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.
Serena Williams and Martina Hingis renewed their rivalry for the first time in 9 years this week as they faced-off on back to back days at World Team Tennis in New York, with Serena representing the unbeaten Washington Kastles and Martina, the New York Sportimes. Their first meeting, which Serena took 5-3, was not broadcasted live but their second match was, and the score was reversed with Martina taking the match 5-3.
With Martina’s win over Serena, those who didn’t watch the match will undoubtedly call for her return back to the tour. On one hand it’s impossible to read into anything from World Team Tennis – not only does WTT not compare to professional tennis, but Serena put in an abysmal performance, barely bothering to move her feet and routinely dumping the ball straight into the bottom (and no, that’s not hyperbole in the slightest) of the net.
However, what we did see of Martina was quite promising. After storming to 4-1 she began to shank a lot of forehands and struggled to redirect a some of Serena’s big shots, but on the whole she was very consistent, with her inside-out backhand still coming up with a few glorious strokes while her trademark variety was brilliant as ever. I think there’s a misconception that Hingis’ game simply couldn’t handle power players, but her problem wasn’t simply that a lot of players hit the ball harder – it was that those players who did hit the ball hard in her time were the likes of the Williams sisters, Davenport, Pierce, Capriati and many more – some of the most exceptional big hitters the game will most likely ever see. But in the past 12 months, the likes of Wozniacki, Azarenka, Zvonareva and even Radwanska have proven that 2011 is a very different era from the early and even mid-00s, with the more pronounced use of power and risk breeding more inconsistency, and consistency is more than enough to ensure a spot in the top 20 and 10.
Even so, I think Martina made it clear that she was not considering a singles comeback. Mid-way through the match, she missed a backhand down the line and made a loud quip along the lines of; “and this why I’m not coming back”. Then, in the interview she spoke candidly about her heart “not (being) able to handle” more than the one-set layout of world team tennis. But still, after watching her in action during the Women’s doubles, a doubles return remains a must. In the presence of two other doubles legends still active on the tour, she put on a masterful display and was easily the best player on the court. If she doesn’t at least come back to doubles, it will be a huge waste of such great and rare talent.
My favourite moment of the tie had to be in the women’s singles as Martina turned the clock back to 2000, coming up with a trademark dropper-lob-dropper combo. Serena chased the first two down before narrowly missing the third and, unable to stop herself from crashing into the net, she hurdled over it onto Martina’s side of the court before doubling over with laughter. Martina, also laughing, then walked over to Serena and patted her sympathetically on the back. A nice moment between both two former bitter rivals and two great champions.
I don’t think old videos of their feud will ever cease to crack me up.
Yesterday, Martina Hingis continued her unbeaten singles run in Billie Jean King’s World Team Tennis league, picking up her biggest win of the series as she defeated 28th-ranked Gajdosova 5-4.
With The Daily Forehand’s chat with Martina Hingis on the possibility of collaborating with Roger Federer at next year’s London Olympics and Hingis’ massive increase in exhibition events over the last couple of months, there has been talk of Hingis possibly making a second comeback to professional tennis.
And there may just be some truth to it. One of the most obvious differences to last year’s World Team Tennis is how seriously she appears to be taking the exhibitions. While this year she was largely just enjoying herself and playing quite poorly, this year she has been all business and, all things considered, has produced some impressive tennis. I feel like she’s trying to test her current level against professional competition – if she feels that she can’t keep up with them then there’s no doubt that she won’t consider coming back, but if she begins to feel really good about her game then who knows?
Tomorrow will undoubtedly be the big test when she faces off against her old rival Serena Williams for the first time in nine years. It may only be an exhibition, but it doesn’t take a genius to know that Serena would hate NOTHING more than to get beaten by a retired Martina Hingis who was such a bitter rival to her in their glory days. Bring it.
