This was supposed to be the year of Serena Williams; the one with three Grand Slam titles and nearly a fourth one where she lost in the semifinals to Roberta Vinci who had never taken a set off her earlier. This may still go down in the annals of tennis as the year of Serena Williams, who even after skipping the WTA Finals still ended the season as the top-ranked player.
Yet, if you just go beyond cold statistics, you would realise this indeed was the year of Williams; not Serena but the other Williams, answering graciously as Venus.
For a little over nine months, she was the other Williams; never mind her close to 50 WTA titles and seven Grand Slam singles crowns. It began to change with those wonderful pickings during the fall in China. Several tough matches, two titles and a semifinal appearance were not bad for a seven-week effort.
Then the spotlight shifted; it began with the whisper, ‘Venus is back’. It became more audible as the season wore on, reaching a crescendo, as Venus, defying age and ailments, pocketed her third title of the year, defeating Karolina Pliskova in the final of WTA Elite Trophy, featuring the top eleven players not qualified for the WTA Finals.
Some in the media circles called her awesome form as a comeback. A few others called it resurgence. But make no mistake about it, it was a renaissance. In many ways it was a year of milestones for the 35-year-old who became the oldest top-10 player since Martina Navratilova in 1995. She began the year with a win, defeating Caroline Wozniacki, to pocket the Auckland Open. She ended the year with a win too — WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai — living up to her own words, “I do not mind losing the first point as long as I win the last point”.
In between, she notched up the 700th singles win of her career, on her way to the title in Wuhan where she bested Agnieszka Radwanska — who was to later win the WTA Finals in Singapore — and Garbine Muguruza, the big-hitting Spaniard who finished the year inside top three.
Of course, Venus ended the year with 41 wins, her most since 2007. She was also in the list of top ten ace hitters in 2015 — a testimony to the fact that her serve, the biggest weapon of her game, was back. And finished the year at World No. 7, a huge accomplishment for somebody constantly fighting Sjogren’s Syndrome, an energy-sapping condition. And often, undeservedly, living the shadow of her little sister.
Remember at the U.S. Open how after beating Belinda Bencic, who had earlier in the season beaten Serena, Venus was asked not about her prospects of winning the tournament but her sister’s! Talking of her sister, Venus would undoubtedly have had an even better year but for the fact that she ran into her sister at two of the Grand Slams — fourth round at Wimbledon, quarterfinals at the U.S. Open. Almost unbeatable And Serena, as all players would agree — Vinci excluded — was almost unbeatable this year. Yet there was more to Venus than just all the victories, the trophies and the aces. Her body language, her ability to dig deep within to find the answers, and her perseverance shone through. The world knew about her genius, applauded her ability to come back to play. Yet, after her illness, most doubted her ability to come through gruelling back-to-back three-setters openly. Among them were former champions like Navratilova and Lindsay Davenport.
Yet this is what she did, getting past Radwanska in a tight three-setter in pre-quarterfinals at the Australian Open, then beating her sister’s conqueror Vinci in the semifinals in Wuhan besides taking out girls like Madison Brengle, Madison Keys and Johanna Konta, all more than a decade younger.
All through, she retained her grace and her charm. After winning against Muguruza, she called herself “lucky”, just as she did after getting ahead of Konta and Vinci at different stages of the tournament. Never was a word said in immodesty, even limiting herself to “excuse me” when Vinci used expletives in a closely-fought encounter.
The fighter in her stayed alive though. Informed about her 700th win following a second round victory in Wuhan, her first reaction was, “Now on to 800”. When she returned home after an energy-sapping season, she found time to put life in perspective.
“Seeing the sun come up in my own backyard and appreciating life. Grateful,” she wrote on Twitter to go with two photos of sunrise. With new gleaming trophies on the mantelpiece, she would as well have said it about her career. “I’m still very hungry. I’m ready for more,” she signed off the year with a warning.
