Venus Proves Even Best Have Bad Days

It wasn't just that Venus Williams lost in the early rounds of the French Open Friday to someone most people have never heard of. That happens.

It was that she lost the first set 6-0. It was that she didn't know where the ball was going when she hit it.

It was that she was terrible.

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"My balls were just flying out today,'' she said after losing 6-0, 6-4 to Agnes Szavay, the 29th seed. "No explanation. Sometimes, the more shots you miss, the harder it is to make the next one.''

Williams looked confused all day, her head spinning. At one point, they showed her on TV sitting between games, even looking baffled as to which water bottle was hers.

So Venus is out at Roland Garros after the third round. And her sister, Serena, was bad in the first round, good in the second.

It was 2002 when the Williams sisters faced each other in the French final. Serena won. And seven years later, they both have looked shaky, while No. 1 Dinara Safina grudgingly gives up even one game. In three matches, she has lost just four games.

Total.

Are we seeing the fall of the Williams sisters? Well, it's hard to read Serena, and frustrating. She lost a career-high four straight matches coming into the French. But she has been known to come and go, and to turn things on after the early rounds in majors.

If she wants it and she works, she will be No. 1 again. She's awfully close already at No. 2.

Venus, though, is about to turn 29. And after so much hype when she joined the tour as a teenager and went to the U.S. Open finals, dropping beads out of her hair onto the court in 1997, she is much less noticed now. Serena gets the attention.


And here's the thing about Venus' career that people aren't talking about: She is playing as well now as she has played in years.

No, that's not a backhanded compliment, or a smart-alecky quip about Friday's disaster.

Venus Williams is playing great again, starting to intimidate again.

She is up to No. 3 in the rankings, will be the favorite at Wimbledon, and has a real shot at being No. 1 again.

So what happened on Friday? And this whole tournament, really? Venus had to go three sets in each of the first two rounds. Well, make what you want of it, but think about what she said: the more shots you miss, the harder it is to make the next one.

The red clay at the French Open can play mind games with you. On top of that, for some reason, the crowds there aren't big fans of the Williams sisters, so Venus doesn't get her usual beloved aura. And clay is her worst surface, as her long strides make it impossible for agile footwork on the dirt. Also, the stuff negates her power.

But on the clay, you cannot question yourself for one second, or everything turns on you. It happened to Roger Federer in the second round, when he completely lost his game in the second and third sets against Jose Acasuso. Federer couldn't find the court either, losing the second set and going down 5-1 in the third.

Acasuso panicked, and choked away any hope. He lost his nerve.

"Definitely, it was a sign of mental strength and, you know, the physical abilities I have,'' Federer said afterward, explaining his comeback. "Mentally, I've always been very strong, but I'm not being put in a position like this very often, you know.''

Yes, the talk later was about Federer's ability to come back. But the real question was about how his game left him for half an hour.

So it's hard to know whether Federer just doesn't have his head on straight after a tough first half of the year or whether the clay played games with him. With Venus, it was the head games.

"It takes a little bit of everything on this surface,'' she said. "Will and a little luck and some winners and some errors from your opponent. Most of all, you've got to do the right thing at the right time.''

Punishment for every error. The clay requires so much patience and precision over such a long time that it can give you the yips. It happened some to Serena in the first round, too, but she brought it on herself, moping around the court.

In contrast, Venus was fighting the whole way, and came prepared. As always.

This just happens.

"I'm used to beating people 6-9,'' she said. "I'm not used to my shot not going in, and losing a set 6-0. So it completely was foreign to me. It seemed every shot I tried, it just found a way to go out.''

It's not a long-term daze, just a one-week clay confusion. Venus will look different at Wimbledon.