The only excitement from the match came from Sharapova, who irked some tennis fans with her excessive celebration after the win. If you hadn't watched the match, you'd think one of two things: Sharapova had just won her fifth grand slam title, or just endured a long and tough three-set battle.
Perhaps it was a sign of respect. After all, the Williams sisters dominated the women's tour for much of the last decade. Though younger sister Serena is still the best player in the game, Venus' struggles with Sjogren's Syndrome has slowed her effectiveness. Once one of the quickest women on tour, Venus is only just figuring out how to control the side effects of the autoimmune disease, with symptoms such as extreme fatigue, muscle pain, numbness in the limbs and bronchitis.
Whether or not Venus should retire has been the talk of the tour since her diagnosis, and the speculation will only get louder if she continues crashing out of major tournaments in the first week. Watching her against Sharapova, she moved very well, despite getting blown off the court. She looked and moved a lot better than the Venus we've seen in the last two years. She's enjoying tennis so much more now that even a loss produces smiles. She's even committed, with Serena, to more doubles matches at the bigger tournaments.
That's one strategy that Venus needs to get back on top: playing more doubles tournaments. Not only does winning–which is all but guaranteed when paired with her sister–build her confidence, but it helps her work on her net game. At 6-foot-2,she is the tallest woman on tour, and has the longest wingspan. At the net, Venus is as graceful as a gazelle, stretching out to get balls that seem unreachable. She showed flashes of this weapon against Sharapova. But just as quickly as she gave a taste of it, it was gone; relegated to the bottom of her bag of weapons.
Thing is, at 32, Venus is an elder stateswoman on tour, but she no longer has the agility and power Serena has maintained. She cannot continue to slug it out at the baseline against the current crop of women emerging. These women, unlike the Williams sisters main rivals in their heyday, are just as powerful, but with fresher legs.
If you ask me if Venus can still win a grand slam, I'll say yes. I think she has one more Wimbledon title in her. Think Pete Sampras at the 2002 U.S. Open. But she isn't going to get there by defiantly planting her feet at the baseline. She's still got one of her biggest weapons, her serve. Though she struggles to hit them consistently, she's still got enough in the tank to rely on her big serve to set up a serve and volley situation. The shorter Venus can limit her rallies, the better her chances are of playing deep into the second week.
I don't Venus is ready to retire. In fact, I don't want her to retire this way. With the contributions she and her sister have made to the sport, she deserves to go out on a high note. Earlier today, I watched the Baltimore Ravens defeat the New England Patriots for a spot in the Super Bowl. The Ravens, led by defensive captain Ray Lewis, have defied expectations to earn their spot. But since Lewis announced he would retire after the season, the Ravens have played like a different team; a team on a mission to give their emotional leader a parting gift. But win or lose, Lewis will retire as one of the most respected men to have played football, but he'll also exit having played at the highest level.
That's what Venus deserves: to make one last run at a grand slam. Can she do it? Certainly, but only if she adopts a different strategy that involves committing to more of a net game.
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