Why Venus could actually win it

Venus: Finally focused for victory?

I know, I know. I'm putting up a blog saying good things about a Williams when she's supposed to hit the court in a second-round match later in the day.

Maybe I should hold off so as to not jinx her. Nah.

By now, Venus has had her cereal, played around in her bed and thought about heading to the tennis center. She'll face Lucie Safarova, who she beat in three sets on her way to a Rome semifinal where she should have beaten Dinara Safina. Too bad Safina was playing doubles that day.

But I digress.

Venus Williams, in her 2009 Clay Court campaign, has strung together some inspiring tennis. While everyone watched her go three sets with unknowns in Acapulco (then tripped up Flavia Penetta in that final 6-2, 6-1) and Rome (before that whole Safina thing happened), She's had relatively few blips. Sure, she lost to a hard-hitter in Alisa Kleybanova and Sabine Lisicki before she came down with Swine flu. But Venus is a Williams. And we all know the Williamses save their best tennis for the slams.

This can be said to be Venus' year for several reasons:

* She's never won the French Open Women's singles title. She has, however, taken the women's doubles title with Serena in 1999 and the mixed doubles with Justin Gimelblambluhblah in '98. She didn't win her singles final because back then it was a mental thing playing against Serena.

* Carla Suarez-Navarro isn't in her half of the draw.

Gimelstob: Used to play.

* Richard Williams said so.

* She has to win one more second singles title for the Williams Slam. Serena's got hers, and Venus already has Wimbledon.

* Serena's clearly not ready, and someone named Williams has to.

I'll admit that I've always been a Venus Williams fan. Something about the fact that had she gotten over the mental stuff that came with playing Serena after the 2000 U.S. Open semis (you know, the one where Venus won, then Serena broke down in tears?) She'd be a double-digit slam winner by now.

Serena: Skin-of-her-teeth victory in first round
against some chick whose name she can't spell.

Venus has a grace about her when she's on the court. The strokes and the movement. The fact that she'll return balls few people would barely be able to get behind -- and with ease.

The fact that she's a humble winner, and it's a damn shame she's only spent 11 weeks at No. 1. Hell, Serena did that this year already, and her results were less than stellar.

Don't get me wrong: Serena is a good player. Safina is, too. I just think the former needs more court time and the latter needs to leave her coach in the stands during matches to earn respect (from me, anyway).

How it should be: Big sister in command.

Let me whisper something in your ear...

Dinara Safina sat on a changeover, nearly dejected from a beating she had been suffering at the hands of seven-time grand slam champion Venus Williams, and looked into her towel for some sort of sign.

It didn't come until her coach, Zeljko Krajan, sat beside her that Thursday at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.

Something he said must have been what she needed to hear to calm her, thus allowing the tide to change in a game where Venus Williams had been up a set and a break. Safina won the match in the third set, then went on to defeat Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final for her first title of the season.

It was a title she didn't win alone -- and in a single-person sport, no less.

The WTA presently allow for on-court coaching, which means that my gripe isn't one about an illegal action. To me, it still exists.

How would a commentator respond if, say, Richard Williams sidled up to Venus in the middle of a match? I can see the '97 U.S. Open final played over in this day and age now:

RW: Venus Ebonee Starr Got D*&$ Williams, you better not let that Swiss Miss get under your skin! Now look, put some tin foil on the end of that string of beads where the one fell off, and get back out there.

VW: Dad, I'm just not on the same level. I'm fighting as hard as I...

RW: Did you hear that? I think someone just called you a porch monkey. Is that how you want to be remembered? In your country? Now start rushing the net and bring that check home to daddy.

After a 20 minute changeover (we know that man can ramble), Venus would've come out smoking hot, taking the second set from Hingis, then winning the third in a tiebreak as Martina began to crumble.

But that's not how it worked.

For years, tennis has been one of those sports where you didn't look for any interference from outsiders. You only knew the coach had the hitting partner ready for after the match, or before the next match, or something to make sure a new strategy was taken into the next round.

It used to be if you faltered, you faltered. Now if you falter, you can rest on someone else's shoulders and pick yourself back up.

Safina may still be No. 1, but she wouldn't be No. 1 with an asterisk -- and two questionable titles in '09.

I'm only going to say this once...

Dinara Safina is NOT the best player in the world.

She's like Linus. Her confidence is not there when her security blanket is nowhere to be found.

I'll write a little more about this for tomorrow, just before her first French Open match.

For now, tennis...

SO I haven't been agreeing with most of what's been said in recent weeks on the state of tennis and how things could be turned around/improved upon. Sure, the American men suck on clay. But Wayne Odesnik and Sam Querry have had decent results this year. Sure, the Williamses should play more tennis. But they've won three singles titles between them this year already (including the Aussie Open -- and the Doubles title there, too) and one of Venus' was on clay in Acapulco.

Maybe this will be a springboard into something more permanent. Maybe it won't. But my rants -- those of a complete amateur who got into tennis in high school, and got back into it last year while losing weight -- will continue.

I win big on grass, but I can win elsewhere, too!

Argh! This clay ish is for the birds!

Hey, I won a tourney theese year.

Remember me? I'm still here.