Australian Open: The Little Girl Who Grew Up to Be a Starr

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

Venus Ebony Starr Williams is the first African-American woman to rise to number one, emulating Arthur Ashe. There are so many reasons to love Venus. I think Serena has caused controversy before, sometimes through her own fault but usually just because the Tennis Gods decided to experiment with a certain set of sisters. I'm going to do a different kind of introduction today. Are you ready?





With the early years done, she made her first final and it was at the U.S. Open.



In 1998 she made the final of Sydney and then won Oklahoma. Her first major tournament win? It was in Key Biscayne. Oklahoma and Key Biscayne are below. She also has fire but not as much as Serena. I know it was out. She also said, about Serena, that, "if you think I'm good, wait till you see my sister," to which most everyone said, "Yeah, right."





1999 Rome and Oklahoma, again. She won them in 1998-1999. One can never forget how dominant she was from 1997-2003 or so. She and Serena are 21-1 in doubles finals, and they won one in Oklahoma but they faced off for the first time in 1999.





And now to 2000, her biggest year quite possibly.






2001 was more of the same, literally.




2002 was the big year. It blows my mind she reached all those finals, won all those tournaments and yet she only took the top ranking in 2002 and
only for eleven weeks. Ironically, It was also the year Serena took over.






In 2003, the "kind-of year of the Serena Slam," Venus remained relevant. They faced off in four consecutive slam finals but Venus could not stop Serena in any of them. At no other time in tennis history have four individuals faced off in four consecutive finals on either side. Perhaps if she had won that Wimbledon final, after losing from a set up, her career arc would have been different.




In 2004, injuries and a lack of form kept her back. This was the start of the later years. Her loss to Sprem summed up her season. She missed a couple of shots in that second breaker that she would normally have made every single time.



After that she won two more Wimbledons and a few more titles but her career was no longer the same. Since 2010 she has struggled to be relevant, especially after her diagnosis of Sjogren's Syndrome. She was number two in 2010-11. This was a light review of the major moments of her early career. There are entire websites dedicated to her and everything she does. It's not like she's retired, I just felt now was an apt time to look back. And Venus, is she back?




After five years of battling, yes, yes she is. If I had done an in-depth post of her career I would have been here till kingdom come. Todd and I do not much over the off-season, he just switches me off and puts me back in his box. Next time it rolls round we may come back and re-explore her early career.

=Suicide Pick=
Round 1: Venus Williams [D. Torro Flor]; Jerzy Janowicz [d. Moriya]
Round 2: Ka Plíšková [D. Dodin]; Lleyton Hewitt [d. Becker]
Round 3: Agnieszka Radwanska [D. Lepchenko]
Round 4: Eugenie Bouchard [D. Begu]
QF: Simona Halep [D. Makaraova]
Mixed Round 1: Hingis/Paes [D Jovanovic/Thompson]
Mixed Round 2: Dellacqua/Peers [D.Klepac/Guccione]


ROD LAVER: DJOKOVIC d. MULLER
...Nadal dismantled a big server and big hitter yesterday. It was Djokovic's turn. The top three are all experts at dismantling big servers. It is simply because they have all developed rather impressive return games. Djokovic has the best return since Agassi. When Federer brought that chip slice return on the scene in a way nobody had seen before, it looked amazing. Nadal upped it with his neutralizing loopy magic. And now Djokovic has blown them both out of the water by making sure his opponents cannot serve anywhere. There is no safe zone. Muller is a big server and a lefty, too. He went 35-32 in the winners category despite losing 6-4,7-5,7-5. He was only broken three times but Djokovic puts so much pressure on you mentally at crucial times of the match. Djokovic missed just 16 times [or four games] and hit 47 winners. He hit two sets of winners. 44% of the points he won ended in outright winners, 15% ended in error. So he made an error one in seven balls, or about every two games. Sixteen errors in 34 games. It's insane. Raonic will have to hope he has a bad day. An in-form Raonic now awaits like a mine. This is a perfect example of what could happen if Djokovic isn't wary or if he just blinks.

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ROD LAVER: NISHIKORI d. FERRER
...Just over two hours for the 6,3,6-3,6-3 victory. Ferrer was abysmal, Nishikori solid. Ferrer hit 14 winners and 44 errors. In the Lopez/Raonic five setter, Lopez hit 30 errors and his opponent 47. That was five sets. Ferrer imploded and got broken six times. This was awful from a former world number three. It's absolutely inexcusable. And for a fighter like Ferrer to simply fade away is not acceptable in the slightest. Nishikori played well but there are WTA players who could have handled Ferrer over five sets the way he was playing. It might actually harm Nishikori as he isn't battle tested. Up next for Nishikori is Wawrinka. I still think Wawrinka is the favorite but whoever goes through does have a chance of beating Djokovic or Raonic. Djokovic will be looking for revenge.
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MARGARET COURT: WAWRINKA d. GARCIA-LOPEZ
...Some people love the perfect spiral, others the perfect baseball hit and yet others love a crunching hit on the rink. Some think a beautifully struck soccer ball into the top corner of the net is sporting perfection. For me it has to be the one handed backhand hit at pro level. It's just a beautiful piece of artwork.




But anyway, Wawrinka edged a tight match 7-6[2],6-4,4-6,7-6[8] against a very dangerous player. It took the Swiss Star three hours and 120 seconds to get through to quarterfinal number three here. He is 1-1 in the quarterfinals here but 1-0 in semi-final matches. GGL will be at number 33 and, if I were the FFT, I would make sure he is a seed at the French. Wawrinka hit 70 winners in this match but he shouldn't be hitting 61 unforced errors in any match this year especially at this level. It's revenge time for Wawrinka. He can avenge his loss to the Japanese man for his defeat at the U.S. Open. I think he should win but I keep underestimating Nishikori. I do believe Djokovic is beatable, especially under certain conditions. If Djokovic is pushed to five exhausting sets will he lose maybe the slightest of an edge against one of these two? Will that be enough?.
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HISENSE: RAONIC D. LOPEZ
...58 winners and 129 winners. It's a classic from Hisense to finish with today. Sometimes when two big servers meet, there are breaks and it turns into a class not just a duel. This was the case yesterday as Lopez was edged 6-4,4-6,6-3,6-7,6-3 in three and a quarter hours. Lopez won that breaker 9-7. There were four breaks of serve in this, the second best of a very good bunch of fourth round matches. Raonic is so consistent in his play and his results. Sampras did so well partially because his game plan was simple. This is basically Raonic's thinking on his service games:



He hit three double faults. Lopez was always going to be in trouble. Djokovic next for the young Canuck. We know he has the capability and the weapons to oust the world number one. We don’t know if he has the confidence and the belief. I think if this was 2017 he's win comfortably. Now, I think Djokovic takes it.
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=Any other notes?=
* - I like that we've finally had a tournament free of controversy. It's refreshing, especially in this day and age of sports. "Twirlgate" was blown out of proportion, even though it is quite offensive.
* - Venus is world number eleven. She is a hero I think everyone should get behind.
* - Kubler is ahead of Kokkinakis in the rankings. Another Aussie special K.
* - Lopez keeps everything fresh with his creative plays and deceptive power. Can we please see more of him?
* - Vintage Nadal right here.
* - Casey Dellacqua and John Peers play today! She still clings on in the mixed. Let us hope she wins through because then I get to keep this section going and I get to stay alive in the mixed suicide pool.

Thanx all and visit WTA BACKSPIN please.

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