VENUS WILLIAMS WINS AT WIMBLEDON BUT THE GREAT TENNIS CHAMPION WAS PLAYING IN “SORT OF SIBERIA”

Written by: Staff on 30th June 2016

VENUS WILLIAMS WINS AT WIMBLEDON BUT THE GREAT TENNIS CHAMPION WAS PLAYING IN "SORT OF SIBERIA"

epa05399067 Venus Williams of the US returns to Maria Sakkari of Greece in their second round match during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 30 June 2016. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO COMMERCIAL SALES |

Scores Of Tennis Fan’s Are Wondering Why Did Wimbledon Put Venus Williams Where They Did?

Wimbledon left themselves wide open to criticism of disrespect by scheduling five-time champion Venus Williams to play her second round match against Greece’s Maria Sakkari on one of the All England Club’s smallest courts.

Venus Williams of the US returns to Maria Sakkari of Greece in their second round match during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 30 June 2016. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

Williams, now aged 36 and obviously without many more competitive Wimbledon appearances in front of her, played her first-round match on No.1 Court but is relegated to an arena with a seating capacity of around 800. She was the champion in 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008.

Last year’s runner up, French Open runner up Garbine Muguruza and her predecessor from 12 months previously Eugenie Bouchard, were both afforded main show court billing for their second round matches. But the older of the two Williams sisters only merited second spot on Court 18.

And men’s fifth seed Kei Nishikori, is today handed a Centre Court berth despite never previously going beyond the Wimbledon fourth round.

The player herself made no comment and was faced with a busy day as she and sister Serena were also scheduled to play a women’s doubles match on the much larger Court Three against the 11th seeded Slovak pairing of Andreja Klepac and Katerina Srebotnik.

Admittedly an abundance of rain in the first three days of the tournament has caused headaches for the All England Club’s Order of Play Committee, headed by former British no.1 Tim Henman.

Going into the fourth day, there was backlog of matches caused by the wet weather and Williams’s fellow Americans John Isner, Donald Young and Sloane Stephens had yet to finish their first round encounters.

In total there were 28 players who were in the same dilemma and women’s seeds Timea Bacsinszky and Kristina Mladenovic had not hit a ball of their opening matches. Meanwhile the long-range forecast shows there is a chance of rain every day through next Tuesday.

However there was an outcry on social media at the insult delivered to one of Wimbledon’s greatest modern day champions. Britain’s Press Association reported: Londoner Lauren Gibbs wrote on Twitter: ‘If I was Venus Williams I would never play Wimbledon again now. Court 18 is total disrespect!’

Tig Wallace, also from London, wrote: ‘Five-time champion Venus Williams on court 18 tomorrow – that’s the worst scheduling decision I’ve ever seen at @Wimbledon’

New York-based HarlemWriter questioned the move, writing: ‘.@Wimbledon Whatchu talkin’ bout #Wimbledon, scheduling Queen Venus in the Outer Reaches? #Venus4CentreCourt’

Mark Barton from Cheshire asked if Wimbledon would consider putting one of its recent men’s champions on such a minor court. He wrote: ‘@Wimbledon a 5 time champion in Venus Williams on court 18? You have got to be joking. Would you put Nadal, Federer or Murray out there?’

Canada-based Stanley Liu called the move ‘deplorable’ and told Wimbledon to ‘have some respect for your icons’.

10sBalls _com Editors Notes: We know this week has been one of the most difficult for the Wimbledon staff. All of it. And the Wimbledon Championships is the BEST of all tourneys anywhere on the planet. But even they can make a mistake… It’s been hardest on the referees office. Some players as of yesterday were in the third round. While others haven’t played first round matches. The schedule has been hampered by rain storms… Daily! The men’s dubs is to be shortened from 3/5 sets to 2/3 sets. That might help alittle to the tourney. But not the players. Luck factors in a lot. But ok.

Back to VENUS. Her bright star and smile shines wherever she goes. But for sure the crowds (Fans) were cheated out of seeing a great champion play. That’s the bottom line.

Venus Williams of the US celebrates her win over Donna Vekic of Croatia during their first round match of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 27 June 2016. EPA/HANNAH MCKAY

Topics: 10sballs, All England Club, Grass tennis, Sports, Tennis News, The Championships, Venus Williams, Wimbledon 2016

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June 30, 2016 at 6:48 pm

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