Williams withdraws from Los Angeles

Venus Williams has withdrawn from the East West Bank Classic. Who is surprised?

Venus Williams wins Wimbledon in style

Marion Bartoli, playing better than the finalists in the last two Grand Slam women's finals, did not have enough game or--perhaps more important--enough speed, to do much damage to Venus Williams in today's Wimbledon final. Williams, who came close to losing in both the first and third rounds, went on a roll once she got to the round of 16, playing incredible grass court tennis, and today was no different. Bartoli gave it her best, and lost the first set just 4-6, but her formidable serve was off today, and she was unable to position herself to do the kind of damage she did earlier in the tournament. It was a relatively easy win for Williams, at 6-4, 6-1.

I picked Williams as a dark horse to win the tournament, but there were people who said from the beginning that she would take it. With her huge serve, superb athleticism, fast pick-ups, and booming groundstokes, Williams is a grass court player to be feared by all. She now has four Wimbledon titles, putting her in grand company: Martina Navratilova won nine, Steffi Graf won seven, and Billie Jean King won four. Both Navratilova and King were in the stands when Williams won her fourth today.

This has been an incredibly competitive Wimbledon tournament for the women, with some very well-played, exciting matches. It is the best Grand Slam tournament I have seen in a long time.

There was no shortage of drama. The defending champion, Amelie Mauresmo, went out in the round of 16. Serena Williams sustained a very painful injury in her round of 16 match, but then went on to win it. Jelena Jankovic and Lucie Safarova played a set (the second) in their third round match that was one of the best sets of tennis one could ever hope to see. If you missed this match and you have Wimbledon Live, by all means, watch it--or at least watch the second set.

And then there was Marion Bartoli, who--in my opinion--is still the big story of this Wimbledon tournament. Bartoli's career had been stalled because of repeated injuries. For a while, she seemed to be retiring from more matches than she played. But last year, everything started to come together, and the Frenchwoman who plays Monica Seles style (in more ways than one) and who has the strangest service motion you will ever see, began quietly knocking her opponents out of tournaments. She won three tournaments last year--the first three she had ever won--which should have signaled something to fans and the sports media, but apparently it did not. Just last month, Bartoli reached the round of 16 at the French Open, though every commentator today said that she had never gotten past a third round in a Grand Slam. (You have to wonder what they are doing that is so important that they cannot be bothered to check the records, or why they wouldn't know that, anyway--I did.)

Bartoli's stunning upsets of world number 3 Jelena Jankovic and world number 1 Justine Henin were more than memorable, and on the way to accomplishing these difficult tasks, she also managed to take out Shahar Peer and Michaella Krajicek. I don't think anyone will be making fun of Bartoli's unorthodox serve and peculiar training regimen for a while. There is now some pressure on her to perform well in the U.S. Open series. Grass is obviously her surface, but her style of game should also translate well to a hard court. And pressure does not seem to bother Bartoli very much. One sportswriter referred to her as "an ambitious, two-handed terror." Here's hoping she progresses even more and picks up a tournament win soon. She was the most exciting factor in this year's Wimbledon, and a joy to watch.

In the meantime, number 1 doubles seeds Lisa Raymond and Sam Stosur have been eliminated by Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. Stosur and partner Bob Bryan had to withdraw from mixed doubles because Stosur has been suffering with a viral infection. In the other semifinal, Cara Black and Liezel Huber defeated Alicia Molik and Mara Santangelo--winners of the French Open--6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

Player of the day: Venus Williams, who proved one more time that you can never, ever count a Williams sister out.

Brilliant Bartoli too good for Henin

In the back of my mind, I knew Marion Bartoli had the game to possibly upset world number 1 Justine Henin, but several factors prevented me from believing she would actually do it: Bartoli did not seem fit enough to go through another very tough match, the strong wind forecast for today is not generally kind to the very flat balls Bartoli hits, and Henin has the type of mental toughness that Chris Evert had.

It turns out Bartoli was fit enough, handled the wind well enough--placing just-right spin on her balls, and was even tougher than Henin. In the first set, she looked lost, obviously stunned by being on Centre Court in a Wimbledon semifinal. But even as she lost that set 1-6, I was thinking "She won't go down like this--not this way." Sure enough, from the moment the second set began, the Frenchwoman was a different player. Throughout the tournament, she has come from behind, usually with the help of a rain delay, but today, she did it during a rare interval of sunshine. She found her groove again, sometimes channeling her idol, Monica Seles, playing double-handed on both sides and finding wicked angles over and over. Henin, like Jelena Jankovic--whom Bartoli beat in the round of 16--is extremely fast on the court, but Bartoli just kept them coming, patiently waiting for Henin to make the error. She took the second set, 7-5.

The third set was all Bartoli. It was obvious, by that time, that Bartoli was inside Henin's head, just as she got inside Jankovic's. At 0-5, Henin won her first game, and it was over when Bartoli served for the match.

Bartoli has a very good (though very strange) serve, she volleys well, hits deadly groundstrokes, and moves better than one might think she would. She will have her hands full when she faces Venus Williams tomorrow. Williams dispatched semifinalist Ana Ivanovic rather easily, 6-2, 6-4, and is certainly going to be the fresher of the two. Normally, there would be a day of rest between the semifinals and the final, but because of all the rain, all the matches are backed up.

Player of the day: Marion Bartoli, who--not content to take out just the number 3 seed--went one better and took out the number 1, denying Henin a chance to win the one Grand Slam that has eluded her.

Wimbledon, Day 10

The last two quarterfinals were played today--one rather efficiently, the other with some thrills. Venus Williams defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-4. Despite her struggles in early Wimbledon matches, Williams has looked more and more like a champion in the last few days. Kuznetsova herself was in danger of going out in the first round when she played an ever-improving Julia Vakulenko, but since that difficult win, she cruised through until she got to Williams. Williams served well, and was successful in her net approaches. Kuznetsova is a great all-around, all-surface player and a gifted athlete, but Williams on grass was too much for her today.

The other semifinal was less predictable, with two of the tour's younger stars, Nicole Vaidisova and Ana Ivanovic, battling it out in three sets. Vaidisova took the first, Ivanovic took the second, and then the fun started. Like Serena Williams, Vaidisova is a high-risk player, willing to chalk up errors in exchange for getting in some big, decisive winners. That was the kind of game she was playing today, and it looked like it was going to work for her. She broke Ivanovic immediately in the third set, and held that break until Ivanovic served at 3-5 and Vaidisova held three match points. Ivanovic, determined not to give her opponent the match on her own serve, saved all three match points in rallies that were thrilling.

She then had an easy hold to even it up at 5-all. Vaidisova, not known for her calm manner on court, proceeded to go to pieces mentally, an occurrence that did not elude Ivanovic, who broke her in the next game, with Vaidisova throwing in a double fault for good measure. Ivanovic then had a mental moment on her first match point, but prevailed on her second. Final score: 4-6, 6-2, 7-5

Fans of Sam Stosur--take note: She and Bob Bryan withdrew from mixed doubles today because Stosur has come down with a viral infection. She and Lisa Raymond are scheduled to play a quarterfinal match tomorrow in women's doubles.

Player of the day: Ana Ivanovic, who refused to lose the match on her own serve, then sensed her opponent's crack-up, and moved in skillfully for the victory.

American Fed Cup team announced for semifinals

I have been so busy reporting on Wimbledon that I forgot to mention Fed Cup: The team that will play in the semifinals against Russia will consist of Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Vania King, and Lisa Raymond. The event will be played on a hard court in Stowe, Vermont on July 14 and 15. The Russian team has not been announced.

The winner will play either defending champion Italy or France in February.

Wimbledon, Day 6

Rain wiped out most play today, and since there is no play on middle Sunday, the six remaining 3rd round matches must be completed Monday morning. Two players who did complete their matches were 2004 champion Maria Sharapova, who beat Ai Sugiyama, 6-3, 6-3, and defending champion Amelie Mauresmo, who defeated Mara Santangelo, 6-1, 6-2.

Thanks to Mauresmo, the people who bought Centre Court tickets to see her play got a full refund. The rules state that if you see under an hour of tennis, you get your money back, and Mauresmo dispensed with Santangelo in 57 minutes.

Mauresmo drove her mountain bike into the stadium today, as she does every day, and was stopped by a guard and told she could proceed no farther. New rules? The guard didn't know the rules? The other guards didn't know the rules? Or perhaps today's guard had no clue who was on the bike. A couple of years ago, 2004 U.S. Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova was denied access to the court by a security guard, and she wound up having to point to a giant cut-out of herself to get him to understand that she was a Grand Slam champion, and it was okay for her to enter the court, thank you very much.

All of my picks to win and half of my dark horses are still around. The Graveyard of Champions, Court 2, consumed Martina Hingis yesterday, when she was defeated in straight sets by Laura Granville. But that was really no surprise--Hingis has been out for a long time with a chronic hip injury, and she was just able to start hitting again a few days before Wimbledon began. Some of hoped she could overcome this lack of preparation, but it was, indeed, very hard to overcome. I was sad when I saw her walk off the court. Granville added a touch of class by barely celebrating her win, and by making sure that she left the court first, a reversal of tennis protocol.

My other dark horse to exit was Anna Chakvetadze, who lost yesterday to Michaella Krajicek.

Some fashion notes:

I did not get to see Tatiana Golovin's controversial red undershorts. Her warm-up capri pants, paired with what looked to be a long, (single-breasted or double-breasted?--I had to watch on a computer screen), blazer, however, were simply chic beyond description. Golovin has to be Lacoste's best player representative ever.

Serena Williams looks very good in her new Wimbledon outfit. Sister Venus is wearing shorts, an unusual choice for her, but she reports that her dresses are all too big for her (Reebok couldn't have tossed in a new one?).

The All England Club allows players to have a bit of trim on their white outfits, and my favorite bit of trim I've seen so far was on Kataryna Bondarenko's dress--a large magenta flower emblem on the bottom left-hand side of the skirt. "Large magenta flower" sounds gawdy, but the image was subtle, like a Victorian flower sketch.

Player of the day: Amelie Mauresmo, who served 11 aces, including one on match point.