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New goals Venus may play more as she shoots for No. 1 ranking
LONDON (Reuters) -- A second successive Wimbledon crown showed Venus Williams is without equal on grass and now the American intends to prove she is the world No. 1. The 21-year-old, also the U.S. Open and Olympic champion, dropped just two sets as she defended her crown, but says she has all sorts of plans to improve her game. "I think I can capitalize better," she said after beating Justine Henin in the final. "Really work on more things in my game -- moving forward, taking the ball early, just some new strategy that I can add to the next year coming." The tall, powerful and uncompromising Williams enjoyed a phenomenally successful 2000, following Wimbledon with the U.S. Open and Olympic titles, but she admits she was riding a wave and not really working at her game. "I didn't practice that much for the U.S. Open, and at the Olympics I hardly hit at all. I'd get out there. I'd be practicing, I'd be just fooling around. Really if you start fooling around your game gets worse." Williams's game suffered towards the end of the year. She entered fewer tournaments, was distracted by college where she studied design and her form became ragged. Though she reached the semifinals of the Australian Open and won the Ericsson and German Opens, she entered only seven tournaments before Wimbledon in 2001, losing in the first round at the French Open and failing to capture the coveted number one spot in the rankings. Now she says the serious assault on that top spot, held for so long by Martina Hingis, begins in earnest. "I have to make it a priority. I have to play more. Either that or I have to win every Grand Slam which isn't easy, so I'll play a little bit more," Williams said. Hingis has been all but forgotten after her shock first round Wimbledon defeat by little-known Virginia Ruano Pascual. Despite failing to win a Grand Slam tournament for two-and-a-half years she remains at the top of the rankings. For many months commentators have been writing her off as having a game that is too delicate and lacking in power to compete with the hard hitters of today's tennis. But by dint of hard work, entering and doing reasonably well in tournaments and sticking at it, she is still the one statistically to topple. "It showed my consistency that I was always at the top," a disappointed but defiant Hingis said after her defeat. "Maybe I sometimes feel second, but I was always there and it was always a different player who beat me in the semis or finals that's why the ranking system is there," she said. It was perhaps telling that 19-year-old Henin, one of a crop of promising youngsters to find success this year, did not even mention Hingis initially when discussing how to move up to the next level in the game. Henin, who has leapt up the rankings from 100 last year to five, said: "I think great champions are tough. Maybe it's another level because you know Williams, Capriati, Davenport, they're very strong. But I think I have the game to win these matches." Despite her small size, Henin has a much more aggressive, hard-hitting game than Hingis, who relies greatly on touch and anticipation. And power brings results. Even the tall, imposing Lindsay Davenport said she could not match or deal with Venus Williams's service strength during their semifinal. Recent injury has hampered Davenport's progress and she drops to number four in the world after her semifinal defeat with Jennifer Capriati at number four. Capriati's dramatic success in the first two Grand Slams of the season after an unlikely comeback from teenage delinquency has provided the hot story of women's tennis this year. Her Wimbledon semifinal defeat by Henin was almost a relief from the unbearable pressure as fans willed her to win all four in the same year for the first time since Steffi Graf in 1988. Mature, now and philosophical in defeat, Capriati said she could not be too disappointed. "Everyone was making a big deal out of the Grand Slam but I'm pretty happy with they way the year has gone so far. I mean it's pretty hard to win one Grand Slam so I'm happy," she said. With the U.S. season approaching Capriati will be Venus Williams' chief concern as she prepares to defend her U.S. Open title. Not that anyone should write off little sister Serena. The 19-year-old Serena Williams won the U.S. Open crown two years ago and, though like her sister she has suffered from lack of match practice and has a more fragile temperament, her aggression and strength make her very dangerous. However hard Venus intends to practice, she knows she cannot expect an easy ride across the pond.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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