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Williams sisters may have outlived their own legacy

By GARY SHELTON
Published June 26, 2005

WIMBLEDON, England - Venus looked old. Serena looked slow.

Venus looked tired. Serena looked tormented.

Venus looked mortal. Serena looked mortified.

Say this for the Williams sisters' new reality show; Saturday's episode was not particularly kind to the stars. Venus staggered, Serena fell, and just like that, women's tennis looks as if an era has passed.

This is no longer their game, no longer their place. If Venus' struggles suggested as much, then Serena's loss to a plugger named Jill Craybas shouted it. The dominance that seemed as if it would last a decade is gone. The current question is whether either Williams sister can get it back.

It was, what, 15 minutes ago that Serena and Venus looked so powerful, so ferocious that the rest of the tour seemed to shrink at their sight. Only Serena could beat Venus, and only Venus could beat Serena, and the common complaint was that the whole tour coming down to one family had become boring.

That was before their injuries began to increase and their interest began to decrease. Quick as the tears running down Serena's cheeks, things have changed.

She lost. In the third round. In straight sets. She lost. In an unthinkable upset. In an embarrassing fashion. She lost. To an older player. To an ordinary player.

In 22 games, Serena committed 34 unforced errors. At one time, she was lollypopping her service like a club player. Time after time, she watched shots go past that, two years ago, she would have devoured. The umpire's chair had more mobility.

Know what she looked like? She looked like a TV star playing a celebrity match.

"I shouldn't have lost this match," Williams said, still sniffling at her news conference. "She just got balls back. She didn't do anything. ... She didn't have to do anything exceptionally well today. She just pretty much had to show up."

Nothing against Craybas, a former NCAA champion at Florida, but she has hung around the women's tour for years now without anyone really noticing she was there. As clearly as Serena had struggled in her first two matches, as obvious as it was that her injured left ankle was bothering her, it seemed a foregone conclusion she would beat Craybas. Most of the talk, in fact, was in how unfair it was that the Williams sisters would have to face each other in a fourth-round match, as if such an encounter was undeserving of their brilliance.

These days, however, the brilliance of the Williams sisters comes only in occasional glimpses. They are part-time tennis stars now. Their focus is no longer a sure thing, like their health. Their opponents no longer fear them.

That's the thing about greatness; it never hangs around as long as it promises. For all the griping about their dominance, the Williams sisters have been wonderful for the sport. They are breathtaking, charismatic. The game could use them still.

In women's tennis, however, you get old while you are still young. Venus is 25 now, and there are a lot of matches in her legs. Serena is 23, and there are a lot of cameras in her face.

Can either of them recapture her sport?

It depends. How important is it to them?

For some time, that has been the question of the Williams sisters. Their dominance seemed to bore them as much as the rest of us. Celebrity? That was more fun.

Still, it seemed wise to await their return. Even as tournaments have slipped away from them, there was a suspicion that when the game mattered enough again, they would merely flip a switch and, voila, their greatness would return.

But can they? They have accomplished so much, earned so much, become such celebrities. How do you overcome that sort of success to rekindle a fire? There are other big, strong women on the tour these days, women who work at it harder than the Williams sisters, women who are still chasing what the Williamses took for granted long ago.

"I definitely think it's important for me to practice harder than what I have been," Serena admitted. "I've never been big on practicing. I've kind of just been all about playing. I think I'm going to have to do more practicing."

She could do with a bit of healing, too. Serena wouldn't say it, but it was obvious how much her ankle bothered her. Looking back on her health and her short preparation, she admitted, she might have been better off to skip Wimbledon, to get completely healthy before her return.

In the old days, perhaps it wouldn't have mattered. There for a while, either Williams sister could have played with a leg in a cast and still won. There for a while, both players on the court knew what the outcome was going to be.

That was then. These days, Venus seems vulnerable and Serena has been vanquished. That is the current reality show.

As far as future episodes, in efforts to catch up to the success of the Williams sisters, it turns out, two more women have joined the chase.

[Last modified June 26, 2005, 00:34:18]