2019 Williams Watch - Serena Makes It To The 'Williams'-don Final

I call 'The Championships' as they are referred to across The Pond 'Williams'-don because both Serena and Venus have basically turned the All England Club into their personal tennis playground..

The 2019 edition of Wimbledon started with Venus exiting the tournament in the first round after being upset by 15 year old American qualifier Cori 'Coco' Gauff 4-6,4-6 in straight sets.    Gauff electrified the tennis world by making a run all the way to the fourth round before being eliminated by Romania's Simona Halep.

That wasn't the end of  Venus' time in London.   She decided to play mixed doubles with fellow American Frances Tlafoe while Serena an Andy Murray of Great Britain played together.

Venus and Tlafoe made it to the second round of the mixed doubles tourney while Serena and Murray lasted until the third round,

11th seeded Serena had no problems with the qualifier she faced in Italy's Giulia Gatto-Monticone, dispacting her in straight sets 6-2,7-5.   That sent her into a second round match with another qualifier in Slovenia's Kaja Juvan

Juvan served notice that this wasn't going to be like Serena's first round match.    She took the first set, but Little Sis regrouped and took the next to to punch her ticket to the third round after her 2-6, 6-2. 6-4  win. 

Her third round opponent was Germany's Julia Gorges.   Williams rolled to a 6-3, 6-4 straight set win over the 18th seeded Gorges to set up her fourth round match with Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.

Williams handled her tennis business and sent the 30th seeded Suarez Navarro packing after a 6-2, 6-2 straight set win to punch her ticket to the quarterfinals

After Serena won the first set of this quarterfinal, Alison Riske flipped the tennis script and forced a winner take all third set.   Little Sis would not be denied, and took this match 6-4, 4-6, 6-3,

Serana faced Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic in the semis, and wasted no time pinning a 6-1 6-2 straight set 59 minute tennis beatdown on Strycova to punch her ticket to her 11th Wimbledon finals appearance.

She will take on seventh seeded Simona Halep, who is playing in her first ever Wimbledon final.   She has also won just once against Little Sis in ten meetings, but thinks she's ready for the challenge.

If Serena wins on Saturday, she will capture not only her eighth Wimbledon title, but will tie that unrepentant homophobe Margaret Court with her 24th Grand Slam title win.

Good luck Serena!    Handle your tennis business

2018 Williams Watch - Serena's In The 'Williamsdon' Ladies Finals

Serena Williams so far is having a wonderful business trip to London.   Because of a jacked up WTA rule, she lost her world number one ranking while she was on maternity leave and started ranked 453 in the world. 

After the French Open, whose organizers declined to exercise their prerogative to assign her a seed, she stormed her way to the fourth round at Roland Garros before she had to withdraw because of a muscle injury in her serving arm.  .

Williams was given a number 25 seed by Wimbledon tournament organizers that appears to be at this point way too low.  They forgot that the All England Club since 2000 has been hers and Venus' personal tennis playground, and she's proven it so far. that she's probably back at her Serena level A+ game.

Considering the way she's playing at the moment, she might be back as the world's number one ranked player by the time the US Open happens, and hopefully after Saturday, in possession of another Venus (Williams) Rosewater Dish. 

She's won her 20th consecutive match at Wimbledon and is in her 10th Wimbledon ladies final after beating Camila Giorgi of Italy in three sets on Monday and Julia Goerges of Germany.   

Serena in that match dropped the first set in that quarterfinal match to Giorgi,,but came storming back to post a 3-6, 6-3,6-4 win to punch her ticket to the semifinals to face the 13th seeded Goerges.

Goerges looked like at the start that she was going to hang with Little Sis, but with the first set tied at 2-2, Serena won the next four games to close out the first set. 

The second set had the same pattern.  Goerges was tied at 2-2, then stepped it up to Serena A+ level to take a 5-3 lead and have the opportunity to close it out on her serve. 

The best match closer in the tennis business failed to do that.  Williams went down in this game 0-40, got it back to 30-40 before a wicked Goerges crosscourt forehand handcuffed her for the service break that Goerges needed to get back to 4-5 with a chance to tie the set.

Goerges promptly handed that service break back to Serena, going down 0-40 and setting Little Sis up with three match points.  This time The Closer handled her business and finished off this game and the match in 1 hour and 30 minutes, 6-2, 6-4.

Serena faces Angelique Kerber in the Saturday ladies singles final, who she has a 6-2 record against.   
Williams is not only attempting to capture her eight Wimbledon title, she's also trying to become only the fourth mom to win a Grand Slam tournament.

And yeah, should she handle her business against Kerber, it would be Williams' 24th career Grand Slam title, which would tie her Margaret Court's homophobic behind.

2018 Williams Watch- It's "Williamsdon' Time!

The third major on the professional tennis Grand Slam calendar started on July 2.  It is one that my fave tennis playing siblings have dominated so thoroughly since they joined the tour in 1999 that I call it 'Williamsdon'.

Venus and Serena Williams domination of this tournament is so awesome that during the 2000's, the only times someone not named Williams won Wimbledon in this decade was in 2004 and 2006.

Maria Sharapova Sharadopa upset Serena in the 2004 Wimbledon final, and Amelie Mauresmo beat Justine Henin in 2006 after Venus was upset in the third round and Serena was sidelined with a knee injury.

Four times during the 2000's, the Williams sisters played each other for the Venus (Williams) Rosewater Dish in 2002, 2003, 2008 and 2009.

They even won Olympic gold in singles (Serena) and doubles during the 2012 London Games on those same All England Club grass courts

This latest edition of The Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club found Serena seeded 25th and big sis Venus entering this tournament seeded ninth..

Five time champ Venus started this edition of Wimbledon trying to repeat her run to the 2017 Wimbledon finals.  She started a troubling pattern in her opening round match with Johanna Larsson of Sweden in which she would drop her first set, then come storming back to win the match. 

In her match versus Larsson, Big Sis dropped the first set in a tiebreaker 6-7 (3-7), then took the next two by 6-2 and 6-1 scores  to get to the second round match with Romania's Alexandra Dulgheru.   Once again, Venus dropped the first set 4-6, then came storming back to win the next two by 6-0 and 6-1 scores.

But sooner or later, playing three set matches and doing it the way Big Sis was will catch up with you against a better player, and it did in the third round against 20th seeded Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands.

Venus once again dropped the first set in this match 2-6, then took the second set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (7-5).. She dropped the third set and the match 6-8 to exit the tournament.

She wasn't the only seeded player to have problems at the All England Club   Ten seeded players went out in the first round.  One of those peeps who had to sashay away from Centre Court in the first round was (heh heh heh) Maria Sharapova. 

Four other seeded players got dispatched in the second round, including 2017 Wimbledon defending champion Garbine Muguruza.  Eleven others joined Venus in the third round including tournament number one seed Simona Halep.

All this to say that Serena thanks to all those upsets has to be considered a favorite to win her eighth Wimbledon title and her 24th career Grand Slam title.

But first she has to play and get through the matches.

Little Sis faced Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands in the first round, and beat her in straight sets 7-5, 6-3.   Her second round opponent was qualifier  Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria, who like Rus, got sent packing in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.

Her third round match was more of a challenge in Kristina Mladenovic of France.   Serena had to work a bit for this one, but still beat her in straight sets 7-5, 7-6 (7-2) in the second set tiebreaker.

That sent Serena to the fourth round, where she will face another qualifier in Russia's Evgeniya Rodina. 

Should she successfully navigate that match, it would put her in the quarterfinals versus the winner of the Camila Giorgi-Ekaterina Makarova match. 

Definitely looking forward to seeing how this second week of 'Williamsdon' plays out.

TransGriot Update:  Serena beat Ridina 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the Ladies singles quarterfinal round and play Camila Giorgi of Italy. 
 

2017 Williams Watch- Venus To The 'Williams'-don Finals!

It's been a long time since we last saw Venus Williams playing in a Wimbledon final.  It was 2008 to be precise as the defending Wimbledon ladies singles champ, and she was playing against her little sister Serena.

Tenth seeded Big Sis now had the opportunity to reach another one and keep her hopes alive of capturing a sixth Wimbledon title.   But to do so she would have to battle sixth seeded British homegirl Johanna Konta and a Centre Court crowd cheering her on.

It was a tight match in the first set with both players holding serve until the ninth game when Venus got into a 15-40 hole but climbed out of trouble.

The critical point of the match came at 30-40 in that game.  Instead of hitting a slower second serve, Big Sis instead went for broke and walloped a 106 MPH second serve that caught Konta by surprise and she missed the return.

Williams would go on from that point a 40-all to hold serve and move to a 5-4 first set lead.  Venus then stepped up the pressure in the next game and started teeing off on Konta's returns to take the first set.

Big Sis continued her stellar play in the second set as Konta tried to stay in the match, but Venus would not be denied as she takes the second set and the match 6-4, 6-2 in straight sets.

It took Big Sis her a mere one hour and thirteen minutes to survive and advance to her ninth Wimbledon final and become at age 37, the oldest player ever to do so.

She will face 14th seeded Garbine Muguruza, who Little Sis beat in the 2015 Wimbledon finals and who dispatched Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova 6-1, 6-1 to punch her ticket to Saturday's final.

Can Venus pick up another Venus Rosewater Dish for the Williams family trophy case?   We'll find out this weekend.

2017 Williams Watch -Big Sis To The 'Williams'-don Sems

I call the grand slam tournament played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club 'Williams-don' for a very good reason.

Since 2000, with the exception of 2004, 2006, 2011, 2013 and 2014, a Williams sister has won the Wimbledon Ladies Singles Championship and turned it into their personal tennis playground.

Serena lost the 2004 Wimbledon finals in an upset.

Venus and Serena's domination at the All England Club is so thorough,  they not only have claimed a dozen combined ladies singles titles since 2000, but also won six Wimbledon doubles crowns in addition to claiming 2012 London Olympic tennis gold in singles (Serena) and doubles on these hallowed tennis grounds.

Since Serena isn't defending her back to back 2015-16 titles because of her pregnancy, it's up to Big Sis Venus to keep the Williams family Wimbledon ladies singles title roll going

And so far tenth seeded Venus has been more than up to the task of handling her London Grand Slam tennis business.

She started this 2017 Wimbledon run in search of her sixth title and first since 2008 by knocking off Belgium's Elise Mertens 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 to send her to her second round match with China's Wang Qiang.

Turned out to be a tougher than expected assignment.  Big Sis dropped the first set, but prevailed 4-6, 6-4, 6-1to move on to the third round to take on Japan's Naomi Osaka, who had dispatched 22nd seeded Barbora Strycova in three sets to face Williams.  .

As in her first round match with Mertens, she won it in straight sets and went to a tiebreaker to determine who took it.   But Big Sis survived and advanced 7-6 (7-3) 6- 4 to advance to her fourth round match with 27th seeded Ana Konjuh of Serbia, who had upset 8th seed Dominika Cibulkova in three sets.

Konjuh ended up getting beaten by Venus in straight sets 6-3, 6-2  to punch her ticket to the Wimbledon quarterfinals and a milestone match with Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko, who had knocked off fourth seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine to get there and is the reigning 2017 French Open champion.

The fourth round match with the thirteenth seeded Ostapenko was significant for two reasons.  It was Venus' 100th match at Wimbledon, and she became by reaching the quarters the oldest player to reach this round of Wimbledon since Martina Navratilova in 1994.

She celebrated it in winning style by ousting Ostapenko in straight sets to become the oldest player since Navratilova to make it to the semifinal round.   She also has an enviable  86-14 singles match record as a result

But she faces a tough assignment in her half of the semis in order to get to her first Wimbledon final since 2008 in Great Britain's Johanna Konta.

The sixth seed made a little history herself, becoming the first British woman since Virginia Wade did so in 1978 to reach the semis, and the first since Jo Durie in 1984 to reach the quarterfinals.

So Venus will be fighting the home crowd and Konta as she attempts to make her first Wimbledon final since 2008 and keep the Venus Rosewater dish in the Williams family.

Winner of her match plays the winner of the Garbine Muguruza- Magdalena Rybarikova match.

Let's go Big Sis!   Handle your Grand Slam tennis business!

2016 Williams Watch- Number 22!

Should be an interesting Saturday for the Williams sisters, and you never bet against them when they are playing matches at their personal SW19 tennis playground called the All England Club.
-TransGriot, July 8, 2016

It took a while, but after upset losses in the 2015 US Open semis, the 2016 Australian Open finals and the 2016 French Open finals a month ago, world number one Serena Williams finally gets that elusive Grand Slam title number 22 at her SW19 tennis playground.  She prevailed with a 7-5, 6-3 straight set win on Centre Court over Germany's Angelique Kerber, the player who upset her in Australia a mere six months ago.

That was then, this is now.   While the fourth seeded Kerber came to play and tried to execute the game plan that worked for her in Melbourne by trying to hit those wide crossing shots to pull Serena off the court, Serena was anticipating she'd do that and was ready for her this time.


She cut that off, and when it was time to serve, it was on target and being placed with laser precision accuracy wherever she wanted it.

And oh yeah haters, she repeats as Wimbledon ladies singles champion and equals Steffi Graf with that 22nd Grand Slam singles title.

This was her seventh Wimbledon ladies singles title, and she has a shot at capturing another title today with Big Sis in the ladies doubles championship.  Should they knock off the Timea Babos-Yaroslava Shvedova duo, it would be their 14th doubles Grand Slam crown

TransGriot Update: She and Venus did win the Wimbledon ladies doubles crown.  They won their sixth 'Williams'-don doubles title in a straight set 6-4, 6-3 win over Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova.

They are now 14-0 in Grand Slam doubles finals.  

2016 Williams Watch- Mixed Wimbledon News Day For The Williams Sisters

Today was semifinal day for the'Williams'-don ladies singles tournament, and my fave tennis playing siblings were at Centre Court playing for their first all Williams singles final since 2009.

Serena quickly dispatched Russia's Elena Vesnina in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 to make it to her third consecutive Grand Slam final this year and set up an opportunity to win her seventh Wimbledon title and 22nd career Gland Slam title win.

However, eight seeded  Big Sis didn't get to join Little Sis in the Wimbledon ladies singles final.  She unfortunately lost to fifth seeded German Angelique Kerber 4-6, 4-6 and fall just short of the opportunity to win her sixth Wimbledon title.

It is Kerber, who upset Serena in the 2016 Australian Open final that will face Little Sis on Saturday.

Big Sis' London business trip isn't over yet.  She and Serena are still in contention for their first Wimbledon doubles crown since 2012 and their 15th Grand Slam title.

They headed over to Court No. 2 and knocked off the number 4 doubles seeds Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova in three sets 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-2 to punch their ticket to the ladies doubles semifinals

The Williams sisters will take on the 8th seeded doubles duo of Julia Gorges of Germany and Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic with a spot in the doubles final on the line.

Should they handle their business tomorrow, they will face in the finals the winner of the Timea Babos/Yaroslava Shvedova - Raquel Atawo/Abigail Spears match

ButThe fifth seeded Babos and Shvedova knocked off the number one seeds and defending Wimbledon doubles champs Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza 6-2, 6-4 in straight sets to take on the 10th seeded American duo.

We'll see what happens tomorrow in  the ladies doubles action and on Saturday at Centre Court.