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Facts point to Serena but the heart says Venus

By Our Tennis Correspondent

London July 4. All those years ago, in an era when two of the greatest players of all time, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf, were fighting out their famous battles for turf rights at Wimbledon towards the end of the 1980s, drug-mafia gangsters would marvel at the sight of two little black girls trading forehands and backhands on a pock marked public tennis court in a shady, run-down Los Angeles suburb called Compton, watched by their father leaning against the wrought-iron fencing.

Few would have imagined then, that over 10 years on, those two girls would establish a hegemony like no other in the history of women's tennis. Welcome, then, to the Williams versus Williams show. Give or take the odd break — as at the French Open last month — it is the only show in town when the Grand Slam circus pitches tent.

Sport is strange business. The moment champions lose in a single tournament — read that a single match — the media gets ready to mourn, or celebrate, depending on their point of view, the passing of eras.

And, no sooner than Venus Williams departed from the French Open and then her sister Serena Williams followed, beaten by Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium in controversial circumstances in the semifinals last month, stories started appearing in the press about the end of the Williams domination in the women's game.

In the event, the 117th championships at Wimbledon marks a new beginning, then. Call it Part II if you wish, but here we are again in the big weekend of a Grand Slam, and who do we have playing for the title? Serena Williams and Venus Williams.

Their eclipse at the French Open marked the first time in over a year that players without a Williams surname had contested in a Slam final. Obviously, the two gifted young athletes from Florida did not like it one bit.

Promptly they did what had to be done and are now ready to contest in their sixth Grand Slam finals against each other. Serena won four in a row starting with the French Open in 2002 but had lost to her older sister in the only other final where they met, at the U.S. Open in 2001.

In terms of sheer talent, there is little to choose between them. Venus is the better athlete but Serena hits the ball even harder than her sister and is certainly the stronger of the two mentally.

This apart, the fact that Venus has not beaten Serena in almost 15 months — her last victory came in Miami in early 2002 — will certainly weigh on her mind.

What is more, the abdominal strain for which Venus required treatment during her semifinal against Kim Clijsters on Thursday also leaves a question mark over her fitness.

And then, watching her over the last year and a little more, it is impossible not to wonder if Venus is hungry enough. Her father Richard says that he is very happy that his daughter has taken time off to "educate herself'' and this gave greater satisfaction to him than all the titles that Venus has won. And this writer suspects that Venus herself is equally happy about that. She knows that there is life beyond the baseline and she plans to live it her way.

For all that, Venus has certainly played some of her best tennis of the year over the last 12 days here and if she is fit, the two-time champion should prove more than a handful for her all-conquering sister.

Cold facts point to Serena; but the heart says Venus.

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