Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
Williams, seeded No. 2, crumbles vs. Barbara Schett. Also out: France's hope, Amelie Mauresmo.
Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 29, 2001
PARIS -- To dabble in life off the pro tour, Venus Williams has worked an office temp's hours during her tennis career. To create personal space, she has limited herself to a cameo role on the tournament schedule.
Her choices had served her psyche well until Monday. With the unblinking, vacant stare of a mannequin, the stunned second seed at the French Open quickly packed up her duffel bag after the non-threatening Barbara Schett put a jarring 6-4, 6-4 conclusion to Williams' stay in the singles draw.
For the first time since her Wimbledon debut in 1997, Williams failed to advance past the opening round of a major. Usually -- maybe too often -- Williams has been able to pull her game off the shelf for Grand Slam events, use her early opponents to shake out the creases, then slowly build up a rhythm before overwhelming the field.
Monday, with only six tournaments on her resume this year, her lack of preparation caught up to her against a 25th-ranked opponent unwilling to land on the list of Williams' close calls.
"If anything, I thought this was an opportunity," Williams said of her matchup with Schett. "I never dreamed it would turn out like this."
Williams was joined in her unfamiliar position by fifth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo. The Frenchwoman entered the tournament too prepared after six weeks of work on clay and too eager to fulfill the dream sequence of winning her first major title in her home country.
Having won four tournaments since early February, Mauresmo still couldn't handle the expectations. (The banner headline in the sports daily L'Equipe was "La Terre D'Amelie," The Land of Amelie.) The pressure went to her head, and the tension shut down her footwork. All 56th-ranked Jana Kandarr of Germany had to do was watch Mauresmo sabotage herself to lose 7-5, 7-5.
"It's not an easy thing to put into words, but there's a feeling of powerlessness in addition to stress," said Mauresmo, who had a chance to close out the second set serving at 5-2 but came undone after blasting a backhand into the net on set point. "In fact, you feel as though you're being overwhelmed. I couldn't collect my thoughts.
"Perhaps in the future, I shouldn't get so heavily involved. I should try and put things more into perspective. I hope today will be a good lesson for me."
This learning experience for Williams and Mauresmo left the injury depleted women's draw in further disarray. Somewhere, top-seeded Martina Hingis was smiling. They have yet to play, but Hingis and fourth-seeded Jennifer Capriati are the only ones remaining among the top six players.
The men's draw is in much sturdier shape, left almost entirely intact after top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten started the tournament by easing past Guillermo Coria 6-1, 7-5, 6-4. The only seeded player ushered out was No. 15 Jan-Michael Gambill, a rising American whose mental block on clay surfaced against Kristian Pless during his 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 7-5 loss.
Williams reverted to the form that stifled her progress early in her career. She made 43 unforced errors and converted two of 10 break points.
"I just think my groundstrokes were off," said Williams, who was not as loquacious as usual. "I was just making quite a few errors for no apparent reason."
Schett had something to do with it. She showed patience on long rallies, allowing the clay surface to soften the edges of Williams' heated pace. Hanging in every point, waiting for an opening, Schett showed she still knows how to play. A top 10 player two years ago who has plummeted, Schett also defied her image as an incapable closer with a blistering serve down the center on her fourth match point. She left Williams lunging and swiping a forehand return that landed 12 inches beyond the baseline.
"Of course, she didn't play her best tennis today," Schett said. "She made a lot of unforced errors. But who cares? I don't."
For information about the French Open, check out this Web site: www.rolandgarros.org/en/