July 27, 2005

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Venus is back on track

by Rick Eymer

For Venus Williams it's all about opportunity. The former No. 1 player in the world has rebounded from various ailments and injuries to resume her quest for a return to the top of the women's female world.

Her 10th consecutive appearance in the Bank of the West Classic this week is another opportunity to display the talents which has led her to become one of the most recognizable athletes on the face of the planet.

Until winning Wimbledon earlier this year, the ninth-ranked Williams hadn't won a Grand Slam event since the 2001 U.S. Open. This week she has the opportunity to wrestle the Bank of the West title away from top-ranked Lindsay Davenport, who she defeated to win The Venus Rosewater Dish earlier this month.

"I felt close so many times that I had to keep giving myself the opportunity," Williams said of her Grand Slam drought. "That's how I felt. I had another opportunity and made good on it."

Williams, who has 33 career WTA Tour titles, turns her attention to Stanford and the opening week of the U.S. Open Series, which has generated renewed interest in tennis. With more television exposure and more prize money available, the series of tournaments leading up to the U.S. Open has become a prime source of quality tennis.

Bank of the West Classic tournament director Gus Sampras hasn't needed additional motivation to attract the top players to Stanford. Since moving to Taube Tennis Center in 1997, Sampras has found that players enjoy coming to the area at this time of the year.

This time, to be automatically included in the 28-player Tier II event, a player had to be ranked in the top 49. That left players like Jill Craybas, ranked 58th and who upset Serena Williams at Wimbledon this month, scrambling to qualify. Craybas also replaced Davenport on the Fed Cup team two weeks ago.

Stanford products Marissa Irvin, Anne Kremer, Teryn Ashley and Lilia Osterloh and Stanford senior Anne Yelsey were also entered in the qualifying tournament over the weekend.

Osterloh beat Yelsey, 6-0, 6-2 in Saturday's first round, while Kremer lost to Craybas, 6-4, 6-2. Stanford senior Alice Barnes also lost in the first round.

Marissa Irvin, who won her first match at Wimbledon in six tries earlier this year, won three qualifying matches to reach the main draw. On Monday, Irvin defeated Shikha Uberio, 6-2, 6-4. Osterloh and Craybas, meanwhile, each lost in the second round.

Since the debut of the Open Series, however, Sampras said pre-event ticket sales were more brisk than in past years. Both the semifinals and finals will be shown live on ESPN2, adding to the atmosphere.

"We create the setting for players to perform," Sampras said. "This is a great intimate setting and there aren't too many (venues) that have that any more. I think people like coming to the event."

Williams, who made her professional debut at the event when it was held at the Oakland Coliseum in 1994, thinks of Stanford as a home away from home. Williams grew up in Compton.

"I think that sometimes once you start playing well at tournaments that all the pieces keep falling in," Williams said. "The Bank of the West was my first special tennis tournament and a lot of stuff has happened since that first net. So it is kind of like coming back home because it is where it all began for me professionally. So I really like being in California, too, because this is where I grew up. So I also feel at home, even though it is not exactly southern California. The Bank of the West tournament is really relaxing somehow and I just love playing there."

Williams would also like to collect her first oversized teddy bear since winning at Stanford in 2002. Likely opponents, should Williams reach the finals, could be Davenport or Kim Clijsters.

Davenport defeated Williams in last year's final; a match Williams called "amazing." Clijsters, like Williams, is a two-time champion at Stanford.

Davenport, a three-time winner, Williams and Clijsters have turned the Bank of the West Classic into their own personal playground as the trio has combined for the titles in each of the previous seven years.

"And most of the finals have been against each other," Sampras added. "Whoever wins this event gets the momentum. This is a good starting point."

With Williams seemingly back on track, these series of summer tournaments could be the most competitive in some time - especially if the top players stay healthy.

"It's great to have the defending champion and the Wimbledon champion here," Sampras said. "With the U.S. Open Series, players are starting to recognize what a good investment in the game the Series is, and can lead to some serious cash."

The Series champion would be playing for $2 million.

With the Grand Slam drought over, Williams can start looking for her next opportunity.

"I don't feel any pressure," she said. "The worst thing to do is putting pressure on yourself. It's more important just to play one match at a time, get my practice in, stay healthy and keep battling."

Williams has come a long way from her early days in Oakland. From a tense, over-matched teenager to a confident veteran, she has raised her level of play to the point where younger players are emulating her game. Angela Haynes, a wild card at Stanford this year, is one of those players.

Haynes nearly beat Craybas to the punch against Serena Williams. "She pushed Serena pretty good at Wimbledon," Sampras said.

Venus Williams will likely get pushed at Stanford, but at least she won't be nearly as high-strung as she was in her debut.

"Well, back then my biggest fear was that in warm-up that I would not be able to throw up a lob," Williams said. "But once I got out there, I was fine and I was not nervous at all. So it was just an exciting time. I think the big difference between now and then is just that I think I understand what I can do on the court and back then I was just hitting the ball. I had no strategy. I was just competing."

These days she's hitting the ball in the manner that made her the world's best player for a time. If Williams has any say about it, she'll be the best again very soon.

Alexandra Stevenson, who received a wild card for the event, played in her first Tier II tournament since suffering a shoulder injury 10 months ago. The former No. 18 player lost in the first round of the Los Gatos Challenger, and lost early in Cincinnati (Tier III) last week.

"We see how much progress she's made," Sampras said. "That's a reality check there."

In Monday's opening round of the main draw, veterans Amy Frazier and Lisa Raymond both advanced in different fashion. Frazier eliminated Maria Vento-Kabchi, 6-3, 6-0, but Raymond was pressed in a 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) triumph over Angela Haynes.

In other matches, Marion Bartoli ousted Mashona Washington, 6-1, 6-3; Ali Sugiyama downed Samantha Stosur, 7-6 (12-10), 6-2; and Nathalie Dechy bounced Karolina Sprem, 6-2, 6-3.

In other news, Chandra Rubin withdrew from the tournament on Monday due to left-ankle inflammation.

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