Serena Williams - True Grit

Serena Williams showed class to overcome her big sister Venus to win th 2009 Winbledon Ladies singles championship trophy. She exhibited a real thirst to win Wimbledon one more time. Serving very well and dishing out aces at will, she totally broke the resolve of her big sister in the second set of the final. She stopped any expectation of a classic when she overpowered Venus with her serves and finished off the second set at 6-2. This was the fourth meeting of the sisters in the finals of the ladies singles event and Serena's third victory in the ladies singles, having previously won in 2002 and 2003.

A few hours later, the two sisters teamed up to defeat the No.3 seeds in the Ladies doubles final. By these victories, Serena has reclaimed the No. 1 spot from Dinara Safina in the WTA rankings.

The Williams sisters - Too hot to handle

Wimbledon 2009 has seen a fresh resurgence of Venus and Serena Williams. Throughout these two weeks they have exhibited a new standard of tennis. All the '..ovics' '..ova's and ..'evas' that have attempted to stop them have been literally brushed aside. Elena Dimentieva was the bravest and best of the lot in this year's championship. Having been knocked down by big sister Venus in the semi-finals in 2008, she tried to explore the possibility of going to the final via Serena this year. Once again despite a spirited battle which has been described as epic, she fell by the wayside. The anguish of Elena Dimentieva's mother who was watching the semi-final match just behind Daddy Williams was palpable.
In January this year at the Australian Open, the honour of teaching Dinara Safina tennis lessons fell on Serena. She took the task seriously and properly trounced Dinara. Dinara herself acknowledged the absolute dominance of Serena. Serena not only beat her but also prevented her on that occasion from becoming World No.1. Since then by dint of hard work and compettion in several WTA events, Dinara has snatched back the No. 1 position.
As the ladies World No.1, many expected that she would have the courage and audacity to challenge Venus's seemingly easy ride in this tournament. Alas it was not to be; she instead took in a few new lessons from Sister Venus. She was made to look not only ordinary but totally out of place in a Wimbledon semi-final event. Such was the severity of the trouncing that she looked dazed and humbled as BBC journalists tried to interview her just after the match. The ladies World No.1 position was embarrasingly disgraced. Again Dinara honestly conceded that she learnt a few more lessons from Venus. I am sure Venus and Serena do not mind giving the lesson 'free of charge'. They get their rewards shortly afterward in fat purses.
As if the singles dominance was not enough, the sisters have so far terrorised all opponents that have come their way this week in the ladies doubles game. The blowing away of the ladies doubles World No.1, the seasoned pair of Black and Huber at the semi-finals at 6-1 6-2 today tells a lot about their current form. They are simply too hot to handle and therefore unstoppable. Top of the Ace Table was Serena with 60 aces in this tournament at the last count. With their combined arsenal of hot serves, beautiful groundstrokes, agressive volleys and intelligent net play, Venus and Serena have placed themselves in a class apart from the pack at least on grass. Venus, afterall has a natural claim to the Venus Rosewater Dish which is the trophy that is awarded to the ladies' singles champion at Wimbledon since 1886.
On Saturday, they will again have a monoply of the ladies singles and doubles trophies. Long live good tennis!!

Women's Tennis: Return of the William Sisters

This week in the searing heat on the courts of Melbourne, we have witnessed the return of the William sisters to the top of world tennis. On Friday January 30, Venus and Serena Williams crushed the pair of Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama. in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, to capture the women's doubles crown in this year's Australian Open Tennis Championship. Playing as the No.10 seeds in this tournament, the Williams sisters collected their third Australian Open - and eighth Grand Slam together - with a convincing win over the hard fighting Slovako-Japanese partnership who had knocked out the Tournament No.1 seeds (and World No.1) in the women's doubles, Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the quarter-finals . Mind you, Serena and Venus were also the women's doubles champions at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

On Saturday January 31st, Serena crushed Dinara Safina of Russia 6-0, 6-3 to regain the Women's singles title which she has now won in every odd numbered year since 2003. She had earlier, in the semi-finals, defeated Elena Dementieva, the 2008 Olympic singles champion. She joins Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles as four-time winners at Melbourne Park.

The first set of the final match against Dinara Safina lasted only 22 minutes, with Safina winning just eight points. And in just 58 minutes the match was over. During her speech after the end of the match, Dinara acknowledged Serena's absolute superiority in very clear terms. “She was just too good. I was just a ball boy on the court today.” Serena gave poor Dinara a lesson to remember in tennis. Serena was graceful in victory, hear her, "Dinara will have a great future - she is hitting so hard I just had to go for broke against her."

By this victory, Serena has regained the No. 1 position in the WTA rankings that will be announced on Monday February 2. She last enjoyed this position in 2002. Furthermore, according to the Guardian of London, she is now the highest prize money earner in women's sport with over £15m to her name. To add to the bargain, this victory marks her Grand Slam title No. 10 and Serena Williams has now clinched the seventh position in the all-time list of female Grand Slam singles champions (Billie-Jean King (12), Chris Evert (18), Martina Navratilova (18), Helen Wills Moody (19), Steffi Graf (22) and Margaret Court (24). Serena has joined that elite club of tennis queens. May her new reign last a long while!!