The Illusion of Oz

Written by: Staff on 19th January 2011

The Illusion of Oz

Venus Williams (USA) |

According to Venus Williams, it is all about ‘illusion’. Her dress is an ‘illusion’, her nudie knickers are an ‘illusion’ and, following her remarkable 6-7, 6-0, 6-4 win over Sandra Zahlavova, absolutely everything about Ms Williams seems to be an ‘illusion’.

She began the tournament with the illusion that she could be a contender at Melbourne Park. Most of the first set against the Czech soon put paid to that idea; Venus was slapping errors around the court as if it were going out of fashion while Zahlavova, a journeywoman of a player at best, was setting herself up as the odds-on favourite for a place in the third round.

Then there was the ‘illusion’ of the wounded champion. In the final point of the 79 minute first set, Venus went to hit a high backhand and screamed in pain as she made contact with the ball. Grabbing her groin, she doubled over in pain. Something was clearly wrong. As soon as Zahlavova had polished off the point, Venus hobbled to her chair and called for the trainer. For a moment, it was touch and go whether she could actually make it to the chair as lurched forward looking as if she had just been shot.

But, as with so much in the life of the elder Williams sister, it was all an illusion. She limped off court for treatment but, returning a good 10 minutes later, she proceeded to stagger away with the second set without dropping a game. Even when Zahlavova recovered her composure and started making more of a fight of it in the third set, the illusion given was that Venus was either a miracle of modern physiotherapy (by now, she was wearing heavy strapping on her right leg and on the left side of her abdomen) or she pulling a fast one and was not nearly as badly hurt as she would like to make out.

She clattered the ball, she lunged and she served like a rocket launcher. Admittedly, she was not skipping around the court like a young gazelle, but she was not the dead woman walking of the first set.

“It was tough but I’m a long way from home, so far that I didn’t want to go back just yet,” Venus explained without wincing and looking rather pleased with herself. “I don’t know what happened in the second set. I just started going for my shots and I don’t think she was as composed as before. But you have to be able to play in all conditions: good, bad, weird, bizarre, all of the above.

“I think it threw her off a little bit, all the treatment. When I could get my racquet on the ball, I tried to do a lot with it. And she gave me some errors. You have to keep going to the bitter end. It was pretty bitter today and it didn’t end.”

The crowd were not buying into any of this. They cheered long and loud for Zahlavova and whistled every time Venus engaged in any time wasting tactics. Should she suddenly spring back to life and clobber Andrea Petkovic, the extremely knowledgeable Melbourne crowd may give Ms W a right royal roasting.

In the previous round, Venus had been pains to point out that “it was all about the dress” and, after all the shenanigans with Zahlavova, she would have been glad of any distraction to steer conversation away from her tennis. So, let us discuss the dress then.

It appeared to be made from that webbed fencing that maintenance men used to screen off construction work on the freeway, the stuff that warns you “this is a hazardous zone”. Given that this webbing was wrapped around Venus’s increasingly ample midriff and was topped off – or, rather, bottomed out – with her invisible undies, the whole ensemble was, indeed, an area to be avoided at all costs.

Back in the real world, there was, thankfully, a fair sprinkling of champions treating their opponents with respect and those opponents taking defeat with good grace and dignity.

Twelve months ago, Elena Baltacha – an old friend of 10sballs.com – reached the third round of the Australian Open only to take one look at Dinara Safina in the Rod Laver Arena and freeze. At the time, Safina was the world No.2 while the court was the biggest our Bally had played upon outside Wimbledon (and playing at home is always different). She was utterly overwhelmed and overawed, won only three games and left the tournament frustrated and disappointed that she had let herself down.

Coming back this year lost again in the Rod Laver Arena but this time she walked away with her head held high. She had been beaten 6-1, 6-3 by Justine Henin but this time she had played her heart out and simply lost out to a woman who has made a hobby of collecting grand slam trophies.

And, just to ram home the point that in tennis, fortunes and careers can change in the twinkling of an eye, Safina – now ranked 75 – had lasted only 44 minutes and had failed to win a game against Kim Clijsters the night before. Just like Bally in 2010, she had been rooted to the spot as her higher ranked opponent ran rings around her.

As for Bally, her 61 minute outing in the TV spotlight had filled her with hope and renewed enthusiasm for the coming season. She had taken on one of the best players in the world and she had held her own. Losing to Henin was no disgrace – many women ranked higher than Bally have taken a pasting from the diminutive Belgian – but making the former world No.1 work for her victory? Now that was something worth celebrating.

“It was an amazing experience, really amazing experience to play a legend,” Baltacha said. “I learnt so much from the match, like really positives of what I’m improved in my game from last year playing a top player, and also things I’ve got to get better at.

“In the second set, I was like actually, Just get into the match, get into the rally. I managed to do that in the second set. Then I really started enjoying it. I got the fist pumps again. I felt I really was in the match. At 4‑3, she stepped it up a notch, broke me. But it was an amazing experience, really amazing experience.”

Bally will now head back to the regular circuit, keen to put her recently gained experience to good use while Henin will be back on Friday for the third round. As for Venus, who knows? She would like believe that she could still win one of the titles that matter and yet she has not been to a grand slam final, other than Wimbledon, since the Australian Open of 2003. Venus with the cup in her hand is, like her dresses, no more than an illusion.

Topics: Venus Williams