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Venus rising Williams liking Wimbledon so far
Posted: Friday June 30, 2000 09:41 PM
Venus Williams' scheduled match against Nathalie Dechy was postponed Friday and that's about all that has gone wrong for her so far at this tournament. For the oldest of the two Williams' sisters, Wimbledon marks just the fourth tournament she has played in i2000. Trouble with tendinitis in both wrists had Williams thinking of retirement at 20. But she seems to have recovered and the fifth-seed took time out to sit down at talk with CNNSI.com's Phil Jones following her victory earlier this week over No. 20 Ai Sugiyama of Japan. Phil Jones: Venus, that could have been a much tougher match against Ai Sugiyama (6-1, 6-4), but you took care of business quite handedly. Venus Williams: Yesterday (Wednesday) I played very well, especially my serve and my movement. I wasn't as happy with my ground strokes or my return to service, but those are things I can do a lot better with in coming rounds. Jones: Serving and volleying a little it more and you did a good job. Williams: I'm doing OK. It's something you have to get used to because of the volleys that come in at your feet, or sometimes high volleys, they seem easy. But you can miss them quicker, very quickly. So, it's something that when you come in you have to stay calm and just make your shot and don't worry about what your opponent is doing. Jones: How much of it is instinct and how much of it is practice? Williams: I would say a lot of instinct and a lot of practice because if you don't practice it, you're not going to do it in a match because you are not comfortable with it. So in practice, when I'm serving I do all serving volleys because I'm going to stay in the baseline. But if I serve volley in practice, I'm going to get the feel for it every day. Jones: Before your match you were aware of how (sister) Serena had done earlier (beating Yvette Basting 6-1, 6-0)? Williams: Yeah, Serena really just wiped someone out today (laughs). Which is really amazing because it just seemed to be over so quick (35 minutes). And I suppose she would have liked to have a more tougher match in earlier rounds. Not necessarily a tough three-setter, just more of a challenge so that you have more practice in that situation. Jones: Now you had a long time off, came back, lost in the French Open. But you seem to have more confidence out there. Williams: Yeah, coming back was very strange. My game was very off and a lot times I didn't have as much practice as I could because my wrist was still sore, especially on the serves. So, I couldn't practice as much as I wanted to. But now I've been able to get more practice in and it has made a world of a difference. Jones: Venus, great start, thank you. Williams: Thank you.
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