‘Miracle’ of Venus
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Even with rain making the matches nowhere close to the clockwork schedule, creditably, Wimbledon 2016 got its women’s semi-finalists in place for Thursday and the men’s on Friday of the second week. By tradition, Wimbledon does not use the middle Sunday for matches. This year they had to break their tradition to make up for time lost due to rain in the first week. Like the 2016 French Open, much will be written about the tough times players went through this Wimbledon with bad weather. It did leave some scares among the seeded players. In the Ladies draw, the two surprising semi-finalists are Venus Williams and the little known Russian doubles exponent Elena Vesnina. Both players showed what they are made of, in this championship.
Venus Williams has performed a miracle. She won the Wimbledon title five times between 2000 and 2008. Since then, went through rough times in her life. She entered the competition arena again few years ago, and now has a place in the top 10 ranking of the world. On the way, she took some humiliating defeats. This Wimbledon she showed immense strength of character as an ‘immaculate warrior’, and has reached the semi-finals. At age 36, it makes her one of the oldest players to achieve this feat. The speed, flexibility and balance, which were the hallmarks of her Tennis, is now replaced with resilience, grit and tactical patience. Maturity and dedication are words that best describe her performance now.
Venus’s Sister Serena, seeded 1, is in the semi-finals of the top half and will play Vesnina. Venus will tackle 2016 Australian Open winner Angelique Kerber of Germany. This is Kerber’s best performance after this year’s Australian title, and is the favourite to win. For Kerber, Venus will not be a pushover. Venus’s knowledge of the game, tactics and the skills to win has surfaced again. The William sisters are also in the Doubles quarter-finals.
Bride Cibulkova’s Trail
The thought of being in the finals on Saturday, July 9, never occurred to Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova. She scheduled her wedding for that day. The 5 foot 3 inch dynamite is one of the spectators’ favourites. Her previous match to reach the quarter-final drained her completely. In that match she beat Poland’s Agnieska Radwanska in a 3-hour match playing 253 points, and both the players covered a total distance 6 km – that is a tall order and tough ordeal to come through.
Unseeded Russian, Elena Vesnina, apparently just married, is ranked 50 in Singles and 7 in Doubles. Grass courts of Wimbledon supported her game of great serves, effective volleys and short rallies. All of which are from good Double’s experience. To her surprise, it has taken her to the semi-finals in Singles. She beat Cibulkova in the quarter-finals. They are good friends, and this is the first time Vesnina beat Cibulkova. Vesnina will face current title holder and number 1 seed Serena Williams. If Vesnina can sustain the form she had against Cibulkova, Serena will have a tough time. There seems to be nothing missing in Vesnina’s game to play on grass.
Novak Djokovic shaken
The goddess of Tennis is back - Venus Williams made her way to the top at the Wimbledon 2016
The biggest shock of this Wimbledon has been Novak Djokovic’s loss to USA’s Sam Querry. This is the second shock defeat Djokovic has registered. His first this year was in Madrid. The combination of nerves and the responsibility of being number 1 multiplies itself in Grand-Slam events, and more so, at Wimbledon. The rain did not help him either. His exit opened the field to the title.
In the men’s semi-final lineup, maestro Federer and Andy Murray are the favourites. Raonic is playing well and hungry for the Wimbledon title, and will face Federer. Federer was drained by former US Open title holder Marin Cilic for over 3 hours, playing 322 points in the quarter-finals. This should make Raonic’s work easier, as he came through a 4-set match in just two-and-a-half hours. Murray will face 30-year-old, Czech Republic’s seasoned campaigner Tomas Berdych. Murray was tired beating Frenchman Tsonga in 5 sets.
Berdych came through in a relatively easy match against 22-year-old Frenchman Lucas Pouille. The French have been rolling out a good amount of players in recent times. In the men’s lineup to the quarter-finals, it was Murray who showed good stroke-making ability, balance and sustaining power. Although in recent times, he has evolved as an all-court player, his main game of being a baseline player, drains him, making him vulnerable to win best of 5 matches, as all Grand Slams are best of 5 sets.
Venus, with 5 Wimbledon titles, is a legend. Unfortunately, she lost the best time of her prime for no fault of hers. It is nice to see her smile again. If she can sustain what she has done up to now, she will go home with her 6th title, outshining sister Serena in the memory lane.
George Paldano, Former int. player; Accredited Coach of Germany; National, Davis-Cup, Federation Cup coach–. georgepaldano@yahoo.com