Notebook

Venus: I'm staying with mom and dad

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- A new coach might give Venus Williams the fresh approach she needs to end sister Serena's dominance.

But it's not going to happen.

Serena won her fourth straight Grand Slam title Saturday and in all four she has beaten Venus in the final.

Both sisters are coached by father Richard Williams and mother Oracene Price, although it's obvious the parents loan more moral than technical support to their daughters.

Venus says she just couldn't work with anyone else.

"I couldn't deal with a coach," she said. "I like my mom and dad because they're really laid back. Once we leave the court we don't talk about tennis, strategy, all that."

Venus says she's happy with the current situation.

"If I hired a coach they'd want to talk about strategy, scout other players, they want to do all that stuff I don't want to do.

"They wouldn't be able to tell me anything, we'd get in an argument and it wouldn't be good."

And what if Richard and Oracene feel like retiring?

"Once mom and dad get tired I think Serena and I will coach each other."

TIRED KIM: Venus Williams says Kim Clijsters' father is right to worry that the Belgian world No. 4 is risking burnout by playing too many tournaments.

A report in Belgium quoted Clijsters' father as saying he thought she would be retired from playing in three years because the tour is too long and tough.

Clijsters, 20, led Serena Williams 5-1 in the third set of their Australian Open semifinal before losing Thursday.

Venus Williams agreed that the schedule too tough.

"Obviously as a parent he's quite concerned about his daughter and with good reason," Venus said Saturday. "I also think the tour is too long. It's impossible to expect people to be able to play 11 months out of the year.

"It's unreasonable. If you don't play a tournament people are yelling and screaming this and that."

Top ranked players must play a minimum 13 tournaments each year.

Venus said it would be a shame to see Clijsters retire early.

"When players are off the tour it gets to be that you miss playing them, especially if they're at the top," she said.

Venus said she also hoped Martina Hingis would decide to come back following surgery. Earlier in the tournament Hingis announced she had immediate plans to return to the tour.

"She's been playing since she was 14, nonstop, more tournaments than what I could imagine to enter.

"I think she'll take some time and hopefully come back better than ever."

I'M A LADY: Serena Williams is no longer interested in battling the opposite sex.

Serena lost a set 6-1 against German tour pro Karsten Braasch, ranked No. 203, here in 1998.

Asked Saturday if she'd play a man for money, Serena replied, "I'm here to play women's tennis. I'm a lady. Predominantly most of the time I always like to play ladies."

JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS: Top-seeded Marcos Baghdatis from Cyprus will play sixth-seeded Romanian Florin Mergea in the final of the Australian Open boys singles championships on Sunday after both players recorded straight-set victories in the semifinals.

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga lost his semifinal in the singles for the second consecutive year. Tsonga was beaten 6-4, 7-6 (9) by top-seeded Baghdatis on the indoor courts after the weather was deemed to be too hot for play to commence outside.

Mathieu Montcourt -- France's other hope in the boys singles -- was also unsuccessful in winning his semifinal, despite saving six match points. The fourth-seeded Frenchman was outclassed by sixth-seeded Romanian Florin Mergea 6-2, 7-6 (6).

Defending girls singles champion Barbora Strycova will meet Viktoria Kutuzova of the Ukraine in the girls final after both players had contrasting wins Saturday.

Strycova was comprehensive from the baseline in her 6-1, 6-4 victory over Poland's Marta Domachowska, while Kutuzova did it the hard way before beating Finland's Emma Laine 4-6, 6-1, 8-6.

In the junior doubles finals, Americans Scott Oudsema and Phillip Simmonds won their first Grand Slam title. The second-seeded pairing beat the top-seeded combination of Romanians Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau 6-4, 6-4.

Local girls Casey Dellacqua and Adriana Szili were also successful in winning their first Grand Slam title, beating the Czech pairing of Petra Cetkovska and Barbora Strycova 6-3, 4-4 when Cetkovska was forced to retire with a twisted ankle.

 

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