So the news comes over just as I’m turning off the coffee maker and getting ready to hop in the car taking me to JFK (at long last!): Elena Dementieva, Anastasia Myskina, Venus Williams—they’re all out! Of the three, the loss by Myskina is one that surprises me most. Then again, she was aware when she went out to play that Dementieva had lost, so she had (theoretically) clear sailing to the semifinals. Perhaps she couldn’t handle the pressure. Whatever anyone says, the truth is that these Russian women are intensely competitive with each other, always looking over their own—and each other’s—shoulders and jockeying for position. This means there’s a kind of emotional domino effect when one or another of them underperforms—or overperforms. And I don’t think you can predict which way the dominos will fall, out of the tournament or toward the finals.
All of a sudden, we have just two Russian women (Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova) in the quarterfinals, and—of course—they’re going to play each other next. For Americans, though, the big news was Williams falling to Australian up-and-comer Alicia Molik in a tight two-setter.
Shoot—the car’s downstairs, the doorman’s buzzing me.
Here’s my take on the Williams-Molik match. It was a terrible day for Venus, the Williams family, and American tennis. But it was a great day for Molik, the Australians, and world tennis.
For more than two years now, we’ve had to endure Venus and Serena talking about the game that made them famous in roughly the same way that the Kennedys today might talk about the bootlegging fortune that made them a dynasty. That is, it’s almost as if they are ashamed of it. If you ask Venus or Serena, they’ll probably tell you that being tennis players is the least interesting thing about them. Well, to me, they’re only interesting as tennis players.
Molik, on the other hand, lives for her tennis. She doesn’t aspire to be a fashion designer or sitcom star. She wants to improve and make that breakthrough that would once again give Australia a player who could have an impact at Grand Slams. She has worked hard in the past few years to create the success she’s now experiencing, and that presents a stark contrast with the Williamses. Oh sure, Venus and Serena claim to be working hard and doing all the right things for their games. Well, I don’t buy a word of it.
The Williamses play reduced schedules that rob them of the chance to get match-tough. Furthermore, neither of them appears to have made a stitch of progress in technique or strategy in the last year, which makes me wonder just what exactly they’re working on. So far, Serena has somehow made this charade fly. But when it comes to Venus, it looks like the gig is up.
You know what, Venus? You want to be an interior decorator? A fashion designer? An actress? Go ahead, feel free, and Godspeed. But do me—and a lot of other folks who care about tennis—a big favor: Do it on your dime, not on ours, as fans. I’ll be interested in you again when you say you love this game, are thankful for the opportunities it gave and continues to give you, and demonstrate that you’re appreciative enough of the fans and promoters to give your best to it.
You owe that to tennis; you owe that to all the people who care about you and want to see you do well. And you owe that, most of all, to yourself.