It took her three sets, twelve aces, 32 winners and two hours and seven minutes of high quality tennis, but Little Sis outlasted Justine Henin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 to complete a very successful business trip to Melbourne to defend her Australian Open championship.
Serena captured her fifth Australian Open title to add to the 2010 doubles title she won with Big Sis. It is Serena's 12th Grand Slam title, tying her with Billie Jean King for sixth place on the all time women's Grand Slam champions list.
The fifth Australian open title is the most by any woman in the Open Tennis Era since 1968, surpassing the four held by Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles.
The next targets on the all time women's Grand Slam champions list are Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova with 18 majors each.
Margaret Court is the all time women's Grand Slam title holder with 24, and has won the Australian Open 11 times. She was in attendance along with Billie Jean King to be honored on the 40th anniversary year of her 1970 Grand Slam.
But Henin made Little Sis fight for it. At one point in the match she won 15 straight points to close out the second set, even the match and take a 1-0 lead in the deciding third set.
But Little Sis eventually stepped up her game to another level and took a 3-2 lead in the third set she never relinquished. She's also the first woman to repeat as champion since Jennifer Capriati won back to back Australian Opens in 2001-2002.
Now if Serena can figure out how to win some French Opens, everything will be copacetic.
My favorite tennis playing sisters took three our of the four Grand Slam doubles titles they entered in 2009, with only the French Open eluding their grasp.
They began their quest to get that elusive doubles Grand Slam by beating the world number one ranked doubles team in Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Liezel Huber of the US 6-4 6-3 to successfully defend their Australian Open championship.
The Williams sisters won their first Australian Open doubles crown in 2001 and did so again in 2003 and last year. They have won 11 Grand Slam doubles titles over their careers.
Serena is seeking her 12 individual Grand slam title when she meets the unretired Justine Henin in a bid to do something she's never done in her career: Win an Australian Open singles title in an even numbered year.
Next Grand Slam for the Williams sisters is the French Open
The professional tennis tour kicks off with the first Grand Slam of the season, the Australian Open. The 2010 edition began play in Melbourne on January 18, and my favorite tennis playing sisters are still in it to win it.
The Williams sisters are on the same side of the Women's singles draw and would meet in the semifinals if they keep kicking butt and taking names.
While the rest of the tennis world is buzzing over the return of Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, with some peeps hoping they start slowing down the Williams sisters Grand Slam tournaments juggernaut, defending Australian Open singles champ Serena and big sis Venus served notice that they are still women to be reckoned with.
Serena won her opening match of the tournament over Poland's Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 6-1 and only took an hour and 13 minutes to do it.
In her second round match versus Czech Petra Kvitova she took an hour and seven minutes to advance to the third round in a 6-2, 6-1 straight set victory.
Little Sis faces the woman who eliminated Big Sis from last year's Australian open tournament, Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.
Speaking of Big Sis, Venus began her singles tournament play by quickly overpowering Czech Lucie Safarova in a straight set 6-2, 6-2 win.
Her second round match against Austrian Sybille Bammer was more of a struggle, but she prevailed 6-2,7-5 to advance to the third round against Aussie homegirl Casey Dellacqua.
The sisters are playing doubles in this 2010 Australian Open and are the defending Women's doubles champs. They won three of the four Grand Slam doubles titles during the 2009 season with only the French Open eluding them.
They opened defense of their Women's doubles title with a 6-1, 6-1 straight set victory over Australia's Sophie Ferguson and Jessica Moore. They face Ioana Olaru of Romania and Ukraine's Olga Savchuk in their second round doubles match.
The tournament concludes on January 31, and here's hoping my fave tennis playing sisters add a few more Grand Slam titles to their trophy cases this season.
It's becoming a recurring theme lately for the Williams sisters. Little Sis beats Big Sis.
This time it was for the WTA Championship in Doha, Qatar.
Serena met her older sister for the second time in this tournament and won in straight sets 6-2, 7-6 (4) in the season-ending WTA Championship final.
"It feels great," said Serena, "I totally didn't expect to come here and win."
Both sisters were nursing injuries while getting to the final in different ways. Serena went unbeaten in the tournament and only dropped one set while doing so to Big Sis.
Despite losing two round robin matches and being extended to three sets in all of them, defending champ Venus still made it to the final of this tournament.
"It was the end of the season, so I have no complaints," Venus said when questioned about her fitness level. "You have to show up and play no matter what. So that had nothing to do with it."
It was Serena's fourth straight victory over Venus and pushed her all time record in their head yo head matchups to 13-10. It was also not only Serena's first win in a non-Grand Slam tournament this season, it was her first win in the WTA Championships since 2001.
"I haven't won a tournament that wasn't a Grand Slam in a while, so that was even more exciting," she said. "My losing streak in (other) tournaments in over."
That's bad news for the rest of the women's tennis playing world. But y'all have two months to rest up before the 2010 Australian Open starts Down Under.
The top eight women's tennis players in the world have been in Doha, Qatar this week playing in the WTA Championships.
The format of this tournament split the eight women into two groups, with everyone in the Maroon and White groups playing each other in a round robin format. Top two in each group met in the Saturday semis to determine who played in the championship match today.
When all was said and done, my favorite tennis playing sisters were the last ones standing and will face off for the WTA Championship.
The Williams sisters were placed in the same Maroon group and faced each other in round robin play Wednesday. Little Sis had to work to beat Big Sis, 5-7 6-4 7-6(4) and raise her all time record against Venus to 12-10.
In the semis Serena needed only 45 minutes in her semifinal as she took the first set from Caroline Wozniacki before she retired due to abdominal strain two games into the second set.
Venus on the other hand outlasted Jelena Jankovic 5-7 6-3 6-4 in her semifinal match which took 2 hours and 34 minutes to play.
So once again the Williams sisters are playing each other in the championship match of a tournament. What's also cool is that no matter what happens today, Serena will finish the year ranked Number one in the world.
So my prediction for today's match? Someone with the last name of Williams will win it.
For the first time since 2002 the final world tennis rankings will reflect what the whole planet already knows:
Serena Williams is the best women's tennis player in the world.
This elite tournament in Doha, Qatar matches up the top eight players in the world. Little Sis entered this $4.5 million season ending WTA Championships event trailing Safina by 155 ratings points.
The players are divided into two groups, the Maroon and White ones, with the top two from each group advancing to the semifinals after playing a round robin schedule. In addition, each victory in this tournament is worth 230 points.
After Serena dispatched Svetlana Kuznetsova in her opening Maroon Group match 7-6, 7-5, Safina entered her White Group match against Jelena Jankovic trailing by 75 points. After stepping onto the court and earning 70 ranking points for doing so, Safina was forced to retire two games into the mach due to a back injury.
Unfortunately defending champ Big Sis lost her Maroon group match to Elena Dementieva 6-3, 6-7, 2-6. The win gives Dementieva a share of the Maroon Group lead with Little Sis.
Even if Serena doesn't win any more matches, she will finish the year ranked Number one. Then she and Big Sis will get a well deserved break until January 18-31, 2010.
What are those dates, you ask? The scheduled dates for the first Grand Slam event of the 2010 tennis season, the Australian Open.
TransGriot Note: This guest post is courtesy of Tami at What Tami Said.
The facts seem to be thus:
On Saturday, in the U.S. Open semifinals, champion Serena Williams faced an unranked Kim Clijsters, who more than held her own in a taut, close battle.
According to Sports Illustrated online:
With Williams serving at 5-6, 15-30 in the second set, she faulted on her first serve. On the second serve, a line judge called a foot fault, making it a double-fault -- a call rarely, if ever, seen at that stage of any match, let alone the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament. Read more...
Williams responded to the call with an uncharacteristic level of anger. Again according to Sports Illustrated: "walking toward the line judge, screaming, cursing and shaking a ball in the official's direction, threatening to "shove it down" her throat."
In response, Williams was penalized a point for poor sportswomanship, giving a surprise victory to Clijsters.
On these things, most people agree. And few would celebrate Williams' outburst, which was ugly, unfortunate, graceless, ineffective and WRONG. My concern is that reaction to Williams lapse of judgement is ripe with sexism and racism.
When you consider the legacy of tennis "bad boys" like John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Ilie Nastase, the hyperventilating over Williams' lapse seems completely out-of-proportion.
McEnroe's outbursts that included marching aggressively up to line judges, cursing and destroying rackets have become part of the tennis legend's mythology. His childish behavior can be compiled into a two-part You Tube greatest hits reel set to cheerful music. And though McEnroe continued to have meltdowns long after his behavior could be deemed youthful folly, we chalk his actions up to the sort of single-minded intensity it takes to be a legendary winner in sport...when you are a man (and preferably a white one). McEnroe is affectionately remembered as a "bad boy."
But when you are a woman, and a black one at that, your wrong is more wrong than the next person's. In contrast to comments on McEnroe You Tube videos, reactions to Williams' tantrum are filled with racist language. Of course, for anyone who has ever spent time on You Tube, it shouldn't surprise to hear the word "animal" tossed around in reference to black women. What does surprise me (or maybe not) is the reaction of more mainstream sources.
Yahoo has been playing the Williams story on its front page for two days with language that would make a reader believe Williams had gone on some sort of bloody rampage.
The New York Times offered a breathless lead in to its coverage:
Serena Williams became unhinged in a shocking display of vitriol and profanity toward a line judge at the most inopportune time Saturday night — right before match point for Kim Clijsters in the semifinals of the United States Open.
The lineswoman involved in Williams' outburst is now said to have felt "threatened."
Several commenters on the generally progressive and feminist Jezebel piled on Williams and failed to note the gender and race biases inherent in their reactions. A commenter named LaComtesse offer this post and photo:
From the article: "I've never been in a fight in my whole life, so I don't know why she would have felt threatened," Williams said with a smile. Ummm....really, Ms. Williams? You don't see how, in certain situations (say, when you threaten to shove a ball down someone's throat), one might be intimidated by you when you're angry?
The poster's implications were rightfully challenged by several others.
Sports columnist Jason Whitlock blasted Williams as "an oversized, underachieving loudmouth..." who got "smacked into reality by a just-out-of-retirement mom." In the same article, Whitlock defends Michael Jordan's pompous, ungracious, "possibly cocktail-inspired" Hall of Fame rant, also delivered this weekend. Whitlock writes:
In graphic detail, he explained the slights — real, exaggerated and imagined — that fueled his competitive fire. He gave us a peek behind the curtain, a look at what drove the greatest competitor in our lifetime. I overlooked his missteps. He's a basketball player, not a motivational speaker. He spoke without a map. His words were not measured or chosen to create the impression he was anything beyond a competitive son of a bitch.
Got that? Jordan, whose ego is legendary, is an awesome "competitive son of a bitch." Williams? Just a "whiner," and an "oversized" one, in case you missed than throw-away sexist language.
Ah, Serena. You can take the girl out of the 'hood but .............
Wonder if McEnroe, Connors and Nastase are from that same 'hood?
The Williams sisters have long been demonized in the tennis world for having the temerity to be, not just winners, but also big (women shouldn't take up too much space), strong (women's bodies should be soft. Not too soft, mind you. Serena's muscular round posterior, preposterously gets called "fat."), confident (women should be shrinking and always self-effacing) and worse, black. They are called manly and unfeminine. Discussions of their playing style are accompanied with words like "brute strength."
Jezebel offered an excellent post about new tennis favorite Michelle Oudin last week that offers a hint at what America wants in its female athletes.
Oudin certainly seems to be a lovable sports star, and her accomplishments are definitely praise-worthy, but there is something off about the way she is being celebrated. She has been called the "darling" of the U.S. Open, America's sweetheart," a "pint-sized, freckled-faced blonde from Georgia," the "tiny little savior of women's tennis," everything it seems, save tennis' "Great White Hope" although given the media coverage of Oudin's win, it would probably be more like the "little, teeny-tiny, super cute White Hope").
Especially problematic was this article from the Daily Beast, which quoted ESPN sportscaster Michelle Beadle comparing Oudin to the Williams sisters. "From Day 1, I've never heard the Williams sisters referred to as sweethearts." Read more...
It is instructive to see how Williams has been cast as a "baddie" in contrast to a talented, but admittedly more-sweetheart-appropriate Clijsters, who went on to. Jezebel notes in a post today:
Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News, who called the incident "very sad," notes that Williams is already being cast as a villain to Clijsters heroine: "There were fascinating elements to this match, though most of them were lost in the chaos. It might have been constructive to debunk the traditional, sexist perceptions about Clijsters and the Williams sisters. We condemn Serena and Venus for juggling business interests, while applauding Clijsters for quitting the game completely to have a baby."
This incident is perhaps the best example of how little leeway women, and black women in particular, have in the public eye. Serena Williams' behavior this weekend should be viewed as an unfortunate misstep by an otherwise admirable athlete, whose life, on an off the court, stands as a model for young women and men. Instead, we're worrying about Williams' future and whether her reputation can recover from this single incident. One incident, and to the masses, Williams has proved that she is not "America's Sweetheart," as if there was ever a question. One incident, and to the masses, Williams has proven their sexist and racist biases correct. One incident, and she is an angry, black woman--threatening, an animal.
Can a woman--a black woman--lose her shit in public and recover without the stain remaining on her reputation forever? Will Serena's wrong be treated in the same way as the wrongs of male athletes? I wish that the answer was yes, but I don't know.
Serena shook off Saturday's semifinal drama, the $10,000 fine it cost her and joined her sister Venus in winning their first US Open doubles title in a decade.
"I'd like to thank the fans for supporting me through everything," she said to applause from a few thousand fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium. "I really, really love you guys and never want to have a bad image for you guys."
The Williams sisters made quick work of the world's number one ranked and tournament number one seeded doubles team in Liezel Huber and Cara Black.
It took Big Sis and Little Sis only 89 minutes to defeat Black and Huber 6-2, 6-2 at Arthur Ashe Stadium and claim the $420,000 first prize.
In the process of extending their unbeaten record in Grand Slam doubles finals to 10-0, they captured their third Grand Slam doubles title this year and 10th overall in their careers.
The only Grand Slam doubles title that eluded them was the French Open.
"I have a great partner," Venus said. "I believe in her just as much as I believe in myself."
Patrick McEnroe, whose brother John was notorious for tennis meltdowns during the 80's tried to press the issue during the post match interview.
The crowd started booing until Big Sis stepped in.
"I think what the crowd is saying is, 'Patrick, let's move on,'" Venus said
Yep, let's move on to 2010 and see if the sisters can catch the team of Natasha Zvereva and Gigi Fernandez, who captured 14 Grand Slam doubles titles and eventually Navratilova and Shriver.
For the first time in a decade, my favorite tennis playing siblings are in the US Open doubles finals.
Little Sis and Big Sis battled sustained 20 mph winds Thursday and the Russian duo of Alisa Kleybanova and Ekaterina Makarova to prevail in three sets 7-6, 3-6, 6-2.
"Good to make the final again. Encouraging and very cool," Serena said.
It put the Williams sisters in their 10th Grand Slam doubles final. A victory in the final would not only give them three of the four Grand Slam doubles titles, but would put them halfway to matching Pam Shriver's and Martina Navratilova's record of 20 Grand Slam doubles titles.
Whoever their opponent is will have to bear in mind the fact that the Williams sisters record in Grand Slam Doubles finals is a sparkling 9-0.
"Hopefully, that's a record that won't end yet," Serena said. "We really want this. I'm sure whoever we play really wants it, too."
Speaking of finals, assuming the weather is clear, Little Sis will take on Kim Clijsters at 8 PM EDT in a semifinal matchup for a spot in the finals.
Little Sis seeks to continue her march to repeat as the US Open women's singles champ and win her 12th Grand Slam singles title.
Here's hoping that this ends up as a very good weekend at Flushing Meadows for the Williams siblings.
The myriad haters of all things Williams sisters are gleefully munching on Hater Tots after 2005 US Open champ Kim Clijsters of Belgium upset third seeded Big Sis 0-6,6-0, 4-6.
It ends Venus' run on the singles side of the 2009 US Open, but she and Little Sis are still alive in their quest to capture their first US Open women's doubles tournament title since 1999.
Meanwhile Williams family honor falls to Little Sis once again.
The defending US Open champ is in the quarterfinal round after beating down Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-0. She took the last 10 games to close out the match.
With Dinara Safina getting beat (again) Serena is now the highest ranked player left on the women's side.
Little Sis is on a roll right now, but she still has some work to do before she can match Big Sis as a repeat US Open champion.
Serena and Venus Williams continue to kick butt and take names enroute to a potential semifinals matchup at the 2009 US Open.
Big Sis knocked off Magdalena Rybarikov 6-2, 7-5 to advance to her fourth round matchup with 2005 US Open champ Kim Clijsters. Clijsters is back on the tour after a two year maternity leave and looks like she's ready to pick up where she left off. She will provide a formidable test for Big Sis, who is still battling that sore knee.
Little Sis beat Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the fourth round. If the name sounds familiar to you, it's because they were involved in some serious drama the last time they met at the French Open.
During the third round of The French Open, Sanchez's serve and volley game pushed Little Sis to three sets before she prevailed. She was also incensed about a first set no call in which a ball Serena struck hit Sanchez on the arm and cleared the net.
During the post match press conference Little Sis called her opponent a 'cheat' because she didn't say anything when she clearly hit a shot over the net with her arm, in violation of the rules.
Unlike Big Sis, who had problems in her first round match, Little Sis Serena Williams has breezed through her opening round women's singles matches at the 2009 US Open.
The defending champ began her quest to repeat at Flushing Meadows by beating Alexa Glatch 6-4, 6-1 in her opening round match at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Last night she needed only 53 minutes to overwhelm Hungary's Melinda Czink 6-1, 6-1.
Big Sis did join her in the third round by beating fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. They play their opening round doubles match today versus Julia Goerges and Arantxa Parra Santonja.
They are not only seeking their first US Open doubles title since 1999, they're trying to add this title to the Wimbledon and Australian Open doubles championships they've already claimed this year.
Serena is seeking her 12th Grand Slam tennis title and is trying to become the first US Open repeat winner since Big Sis did so in 2000-2001.
The way she's playing right now, barring a monumental upset or running into her sister Venus in the semifinals, she just might get it.
The 2009 US Open started yesterday in Flushing Meadows, NY and will be running until September 13.
You know I'll be watching as my favorite tennis playing siblings battle the women's tennis world and their haters to capture another major tennis title.
While number 2 seed and defending US Open champ Little Sis opened play by cruising to a straight set 6-4, 6-1 win over Alexa Glatch, Number 3 seeded Big Sis had a rougher time.
She's probably humming Destiny's Child's Survivor after spending 2 hours and 44 minutes outlasting Russia's Vera Dushevina 6-7 (7-5), 7-5, 6-3 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
In their careers, neither Venus or Serena has ever lost in the opening round of a Grand Slam tournament. But Dushevina came extremely close to knocking out Big Sis.
Venus dropped the first set in a 7-5 tiebreaker. She led 5-3 in that tiebreaker until being rattled by a foot fault call that wiped out a great serve that would have given her a 6-3 lead. She also called an 8 minute injury timeout early in the first set at 2-1 to deal with her left knee in addition to struggling with her second serve.
She found herself down 5-4 in the second set just serving to stay in the match and fell behind love-15. The number 47 world ranked Dushevina found herself just three tantalizing points away from pulling off a major upset.
But as Houston Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich once said, "Never underestimate the heart of a champion." Big Sis dug deep and won the next seven games to even the match and take control of the match by building a 4-0 third set lead enroute to winning the match.
If the Williams sisters continue their winning ways, they would unfortunately meet in the semifinals of this tournament. They are on the same side of the 2009 US Open women's singles draw.
The Williams sisters last won the US Open women's doubles championship in 1999, and are seeded fourth in this tournament.
Hopefully Big Sis gets the kinks out of her service game while playing some doubles. She had ten foot faults in that match, and there are concerns about whether her left knee will hold up from the pounding its going to take from the hard court surfaces at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center.
Stay tuned to find out if Little Sis makes it back to back US Open singles titles, if Big Sis finally wins a major and they capture their first US Open women's doubles championship in a decade.
The fourth Sister-Sister final is over, and for the first time in six years Little Sis is hoisting the Venus (Williams) Rosewater Dish aloft.
Serena Williams beat two time defending champ Big Sis 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 to capture her third Wimbledon title. Little Sis had an amazing day serving, cranking out 12 aces in this championship match to win her first title at the All England Club since 2003.
The 2K's have been the Williams era at the All England Club. If you peruse the Ladies Singles Wimbledon championship list for this decade, the only years that a Williams hasn't won Wimbledon is 2004, the year Maria Sharapova upset Serena for the title, and 2006 in which Serena didn't play and Venus fell in the third round to Jelena Jankovic in three sets.
So it's next year for Venus quest to capture her sixth Wimbledon title. The ironic thing is that all three of Serena's Wimbledon title wins (2002, 2003, 2009) have come at the expense of Big Sis. The 2008 Wimbledon was the only one of Venus' five titles have come at the expense of Little Sis.
Venus' quest for a sixth title will commence next summer, and the odds are she may have to go through her little sister to get it.
There are several predictions I can make with absolute certainty for Saturday's Ladies Singles final at Wimbledon.
*An African-American will win it. *It'll be played on Independence day *The champion's last name will be Williams.
My favorite tennis playing siblings made it to the finals of the Ladies Singles earlier today but took different routes to get there.
Little Sis had to play a knockdown drag out three set semifinal match for the ages in subduing 2008 Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva of Russia 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 8-6.
It was the longest semifinal women's match ever played in the open era at Wimbledon at two hours and 49 minutes, and Serena had to battle, claw, scrap, chase and hustle for every point. She also got some critical points that clipped the line by millimeters that were verified by the automated Hawk-Eye system.
Dementieva was considered the underdog despite having some recent success against Serena. She knocked Serena out of the Olympic singles tournament last year and had won two other recent non-Grand Slam tournament matchups with her prior to Wimbledon.
She also brought her A+ game to Wimbledon as well.
But this is a Grand Slam tournament, and the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is the Williams sisters home away from home.
A few hours later two time defending Wimbledon champion Big Sis destroyed Dementieva's countrywoman and world Number 1 ranked player Dinara Safina to set up an all 'Williams'-don ladies final for their fourth time in their careers.
Safina was eliminated in a 6-1, 6-0 rout that only took Venus 51 minutes to complete.
It took 27 minutes before Safina even won her only game of the match and she was already trailing 5-0 in the first set.
And don't look now peeps, the Williams sisters are in the Ladies Doubles semifinals, so they may be taking another check home before their successful business trip to England is completed.
Should be a very interesting 4th of July. But as an elder sibling I'm rooting for Big Sis to take home another Venus (Williams) Rosewater dish on Saturday..
It's late June, and that means to a tennis fan it's time to break out the strawberries and cream. The 2009 Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club have started.
Despite another frustrating trip to Paris last month for Venus and Serena, the Williams sisters are favorites to take another Venus (Williams) Rosewater Dish back to the States.
Wimbledon has been their personal playground over the last decade. Venus has won five Wimbledon titles since 2000, including the 2007 and 2008 ones.
The sisters have played each other in two previous Wimbledon finals besides the 2008 one. Little Sis won the two previous title matchups in 2002 and 2003.
The Williams sisters are on opposite sides of the ladies singles draw (hallelujah) and could potentially meet in the finals. They are the defending ladies doubles champions and will be heavily favored to repeat.
The tradition drenched All England Club will be the venue for the 2012 Olympics tennis competition. That's a fact which probably hasn't escaped the defending doubles gold medallists from the Beijing Games attention.
Centre Court will also be sporting a brand new retractable roof, so bye bye rain delays.
The Championships begin play June 22 and run through July 5. Do my favorite tennis playing sisters have enough game to make it back to Centre Court for the ladies singles and doubles championship matches?
While Wimbledon has been the personal playground of my favorite tennis playing siblings, the French Open and the clay courts of Stade Roland Garros have been more problematic.
The Williams sisters combined have won the French Open singles title once over their careers, with Serena's 2002 win coming at the expense of Big Sis.
The French Open started on May 24 and Venus' lousy luck at the French Open continued. Her quest for that elusive first French Open singles title is on hold until next year. She was knocked out in the third round after losing in straight sets 0-6, 4-6 at the hands of Hungary's Agnes Szavay.
The Williams sisters are playing doubles in this tournament as well and are attempting to win their first doubles crown here since 1999.
They have captured the 2008 Wimbledon, Olympic, US Open and 2009 Australian Open doubles titles, and are attempting to win all the Grand Slam events in the same year.
Little Sis is still alive in her quest to capture her second French Open title and 11th Grand slam title overall. Serena had a tough first round match with the Czech Republic's Klara Zakopalova that she eventually won 6-3, 6-7, 6-4.
She won her second round match with Spain's Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain 6-2, 6-0 and got through a sloppy third round three set 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. The match was marred by a first set blown call when a ball hit by Serena struck her opponent at a critical point in the game. Little Sis also had 25 unforced errors and four double faults, but moves on to the fourth round.
The French Open is running through June 7, and here's hoping my fave tennis playing sisters finally break through and take home from Paris the singles and doubles championship trophies.
22 year old German tennis player Sarah Gronert was born intersex, had surgery to correct her ambiguous genitalia, and identifies as and was raised female.
Should be an open an shut case in terms of her gender identity, correct?
Not when you're playing professional tennis and you have people like Schlomo Tzoref ignorantly asserting she has an unfair advantage by dint of her intersex status.
"This is not a woman, it's a man. She does not have the power of a woman and no woman has such a technique."
Tzoref's comments have the strong whiff of sour grapes. They came in the wake of Gronert serving 20 aces to beat down Julia Glushko, one of the tour players he coaches in the quarterfinals of a tournament Gronert went on to win.
Gronert is making rapid progress climbing up in the world tennis rankings. She's currently as of this writing ranked a career high 555th in the world. She has played in 9 tournaments over the last three years, won two of them, but has yet to win a major.
There is growing unrest among some people in tennis who claim her intersex birth status may give her an edge over other cisgender female players. Under WTA Tour rules, if there is "any question as to the eligibility" of a player, the WTA has the right to "require a player to submit to gender verification to determine sexual status".
Gronert has also been subjected to cruel and derogatory comments similar to Tzoref's to the point that she nearly quit playing the sport.
Despite a WTA spokeperson admitting that he wasn't directly aware of any complaint being filed against Gronert by other players or coaches, her case was recently reviewed by a Women's Tennis Association Tour medical delegate to make sure that she satisfied all the requirements to compete in the women's game.
The delegate concluded that there was "sufficient independent and verifiable evidence" to show that Gronert was eligible to play women's tennis. The positive ruling means that Gronert is eligible to compete in any tennis event that her rankings and wild cards allow her to play in.
"The Tour's gender determination rule is similar to the International Olympic Committee's rule, and under this rule, Gronert is allowed to play Tour events as a female," a spokesman said.
That affirmative gender determination also clears Gronert to play in International Tennis Federation tour events as well.
An ITF spokeswoman said that like the WTA, the governing body had never received any formal inquiry or complaint about Gronert's eligibility.
"Sarah Gronert is legally and biologically a woman," the spokeswoman said, "and as such perfectly entitled to compete in ITF Pro Circuit events and, at some point if her ranking warrants it, in WTA Tour events."
Yo Schlomo, Sarah can play, so deal with it. While you're at it, deal with your intersexphobic behavior as well.
You can add another truism to the other certainties in life. If it's an odd numbered year, Serena Williams will win the Australian Open.
If there was any doubt about whether the Williams sisters were back to their usual domination of women's tennis, well Baby Sis put an end to any protestations to the contrary.
Serena Williams crushed Dinara Safina 6-0, 6-3 in 59 minutes to take her fourth Australian Open title and her tenth Grand Slam singles title. With the win Serena replaced Jelena Jankovic as the Number One player in women's tennis.
The domination of Safina was so complete that Baby Sis took only 22 minutes to win the first set with an aggressive attacking style that flustered Safina into multiple unforced errors.
Safina composed herself and tried to rally in the second set, breaking Serena to take a brief 1-0 lead. Baby Sis responded by breaking Safina's serve twice to forge a 4-1 lead.
Safina kept fighting and managed to hold serve, cutting Serena's lead to 4-2 but Serena quickly built it back to 5-2. Safina held serve thanks to a critical referee's call that gave her a 40-30 lead and allowed her a stay of tennis execution at 5-3. Serena would not be denied as she served her way to a 40-0 lead and three championship points which she quickly converted for the win.
Dinara Safina was trying make a little tennis history of her own. Had she won she and her brother, 2005 Australian Open champion Marat Safin would have become the first brother-sister siblings to win the same Grand Slam tournament. But at the level Serena was playing that wasn't happening.
The Williams sisters have won the last three Grand Slam tournaments, and if today's match was any indicator, it may be a long year for the rest of the women's tennis world.
May I remind you peeps that Baby Sis is only 27 and in 2011, don't bet against Serena Williams winning a fifth Australian Open singles title and adding another Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup to her trophy room.
Well, it wasn't a totally bad week for Big Sis in Melbourne. Venus shook off her shocking second round loss to team up with Little Sis and grab the 2009 Australian Open doubles title in straight sets over Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova and Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-3 6-3.
The heat continues to be the other story of this tournament, and the retractable roof at Rod Laver Arena was once again closed by tournament officials with the outside temps approaching 115 degrees (40 degrees Celsius) for the third straight day.
Didn't matter because the Williams sisters were just as hot as the weather. They blitzed through the first set in 38 minutes. Despite some service problems they relentlessly attacked their opponents and repeatedly broke their serves to secure the victory.
The Williams sisters had previously won the Australian Open doubles title in 2001 and 2003. It was their third Australian Open doubles title and their eighth Grand Slam doubles title overall.
In addition, they have climbed into a third place tie with Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarezon on the all time list of Grand Slam doubles title winners. They trail only Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver who won 21 titles and the duo of Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva with 14.
Big Sis told reporters that she feels she and Little Sis would have won more titles if they had played more doubles.
I agree. I think they'd be in striking distance of Martina and Pam Shriver if they had over the last decade, but it's still not too late for them. The next major is the French Open in Paris and then Williamsdon, oops Wimbledon.
Serena still has her singles championship match left to play Down Under, and I hope this was a nice warmup for her.
It took her three sets, twelve aces, 32 winners and two hours and seven minutes of high quality tennis, but Little Sis outlasted Justine Henin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 to complete a very successful business trip to Melbourne to defend her Australian Open championship.
Margaret Court is the all time women's Grand Slam title holder with 24, and has won the Australian Open 11 times. She was in attendance along with Billie Jean King to be honored on the 40th anniversary year of her 1970 Grand Slam.
