By its very definition, the off-season is supposed to signify end of tennis for another year and offer a well-earnt break for all in a sport that demands so much of both the players and fans who follow it. In reality, however, the tennis rages on in the form of “hit and giggle” exhibitions – wherein the top male and female players pocket often obscene sums of money to simply knock around the ball for an hour or two. This year, between Roger Federer’s grand tour of South America and other one-off events in cities such as Prague, Toronto, Miami, Antwerp, Singapore and many others, those “hit and giggle” exhibitions feel more prominent than ever.
It hasn’t always been laughter, however.
The year was 2000. At the time, the WTA was in a considerably different state to the tour today. Whilst the likes of Azarenka, Wozniacki, Kvitova and Radwanska today have been forced to obediently await the fall of the previous generation before ascending to the top, the young players of the late 90s and early 00s – Martina Hingis, Anna Kournikova, Venus Williams and Serena Williams – rapidly rose to prominence by brute force, demanding the spotlight both on and off the court and re-branding the image and core dynamics of women’s tennis in the process.
By the end of Y2K, Hingis held five Grand Slams and stood atop of the rankings for god-knows-how-many weeks, Kournikova was one of the most celebrated athletes in history, Venus had seized the previous two slams and two Olympic gold medals whilst embarking on an epic 35-match winning streak, and the legend of Serena was just unfolding. This caused friction both amongst themselves and also with the established jocks who rejected these youngsters who marched in with their over-confidence, trash talking, sex-appeal and glamour, demanding to be seen and respected.
Throughout this period, notable incidents involving these four and others mounted up; Hingis triumphantly flicked a signature Williams bead into the press crowd after defeating the elder Williams in the 1997 US Open final before declaring that she had no rivals, Serena famously brushed aside one of Hingis’ many putdowns by coyly suggesting that the Swiss champion “lacks formal education”, and long before they physically met on or off the court it was comments from a pre-teen Kournikova who sowed the first seeds of drama to come in the early 90s, as the press hyped up a Kournikova-Williams rivalry while she competed in a junior tournament at Rick Macci’s tennis academy in Delray Beach – the Williams Sisters’ old stomping grounds.
Lindsay Davenport often entered the fray too, branding Kournikova “a circus act” and allegedly kicking the bag of yet another controversial young upstart, Alexandra Stevenson, across the locker-room. During Venus’ extended hiatus in the first half of 2000 which spurred retirement rumours, Davenport’s sharp tongue lashed out at Williams with the quote to end all quotes: “Who knows what’s going on with that family? Serena is more friendly. At least she can bring herself to say hi. Venus can’t – or won’t – even speak. Venus likes to give the impression that she’s so great, that she’s ‘Da Bomb’, or whatever. She can say it all she wants but that just means she doesn’t have it. She gets psyched out in big matches, she’s not happy with her sister winning and the pressure is really falling on her.”
After Venus returned and claimed her first Grand Slam title barely a few months later at Wimbledon, Hingis cornered Davenport at the US Open ahead of her quarterfinal match against the younger Williams and demanded a victory. Davenport responded by expecting Hingis to reciprocate the deal and dispose of Venus, and thus the infamous anti-Williams pact was born. It made headline news and became embroiled in drama as Richard Williams had his own unsurprisingly controversial opinion on the pact. Davenport did indeed oust Serena, and Serena did little disguise her utter disgust as afterwards; “Obviously no one would want to see an all-Williams final because everyone doesn’t really like us. It’s going to happen in the future, inevitably. Nobody’s going to be able to stop it.” Venus was even more furious, but she publicly responded with humour, jokingly suggesting “It’s getting to be like the WWF.” And then she beat them both to take the title.
Nonetheless, the most dramatic incident occurred during the 2000 exhibition season. Despite forming a friendship and fruitful doubles partnership which secured the pair two Grand Slam titles and the top ranking spot in the same year, a November exhibition in Santiago, Chile between Hingis and Kournikova brought that friendship temporarily crashing down. After a questionable lines-call, Hingis asked Kournikova to intervene but the Russian sided with the original call. A fuming Hingis responded at the next change of ends as only Martina Hingis could, triumphantly shouting “Do you think you are the queen? Because I AM THE QUEEN!” Kournikova wept through the remaining games of the exhibition.
An hour-long locker room scream-fest between the pair followed as flowers, vases, trophies and insults were allegedly chucked across the room. The choice of weaponry being amusingly symbolic; Hingis craving the popularity, affection and flowers from admiring fans that were afforded to Kournikova, whilst the Russian wished for the trophies and success that had been effortlessly lapped up by Hingis. Event organizer and former pro Jaime Fillol didn’t even attempt to dampen the rumours surrounding the exhibition bust-up, instead hysterically claiming “It was so bad I thought they were going to beat each other up.”
What’s most interesting about these events is how much, despite the publicity these encounters generated and the fact that they would kill for this exposure today in 2012, the WTA openly discouraged it back then. They attempted to muzzle the Swiss Miss’ Everest-sized mouth by forcing her to attend PR training sessions and sometimes even resorted to quite ridiculous publicity stunts. Not least at the US Open in 1999 when they orchestrated a cringe-worthy public “truce” between Hingis and Richard Williams, which involved Hingis presenting Williams with a signed T-Shirt whilst reciting scripted lines. Mary Carillo summed it up best: “The WTA PR people cooked up this twisted and bizarre stunt. Hingis didn’t want to give this guy a T-shirt – she wanted to give him something else.”
Despite withdrawing from this year’s Australian Open, Venus Williams has kept to her word and has been practicing heavily ahead of her long-awaited return to tennis in next week’s Fed Cup tie against Belarus.
Her form upon her return is truly a mystery, with the few tiny glimpses we caught of her during the handful of off-season exhibitions she participated in not being particularly encouraging. However, the American has once again been training with Monacan player Benjamin Balleret, in addition to sporadic hits with French player Charles Edouard Maria and their coach Didier Lanne. Lanne’s comments and pictures from his personal blog continue to paint an encouraging picture as the legend attempts to fight her biggest opponent yet.
Another beautiful morning spent with “Coco” Edouard Maria! (Benjamin Balleret) has again been training with Venus Williams (who is preparing for her return in February helped by his father Richard and our very own Charly!) and this under the eye of Mr. Dexter Manley !
Lanne also made reference to the personal time he has spent with the Williams family, including having the privilege to listen to one of Richard Williams’ famous stories, in addition to his coaching recipe for success.
“1. The player’s confidence
2. The coach’s patience
3. Looking for the short ball and going for it.
More (important) than everything BUT believing in god! “
So there you go; now you all can go and make some legendary WTA tennis players of your own. Sounds easy enough.
Despite having not made any confirmation of her participation at this year’s Australian Open, it appears that Venus Williams has been putting in the hard yards back in Florida. And according to French Coach Didier Lanne, who had a one-off practice session with the legend yesterday, it’s going pretty well.
Ballou had a great workout this morning with Venus Williams! And thanks to Charly (former player Charles Eduardo Maria), who is coaching the champion during her preparation for the Australian Open, they asked us to do the morning practice with them!
Under the watchful eye of Olivier Patience, who also lives with Charlie during his tour of tournaments, but also the idol of all “RV” and Harold, the dog from Venus! We spent a beautiful morning hit in sunny Florida!
Here are some pictures which the great atmosphere but also the seriousness of the training this morning.
At this point it’s impossible to tell whether or not Venus will be making the trip to Melbourne. According to the Australians, she hasn’t made any indication about whether or not she will be participating, but this tells a more reassuring story. Needless to say, she’ll have to make a decision soon.
Four months after dramatically pulling out of the US Open due to Sjogren’s syndrome, Venus Williams has finally spoken candidly about her battle with Sjrojens Syndrome. Conversing with People magazine, the seven-time Slam champion discussed her reaction and recovery after being dealt such a dramatic mental and pysical blow.
“I couldn’t raise my arm over my head, the racket felt like concrete. I had no feelings in my hands,” she told People. “They were swollen and itchy. I realised (her match against Lisicki) would be a miserable show. [...] I would go to the doctor and start crying. I couldn’t help it. I just want a chance to play on the same field as other people, I want to feel normal, but as frightening as the diagnosis was, it was also a relief. I wasn’t crazy and I wasn’t lazy; I thought, ‘is this a mental problem? Maybe I need to work harder.’”
After reading about Venus’ experience, it’s not hard to see why her comeback has and will continue to demand such a titanic effort on her part.
Even taking the whole tennis match aspect of being a professional tennis player out of the equation, this profession demands more of it’s athletes than practically any other sport; from grueling gym, fitness and on-court training reigimes, to the constant traveling and the rapid changes in climate and conditions. The idea of managing these normal requirements of a professional tennis player while keeping her illness in check seems like nothing but an unrealistic dream.
And yet, if there is anyone with the discipline, class and sheer determination to stay on top of this illness and close out the rest of her career in style, it’s ‘The Fucking Venus Williams’. There’s hope for the legend yet.
After arriving in Colombia for their long-awaited return to the courts in a singles exhibition match, the Williams sisters sat down to address over one hundred national and international journalists ahead of Thursday’s matchup.
Serena on getting back to number one. “I definitely see myself as at least in the top five. Obviously with me being someone who wants to be the best and the greatest, that’s not good enough for me. I am currently ranked twelve, and I think is a good place to start and try to find again the world number one next year. We’ll see how it goes. It’s not like I’m starting at 100 so I have a good chance of getting there very soon. “I didn’t start until summer. I worked really hard to get some good results so that I would have a good year going and a good next year. So I think next year could be a good year for me to try to make some goals and see where I can end up.”
On their rivalry “When we play, we can’t help but take it very seriously, because we have always tried to get the best from each other, try to play the best games we can play because we are very tough competitors. We always enjoyed playing tennis a lot, we knew we had to train hard and that was part of the work we had to do, but that hard work paid off. What motivated us was the fact that we really liked tennis. Our parents have been very important in it all. They have played an important role in our lives and without their support we would never have come to where we are right now,”
Venus on the oft-discussed WTA number one spot: “Women’s tennis has experienced two situations. There used to be number ones for long periods, but now it changes a lot. I think this is positive because the tennis is unpredictable and next year the struggle for number one will be very entertaining. My opponent tomorrow night is definitely one of my biggest challenges. I hope maybe she doesn’t play as well as normal so I can have a win. (laughter.)”
After shockingly being diagnosed with Sjogrens Syndrome at the US Open and consequently dropping out of the remaining tournaments in 2011, all eyes will particularly be on the elder Williams as she looks to overcome her biggest hurdle yet after undoubtedly the toughest season of career. And for once, she’s setting a good tone with that weave.
We’ve heard from Wozniacki’s twitter page about her countless rendezvous with “her friends” – the Williams sisters – and after Serena Williams’ 6-2 6-4 victory over Wozniacki, her dad Richard decided to repay some of the grovelling compliments that Wozniacki has given to his daughters over the last few years.
“It was a nice fight, said Richard Williams. Caroline Wozniacki is one of the finest players I’ve seen since Martina Hingis… Tonight Serena was lucky to win, and I hope she can maintain the good momentum against Samantha Stosur, who she lost to in French Open.”
“I see her as one of my daughters”, he says, looking intently at the questioner. “When Serena was sick after her blood clot, she came and visited her. I will never, never forget what she did. What care she showed. She is like an adopted daughter to me.” says the older gentleman with something that looks like a tear in the eye hook.[/b]
Hilarious stage directions from the Ekstra Bladet journalist. Granted, Richard hugs and kisses 90% of the players and probably likens most of them to being his adopted daughters, but this is still nice. Venus was always surprisingly quick to take Wozniacki under her wing from a young age, even playing doubles withher back in 2008. It’s clear that there is a lot of respect and admiration between the two families. It’s nice.
