In the absence of her
sister Serena, Williams and Petra Kvitova are the only players who knows what
it takes to win at SW19, will that experience be able to take the former all
the way this year? Williams is royalty
at the All England Club, with her record of five Open era wins bettered only by
Serena (seven), Steffi Graf (seven) and Martina Navratilova (nine).
Those five trophies came between 2000 and
2008 with two further visits to the final ending in defeat at the hands of her
sister, who also won in 2009.
Since her last trip to the final that year
Williams endured her struggles, failing to make the quarter-finals in four
years between 2011 and 2015 but enjoyed a pleasant return to form 12 months
ago, becoming the oldest woman to reach a Grand Slam semi since Navratilova in
1994 before falling to Angelique Kerber.
Venus Ebony Starr
Williams is regarded as one of the
all-time greats of women's tennis and who, along with younger sister Serena
Williams, is credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on
the women's professional tennis tour.
This year she is not even in top 10 – low from the days when she became
no.1 in Feb 2002. In 2002, Venus and
Serena became the first sisters to hold the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the
singles rankings, respectively. In 2010, Venus and Serena again occupied the No.
2 and No. 1 spots in the singles rankings, respectively. At the time, Venus had
just celebrated her 30th birthday and Serena was three months shy of her 29th
birthday, both ages at which many of their peers had retired.
With 49 singles
titles, Williams is behind only Serena among active players on the WTA Tour.
Her 35-match winning streak from the 2000 Wimbledon Championships to the 2000
Generali Ladies Linz tournament final is the longest since Jan 2000. Her sister Serena Williams is generally seen
as more power and daring. Serena became the world no. 1 for the first time on
July 8, 2002. On the sixth occasion, she held the ranking for 186 consecutive
weeks, tying the record set by Steffi Graf for the most consecutive weeks as
world no. 1 by a female tennis player. Now she is on an announced a hiatus from
tennis until 2018 because of her pregnancy.
This is no post on
whether Venus will win Wimbledon but on the damage to her car and to
people caused when she darted into the
middle of an intersection, causing an elderly couple to slam into the side of
her car. Linda Barson was driving with
her husband Jerome, 78, in the passenger seat when the crash happened. Mr
Barson was hospitalized for serious head injuries after the crash and died two
weeks later. His wife is now suing Williams for causing the crash. The photos
from the crash scene show the Barsons' vehicle crashed on the side of the road,
with the front of the car completely crumpled in on itself. The airbags appear
to have deployed in the front, and the back windows are shattered. The couple's back window was smashed after the
accident on June 9 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
The 37-year-old,
seven-time Grand Slam champion reportedly told police she did not see the
couple's car and she was driving slowly. Media reports suggest that she was at
fault. Police say there was no evidence
Miss Williams was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or that she was
distracted by a phone. The victim family are now seeking unspecified damages
for loss of companionship for both Linda and their family, loss of earnings,
pain and suffering, and medical and funeral expenses.
Mr Barson's wife
said Miss Williams' SUV 'suddenly darted' into the intersection and there was
no time to stop before she crashed into the side of the tennis star's vehicle. According to the lawsuit, the impact was so
severe their car was 'crushed, the front windshield shattered, the airbags
deployed, there was crush damage to the rear on the driver's side, and the back
window was shattered.' The couple were married for more than 33 years and the
lawsuit said Mr Barson died on his 68th birthday.
The crash came five
days after Williams lost out in her record-breaking 20th French Open to 30th
seed Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland on June 4.
This is not the first trouble Williams has had on the roads. In September 2009 she was stopped in a
Mercedes Benz by the Jupiter Police Department and cited for driving with no
proof of her insurance. On July 3, 2013
her Toyota was involved in a crash on I-95 in Palm Beach County, and was cited
for driving on a suspended or revoked license.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
30th June 2017.
