Serena Williams wins the Australian Open

Congrats to Serena Williams.  Serena won the Womens Title in the Australian Open last Saturday.  She defeated Justine Henin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

In previous years I always forgot that the Australian Open was shown live early in the morning.  I didn’t forget this time. I recorded it so I could watch the match later that morning.

Williams Outlasts Henin, Taking Australian Open
By JOE DRAPE

MELBOURNE, Australia — As Serena Williams collapsed on the court Saturday, weary and elated after capturing her fifth Australian Open title, those who follow tennis, or perhaps sports of any kind, knew they had witnessed the performance of a great champion. She had turned back a pretty good champion in Justine Henin for a hard-fought 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory.

It was Williams’s 12th Grand Slam title, which matches Billie Jean King’s total and is six behind Chris Evert’s. Williams is halfway to the record for major titles held by Margaret Court, who was at Melbourne Park to present the championship trophy.

Williams, 28, fought through pain to earn it — her right thigh and left knee and wrist were wrapped, as they have been for the past two weeks. And her grimaces and hobbled steps as she battled Henin further betrayed her distress.

Williams’s ability to endure is one of her vital intangibles, as is her ardor for the competitive part of the game. She played doubles here nearly every day, and she and her sister Venus won their 11th major title on Friday. These are only part of the reason Williams is the only active women’s player who owns a career Grand Slam. Yes, she has a thundering serve, a ballistic forehand and the ability, as Henin put it, “to hit the right shots at the right time.”

Jason Whitlock’s tirade against Serena Williams

Talk about some serious hate and proud of it. Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock is doing some serious hating on Wimbledon Womens Champion Serena Williams.

In Jason’s eyes Serena is too much of an underachiever and just plain fat.  Yes Jason “I can eat multiple happy meals in one sitting” Whitlock is calling Serena fat.  Go figure. 

Serena could be the best ever, but …

by Jason Whitlock

In addition to talking about Roger Federer and his record-breaking 15th Grand Slam title, we should also be celebrating Serena Williams and her assault on Margaret Court’s record.

The problem is, even after knocking off her sister in Saturday’s Wimbledon singles final, Serena isn’t anywhere close to Court’s 24 Grand Slam singles titles.

At age 27 — the same age as Federer — Serena owns just half as many major titles (11) as Steffi Graf, the greatest women’s player of all time. That’s a terrible shame.

With a reduction in glut, a little less butt and a smidgen more guts, Serena Williams would easily be as big as Michael Jackson, dwarf Tiger Woods and take a run at Rosa Parks.

You can call me unfair. You can even scream that I’m sexist.

But there’s an inescapable truth about Serena Williams: She’s an underachiever.

And all the people making excuses for Serena and rationalizing her failure to totally dominate women’s tennis are the very people uninterested in seeing women rise to a level of equality with men.

Serena Williams has all the ingredients to be Michael Jordan, Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali rolled into one made-for-TV package. She is quite possibly the most gifted female athlete in our lifetime.

Unfortunately for us, she lacks the courage to fulfill her destiny.

She’d rather eat, half-ass her way through non-major tournaments and complain she’s not getting the respect her 11-major-championships résumé demands.

She complains about being ranked No. 2 in the world when she’s not bitching on Twitter or her blog about new rules that forbid Wimbledon players from eating in the locker room.

Seriously, how else can Serena fill out her size 16 shorts without grazing at her stall between matches?

He uses the excuse that he’s a sports writer for his fatness but says that Serena is just lazy and refuses to commit to a training regimen.

Think about it. At 5-foot-9, 145 pounds, Serena would be unstoppable on the court, on the cover of every magazine still in circulation and downloaded on the Internet three times more often than Anna Kournikova.

Instead, Serena is arguably pushing 175 pounds, content playing hard only in the major tournaments, happy to be photographed on dates with pro athletes and proud to serve as a role model for women with oversized back packs.

So Serena should be like Anna Kournikova.  Miss Tennis Celebrity, who was an internet sensation and appeared in numerous mens magazines, yet never won a Singles Grand Slam title.  But Serena’s fat and underachieving attitude has caused her to only win eleven Singles Grand Slam titles.  To Jason and men like him it’s all about looks.

Serena may not be perfect. And no, she’s not in the same league as Steffi Graff.   But that doesn’t make her an underchiever.  Serena, like her big sis Venus, has a life outside playing tennis.  She won’t be playing tennis forever. Serena has a backup plan and that’s a good thing.

And big booty sistas?  Don’t bother writing this fool cause he’ll just delete your email.

You can read the entire article here at Fox Sports.

Congrats to Serena Williams

Congrats to Serena Williams on winning her third Wimbledon title. She defeated her big sis Venus Williams 7-6 (3), 6-2. This title is Serena’s third Wimbledon title and her eleventh major title overall.

Serena tops Venus in straight sets to capture Wimbledon ladies’ final

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Serena Williams kept telling herself she was facing just another foe in the Wimbledon final Saturday, just another woman who hits the ball quite hard, just another player trying to deny her a Grand Slam title.

She wasn’t facing just anyone, of course. She was playing her older sister Venus. And when the latest all-Williams final finished, when Serena wrapped up a 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory for a third Wimbledon championship and 11th major title overall, she jogged to the net with her arm extended for a handshake.

Venus pulled her close for a warm embrace, instead.

“I didn’t think about Venus at all today. I just saw her as an opponent,” said Serena, who also beat her sister in the 2002 and 2003 finals at the All England Club. “At one point, after the first set, I looked on the side of the court at the stats, and it was like ‘Williams,’ ‘Williams.’ I couldn’t figure out which was which.”

Check out the rest of the article at Sports Illustrated.

Despite three major titles since her US Open win, Serena will still remain number 2 behind number one ranked Dinara Safina.  Speaking of rankings I was checking out the rankings for tennis players and was disturbed by the lack of American females in the tennis rankings.  Serena and Venus are currently ranked second and third respectively.  After that the next American female players are ranked 57th and 90th.  That’s pathetic.  What happened to the American female tennis players?  Russia, France and Belarus have a slew of women ranked in the top 100 yet the United States only has four.  American men fared better.  There are eight American men ranked in the Mens top 100.

Anyway speaking of the Williams sisters a few hours after Serena’s win the sisters won the Womens doubles title against Australia’s Rennae Stubbs and Samantha Stoser 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.

Sisters sweep to doubles crown

The Williams sisters conquered Wimbledon again after they won a battle of power against guile to retain their doubles crown. Venus and Serena triumphed 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 against the Australian pairing of Sam Stosur and Rennae Stubbs in a late, enthralling match on Centre Court.

They had to survive a first set scare as Stosur and Stubbs raced into a 4-2 set lead. Stosur, who was beaten 6-2, 6-2 with previous partner Lisa Raymond by Venus and Serena in last year’s final, was in particularly inspired form early on, helping to break the Serena serve at 2-1.

Congrats to the ladies!!

Congrats to Venus and Serena Williams

Congrats to the Williams sisters. Yesterday Venus and Serena defeated their opponents to reach the Wimbledon Womens Final tomorrow on Independence Day.

Their matches were complete opposites. While Serena had an exciting match that lasted over two hours against Elena Dementieva defeating her 6-7 (4), 7-5, 8-6, Venus easily defeated number 1 ranked Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-0.   Dinara sure didn’t play like a number 1 ranked player.  As Richard Williams put it:

“Serena nearly gave me a heart attack,” Dad said. “Venus played as if she had some place to go, and she was in a major league hurry to get a great dinner.”

I had to laugh at that comment. I was fixing my lunch yesterday during the second set.  I had to hurry cause the way that set was going I would have missed most of it.  I kept running from the kitchen to watch (thanks to the digital switch I can’t watch my 5 inch tv in the kitchen anymore; Boo!!!).

We seem to have been here before: another Wimbledon final, another Williams family showdown. For the second year running and the fifth time in all, Venus and Serena will contest the ladies’ final on Saturday.

The sisters are as close as sisters can be and yet they appear, in many ways, to be polar opposites. Venus is tall and rangy, a physique that has helped her become the best grass court player of her generation, while Serena is shorter, more muscular and more obviously aggressive in her approach to the pursuit of Grand Slam titles. Not that Venus is a shrinking violet on the court – far from it – it is just that she tends to keep her thoughts and her emotions to herself.

The two sisters also took vastly differing routes to their Saturday appointment. Serena played the best match of the Ladies’ Championship so far – and the longest recorded for a semi-final here – by beating Elena Dementieva 6-7, 7-5, 8-6 while Venus took only 51 minutes to beat Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-0.

I forgot that ESPN2 was showing Serena and Elena early yesterday morning.  Luckily NBC showed that match after Venus hurried through her match against Dinara.

It’s difficult to decide who to root for cause I like both Williams sisters.  I’m kind of rooting for Serena though since Venus has already won five Wimbledon titles compared to Serena’s two.  You could tell Serena was a little ticked off after losing to big sis last year.  Anyway congrats to the ladies and good luck to both.

Congrats to Serena Williams!!!

Congrats to Serena Williams!!! Last night she won the Womens 2008 US Open Tennis Grand Slam 6-4, 7-5.   What an exciting final it was too.

Serena Williams Wins U.S. Open, Retaking No. 1
By KAREN CROUSE

No world No. 1 in women’s tennis has slogged through so desolate a valley between peaks than Serena Williams. After relinquishing the top spot in August 2003, Williams fell so far that she wasn’t within echoing distance of the summit two years ago.

Outside the top 125 at this time in 2006, Williams completed her climb back to No. 1 Sunday night with a 6-4, 7-5 victory against Jelena Jankovic to claim her third United States Open title.

The 23-year-old Jankovic, who was appearing in her first final in her 21st Grand Slam event, fought gamely to the end, extending points with her dogged defense. Her nerves, which were indiscernible at the start, surfaced in the 20th game, serving at 5-4, when she squandered four set points.

“I gave her a lot of gifts when it was crucial,” Jankovic said, adding: “I had a lot of chances, so many set points, so many things to win that second set and go into a third. I let my opportunities go away.”

After breaking her with a forehand passing shot, Williams won 10 of the final 16 points to secure her ninth major singles championship. Williams converted her second match point with a backhand that fell as softly as a tissue, then she dropped her racket and hopped up and down. When at last she made it to the net, she apologized to Jankovic for getting so excited.

I really enjoyed this womens final last night. One of the best womens tennis matches I’ve seen. Serena didn’t have it easy either. Jelena played very well against Serena but Serena came through. I was so proud of Serena and I jumped up from my sofa after she threw her racket and jumped up and down. Talk about being excited. This is Serena’s third US Open title.   Congrats to Serena and Jelena for a well fought match!!

Speaking of the US Open Tennis, my man Rafael Nadal lost to Andy Murray yesterday 6-2, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4.  Their match was played for two days due to rain delays.  Andy Murray will meet Roger Federer in the Mens Final today at 5:00pm EST.  The final will be shown on CBS.

Congrats to Venus Williams!!

What a weekend in tennis. The Wimbledon finals were played this weekend and I enjoyed both the Women’s and Men’s final.

Congrats to Venus Williams!!!

The defending Women’s Wimbledon champ defeated her little sister Serena on Saturday 7-5, 6-4.

All-Williams Wimbledon Final Is All Venus
By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY

WIMBLEDON, England — Sisters for life and doubles partners later in the afternoon, Venus and Serena Williams put most of that aside for nearly two hours on Saturday at Wimbledon, smacking serves and ground strokes in each other’s direction with a vengeance and an accuracy that have often been lacking in their previous family reunions.

It had been five years since they squared off in a Grand Slam singles final, and the long wait produced one of their most consistently intense and entertaining matches despite the gusty conditions that often made Centre Court feel more like the front deck of a ship.

But there is still no doubt about which Williams sister has the best record at Wimbledon.

Despite a ferocious start from Serena, Venus absorbed the shock and gradually imposed her long-limbed presence on her favorite tennis court. Her 7-5, 6-4 victory gave her a fifth Wimbledon singles title, leaving Serena with two.

“I can’t believe it’s five, but when you’re in the final against Serena Williams, five seems so far away from that first point,” Venus said in her postmatch remarks to the crowd. “She played so awesome. It was really a task to beat her.”

Although Serena hugged her older sister at the net and was gracious during the ceremony, this defeat was clearly a major blow. Serena has worked herself into fine shape this season, but she has not won a Grand Slam singles title since her surprise run at the 2007 Australian Open.

“I don’t think I’m satisfied with the way I played today,” Serena said. “For me, there’s nothing to be satisfied about.”

Serena was feeling cheerier by the end of the night, after she and Venus won their third women’s doubles title here by beating Lisa Raymond of the United States and Samantha Stosur of Australia, 6-2, 6-2.

This Wimbledon was a Williams revival indeed, but the match that mattered most was the singles. “I had a feeling that they were finally going to play a really good final,” the nine-time Wimbledon singles champion Martina Navratilova said. “Today was fantastic tennis.”

Ms. Venus now has five Wimbledon singles titles under her belt. Serena has won two Wimbledon championships. Last year Venus was jumping up and down all over the place. This year she was a little more subdued in her excitement. No jumping up and down. I guess she didn’t want to rub lil sis the wrong way.

Way to go Venus!!!