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Williamses are winning people over
Posted: Friday September 10, 1999 04:06 PM By Jon Wertheim, Sports Illustrated
But admit this, too,about King Richard: By accident or design he is the father of two delightful, well-adjusted young women he loves dearly. In a sport littered with "head cases," to use the vernacular, Venus and Serena Williams distinguish themselves as much by their carriage as their unsurpassing tennis. As they are all to happy to point out, they are formally educated. They have interests that transcend hitting the felt off a yellow ball. And as business-like as they are on the court, after match point they're genial young women at heart who don't take themselves nearly as seriously as their contemporaries. After defeating Monica Seles and Mary Joe Fernandez in doubles Thursday, the team of Williams and Williams, giggling all the way, faced the media together. When questioned about their dad, who has been predicting that all week his scion will meet in the singles final, the younger daughter deflected the dangling bait masterfully. "He's really playing well," she said, as her older sibling stifled laughter. "He's playing the best." When Venus was asked whether she knew everything there was to know about her sister's game, she turned to her sister and responded, "I hope she's telling me everything." Playing the room like two Borscht Belt comics in the Catskills, Serena arched her eyebrow as if to say, "We'll have to see about that." It's been two years since the mysterious Williams clan crashed the gate of tennis' party. Their father cast a pall over Venus' run to the finals when he famously deemed one of her opponents "a big, white turkey." Typically, the tennis establishment, which has never done racial politics particularly well, overreacted, and the hand-wringing commenced. Katie, bar the door, here come the black nationalists. One official even confided to me last year that he didn't like Richard Williams because he was "a reverse racist." Whatever. Turns out, while the sisters are rightfully and sufficiently proud of their identity, their roots and the fact that they don't bear much physical resemblance to the folks in the skyboxes, their heritage is no more an issue with them than a Russian provenance is with Anna Kournikova. Thursday, Venus marveled at the possibility that if she, her sister and Chanda Rubin all made the doubles final, "there will be three black persons on the court. That will be just amazing." Yet other times, they'll hold forth hours and not once will race surface in the conversation. "We don't dwell on it," their message seems to be, "and neither should you." It took long enough, but at this U.S. Open, mainstream fans are embracing Venus and Serena as they should have all along. Foreign journalists who cover tennis always wonder how two young, cheerful Americans with a legitimate chance of becoming the best players in the world generate such a lukewarm reception from U.S. fans. After hearing the thunderous roar for Venus and Serena in Flushing this week, that wonderment ought to cease. Regardless of what the scoreboard above Arthur Ashe Stadium might indicate after the semifinal matches, the Williamses have already won at this year's U.S. Open. And so, for that matter, have the rest of us. Finally. Open volleys If there was a moment at this year's U.S. Open more heartening than Gustavo Kuerten crossing the net to congratulate Cedric Pioline's shotmaking at 10-9 in a crucial tiebreaker, I didn't see it. Anyone else notice this irony? Last time we saw a tennis player trespass to their opponent's side, it was a churlish Hingis expressing her outrage at a line call in Paris. ... Mahesh Bhupathi didn't even qualify for singles, but after winning the mixed doubles, with Ai Sugiyama, Thursday and reaching the doubles final, with Leander Paes, Friday, he didn't have a shabby fortnight. ... As nice a guy as he is, Bhupathi is apparently unschooled in the ways of political correctness. Having won the French Open mixed title with Reka Hiraki earlier this year, he declared Thursday: "Japanese girls are lucky for me." ... Back to Pioline: It's hard to believe that heading into the Open he hadn't won a Grand Slam match in more than a year. ... After further view, Richard Krajicek served 49 aces (and, impossibly, still lost the match!) in the quarters against Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Late in the fifth set, an untouchable serve was called "out" by a linesman, but overruled by the chair. The umpire, however, forgot to enter the correct code in his electronic scorecard. Jon Wertheim is a Sports Illustrated staff
writer.
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