FIVE WORDS THAT BRING SMILES TO THE FACES OF THE WTA ESTABLISHMENT: The Wimbledon chair ump utters words we were never sure we would hear again: “Miss Serena Williams to serve”
SERENA’S BACK AND SO IS THE POSSIBILITY OF HER PLAYING INDIAN WELLS: Serena has been chatty of late. She told Doug Robson that when she was injured in Munich, “Something must have fell. It’s like the biggest mystery next to the Loch Ness Monster…I just remember standing up the whole time thinking, ‘Ohhhh. That really hurt.’” During her 11-plus months on the sideline she admitted she “was definitely depressed, especially when I had that second surgery. I cried all the time. I was miserable to be around. I hated that cast…It was a horrible, horrible time.” As for the severity of the embolism she suffered, Serena told Robson “They told me I could have been dead if I didn’t come in that day.” Williams admitted, “I’m on strike two, so I can’t have any more strikes.” She added that the daunting experience deepened her spirituality and confided that she “would even consider playing Indian Wells.”
THINGS THAT MAKE LIFE INTERESTING: Reflecting on Williams’ near-death experience and return, Nick Bollettieri told IT, “These are the things that make life interesting… it’s what only a few can do. What is it inside Serena? It’s got to be something that says ‘You will do it again.’ You don’t teach that. Serena’s different from Monica Seles. Monica was too nice. Serena challenges you. Her physical size and the way she stands inside the baseline to return serve …Ultimately, she just can’t walk away from tennis. With her there’s no such word as ‘can’t.’”
SO MUCH FOR ANGLO-AMERICAN FRIENDSHIP: A British writer moseyed into the American sector of the Wimbledon press room and sparked quite a debate when he claimed that Serena was the least popular defending champion Wimbledon’s ever had.
WILLIAMS SNUB: No matter whether they have high seeds or are defending champs — Serena and Venus Williams are time and again relegated to Court 2. That would never happen to Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray. “They like to put us on Court 2,” said Serena. “I haven’t figured it out yet. Maybe one day we’ll figure it out.”
SURVIVOR TALES: The early Wimbledon buzz was all about Serena coming back from an pulmonary embolism that brought her near death. But young Ivan Ljubicic escaped the Balkan wars. Similarly, Novak Djokovic and many other Serbians practiced as NATO bombs fell. Maria Sharapova’s family fled from Cherynobl and as a fifth-grader Andy Murray survived a mass murder in his school.
SERENA TAKES: Serena cried about her return to Wimbledon after flirting with death, spoke of a supposed Centre Court snub, and revealed she fell off a pink beach cruiser in October, suffering painful injuries. Here our are two favorite British analyses:
• “Just another day in the Wimbledon life of a Williams. A wobble, followed by breathtaking power wrapped up with a pop at officialdom.”
• “Last time, tears and naked emotion. This time, mild resentment and insinuation. All it took to muddy up Serena Williams’s dreamy Wimbledon comeback was for the organizers to stick her out by the fence again.”
HUGE EMBARRASSMENT OR THE MOST AMAZING STORY EVER: John Lloyd said, “It would be a huge embarrassment for the WTA Tour if either [Serena or Venus] won this Wimbledon,” while Bethanie Mattek-Sands said that if Serena had won, it would have been “the most amazing story ever.”
