her frustration with a mighty smash at the Russian to hold serve, which drew a particularly withering look from Savchuk. But Serena was accelerating into super-aggressive mode and the sisters levelled. Indeed, at 3-3 her impetus was such as she chased a backhand wide that she ended up in the lap of a startled spectator at courtside. Cue laughter from Serena, Venus and their mother Oracene who was in the stands.

It did not alter the focus of “Team Williams”, as umpire Julie Kjendlie labelled the Americans. They broke again for 5-4, and the result was sealed on the first match point as Serena punched away the winning volley.


source:  wimbledon.org

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Wimbledon is a happy place this fortnight, if your name is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The 26-year-old Frenchman has smiled his way through the first three rounds, apparently unperturbed by the small troubles life may put in his way.

He breezed his way to another contented win over the Chilean Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 and those who like their tennis quick will have relished this encounter as much as the No.12 seed himself. The entire joust was done in an economical 84 minutes.

In fact, parts of this match were so brisk, they verged on the bizarre. Neither of these two players is a chap to linger over personal pre-service rituals, with the result that the first set lasted 22 minutes, and it wasn't as if it was a whitewash. It was just that rallies on Tsonga's serve were a bit of a rarity and, besides, he had the necessary break in the bag at 3-1.

For those watching on No.2 Court, the constant risk was that they might sneeze at the wrong moment and find that they had missed some crucial passage of play. Glancing away for 10 seconds could leave spectators wondering how they missed half the set.

Tsonga, whose best Wimbledon was last year when he reached the quarter-finals, arrived at SW19 this fortnight with mixed form on grass. On the one hand, he brought the encouragement of being runner-up to Andy Murray at Queen's earlier this month; on the other, he followed it by losing to Radek Stepanek in the second round at Eastbourne.

As for 30-year-old Gonzalez, this was his first Grand Slam tournament since retiring in the first round of last autumn's US Open with a knee injury, itself caused by a previous hip injury dating back a further year. His ranking coming into Wimbledon was 478, and he made it into the main draw on a protected ranking because of this prolonged period out through injury. He did well to reach the third round, beating the No.22 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov in the first round.

At the start of the second set, Tsonga had the Chilean racing all over the court. He easily commanded three break points for 2-1 and converted the first as a matter of course. The next game was not atypical of the entire match. Tsonga served three aces, made one unforced error, and then made it a quartet of aces for good measure.

Umpire Fergus Murphy barely had time to announce the score in his trademark musical delivery before it was out of date and he was on to the next. At 5-3, Tsonga had two openings to break again and take the set, but in the event was obliged to cool his heels and serve it out.

Gonzalez had his chances, not least three opportunities to break early in the third set. But each time Tsonga dug his way out of the hole. Instead it was the Frenchman who broke in the next game, courtesy of a wild Gonzalez forehand at the net.

It was the same pattern as the set before, but this time when Tsonga had the chance to break again, it was to secure the win, and he took it. Even Gonzalez smiled back at Tsonga at the net.

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Well, at least we know where Venus Williams will not be in the next couple of days - she will not be in the gym busting a gut. After spending nearly three hours huffing and puffing on Centre Court to get the better of Kimiko Date-Krumm, she has given herself a little time off.

"When you lose, that gives you extra time to go practice and work out in the gym. But I prefer not to have the extra time," she said with perfect comic timing (not that she was laughing as she said it). "I've had a ton of extra time to be in the gym in the last five months, then the three months before that, then the three months before that. So it's been too much gym time. I needed that win and I'm glad it worked out for me."

It was an odd assessment of what had been a stunning match. The 40-year-old Date-Krumm had given Venus the most almighty scare, nipping to a 5-1 lead and then refusing to lie down when Venus started to fight back. The tennis was remarkable, the atmosphere was electric and the result was up in the air until the last couple of points. The crowd loved it; Venus seemed marginally less enthusiastic about the whole affair. This had been just a little too close for comfort.

"As you can tell in the match, I was very serious about trying to get the win, even down 1‑5 in the first set," she said. "I really felt like if I held and broke, I would still be in there. Even down, I don't know, was it 2‑6 in the tiebreak, I was still trying to win that set. So I always thought I was going out there to win it.

"She runs down every ball. She hits every ball basically on the baseline, hard and flat. If you get it anywhere near the mid‑court, she hits for the corners and comes to the net. I thought she played unbelievable today. I thought she had some luck on her side, too, with net cords, balls hitting lines. I just thought today was a perfect storm for her to try to get a win. Thankfully I had some answers."

The perfect storm above (which was actually more like relentless drizzle) meant that the roof was closed for the duration of the match giving Venus her first taste of "indoor Wimbledon". This, it turned out, was not necessarily a good thing as the acoustics amplified her every yelp of disapproval as another ball went wide or long.

"The roof was a lot warmer and definitely you can hear some echoes," she said. "So when I was frustrated, you could definitely hear those screams echoing around the arena."

Those screams continued for much of the three sets but, no matter, Venus would not give in. Since leaving SW19 last year, she had only played three tournaments thanks to injury and now, at last fit again, she was not going to be dumped out of her favourite tournament without a fight.

"I thought my movement was really good and I was competing really well," she said. "Because, let me tell you, she was really competing well. On big points, she was hitting all kind of shots on the line. So when you play an opponent like that, you just have to kind of get into that competitive mode and compete no matter what happens.

"I've been extremely positive regardless of how my opponent's playing ‑ not only here but also in Eastbourne. Just no matter what the score, very positive. Just keeping fighting. I think that's going to be crucial, not only for me but for anyone in this championship to stay positive and keep fighting."

And the longer she fights, the less time she has to spend in the gym. From here, that definitely looks like a win-win for the No.23 seed.

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