Venus' serve lets her down

PARIS (AP) -- Venus Williams' serve was as broken as her French.

"Next year, I'll do a little better, I hope," Venus said of her language skills at the French Open awards ceremony, where she was holding the runner-up trophy.

Venus lost her serve eight times and threw in nine double faults Saturday as sister Serena won the title at Roland Garros 7-5, 6-3.

"I try not to be sad about my losses, every loss, when I lose because I don't want to concentrate on my loss, I want to concentrate on the future," said Venus, who also had 47 unforced errors.

"I'm still a little young, so I think that there will hopefully be chances for me to be through to the finals again."

As her sister was holding the championship trophy, Venus grabbed her mom's camera and began snapping away, making sure the moment was recorded for the family photo album.

Venus has plenty of pages in the scrapbook, for sure. And at age 22, her chances of adding more Grand Slam titles to the two Wimbledons and two U.S. Opens she's already won are strong indeed.

"I just wasn't the best player today. Normally I think I had better appearances in my Grand Slam finals. But it's impossible to win them all," she said.

"I'm happy for Serena because, you know,she hasn't won a Slam in a while."

Venus beat Serena 6-2, 6-4 in the U.S. Open final last September in the first Grand Slam meeting of sisters since 1884.

And she still holds a 5-3 lead against her hitting partner and best friend, but Serena - who is 15 months younger - has won the last two. And they're 1-1 now in Grand Slam finals.

When the rankings are released next week, Venus will be No. 1, and Serena, who had the first family breakthrough by winning the 1999 U.S. Open, No. 2.

Venus is 35-3 against everyone else this year but 0-2 against Serena, and they share the tour lead with four titles each.

So, imagine the top two players in another sport swiping each other's toothpaste. That's what happened during their stay in Paris.

"She stole my toothpaste," Venus said of Serena. "I had no toothpaste. I was fighting for my life in the mornings and at night. I'd have to go all the way to her room, get the toothpaste, put a little on my thumb, go back and brush my teeth."

Right now, Serena has evolved into the better clay court player. At 5-foot-8, she has a better sliding technique, a necessary skill on the dusty surface, than her taller sister, who is 6-foot-1.

But Venus has made her strides on clay, as well.

A first-round loser last year at Roland Garros, Venus didn't lose a set until the finals and wasn't tested in her first six matches.

Serena, meanwhile, lost two sets headed into the finals and had a tough match against Jennifer Capriati in the semifinals.

"I played well to get to the finals. She was just playing a little better," Venus said.

 

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