Venus Williams Is A Great Champion and Inspiration, Won Dubai @ 33 & 11/12 Years Old

Written by: on 24th February 2014
Dubai Tennis WTA Championships
Venus Williams Is A Great Champion and Inspiration, Won Dubai @ 33 & 11/12 Years Old

epa04096050 Winner Venus Williams (3-L) of the US and runner-up Alize Cornet (3-R) of France pose with tournament officials after their final match for the Dubai Duty Free Tennis WTA Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 22 February 2014. EPA/ALI HAIDER  |

Venus Williams did not linger after winning the Dubai Duty Free Championships for a third time, so becoming only the second player in history after Justine Henin to rack up so many wins in the big Middle Eastern event. She literally just had time to accept her $471,840 winner’s check and hoist the trophy before heading to the airport and a flight back to Florida.

 

But the former no.1 who is fast approaching her 34th birthday and was diagnosed with suffering with the chronic autoimmune disease Sjogren’s Syndrome two and a half years ago insists she is nowhere near quitting after out powering the 24 year-old Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 6-3,6-0 to claim the 45th singles title of an consummate career.

 

And Venus summed up her true joy when she said: “So just to be able to be here and compete was the first thing that made me so happy. Then obviously to play well, win the title and have this wonderful streak here is definitely an accomplishment. Maybe not as much as Justine yet, but there is a lot of people who haven’t done as much as her, so it’s not anything to be upset about.”

 

 

Williams added: “It has not been easy for me.” However on the face of things her passage through the tournament she only entered by the good grace of a late wild card was straightforward and for the most part effortless. She didn’t drop a set all week and in earlier rounds fellow former world no.1’s Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki had fallen to the rejuvenated champion and though the final extended an hour and a half, in truth Cornet was unable to offer little more than scant resistance.

 

“When things got tough, I definitely got going this week,” she continued. “If I was down break point, when push came to shove, I was pushing and shoving, I guess. But I think that I just improved so much. I’m just playing bigger points and converting. That’s what I needed to be able to do.

 

“It time for me to continue to learn how to do that, put myself in the position and then finally start, you know, getting across the finish line.”

 

Venus, who triumphed where her sister failed against Cornet 24 hours earlier, continued: “I’m not looking to do anything I did in the past, because I already did that. I’m looking to improve and be a better, smarter Venus. I think obviously this week is a step. Every week for me is a step.”

And looking to the future she added: “I’d definitely love to come back here to Dubai. I haven’t been here for four years and I couldn’t even come before.”

 

Williams has an emotional tie with Dubai. Back in 2009, the year she won the title for the first time, she used her victory speech to make an impassioned but pointed speech at the refusal of the United Arab Emirates government to allow Israeli Shahar Peer the requisite visa to compete. “I was only thinking about that the other day,” she said. “At the time it put me in mind of my heroine Althea Gibson who was also excluded and Shahar was just so brave.”

 

It was Venus first title since winning in Luxembourg in the fall of 2012 and she exclaimed: “Gosh, it’s been like – I think the last tournament I won was probably about 18 months now. But it feels good. That’s all I can say.”

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