Hometown Blues
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The alarmist view of today’s double hit -- meaning the unexpected withdrawals of Wimbledon champion Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport from next week’s U.S. Open Series tour stop in Carson -- deals with future Olympic implications.
Are they in danger of not making it to Beijing? Could half of the U.S. Olympic women’s team fail to make it to the service line in China?
Probably not.
The educated guess here is that Williams, who grew up in nearby Compton, and the OC’s Davenport, are playing a little defense here with their dodgy right knees, giving themselves the best chance to be ready to make the trip to Beijing. In fact, Davenport also has pulled out of the ongoing event at Stanford this week.
The other half of the squad is Wimbledon runner-up Serena Williams, and Davenport’s doubles partner Liezel Huber, by way of South Africa.
These sort of late withdrawals are a virtual summer rite in tennis. They usually occur on Fridays, and there is an obligatory story by the tennis writer. Or maybe a skeptical look by the tennis-loving columnist who questions the last-minute losses after the players already have been used in advertising to promote the tournament.
But that’s a blog for another day.
Who knows? Davenport’s comeback centered around the possibility of playing in the Olympics one more time, and she is scheduled to play singles and doubles. And for Venus, the Olympics represented one of the most-moving moments in her career -- when she won the singles and doubles with Serena at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Still, they could just as easily skip Beijing. For many tennis players, the Olympics is still the post-dinner drink, it will never be the main course like Wimbledon or the U.S. Open.
-- Lisa Dillman
Venus Williams reacts after winning the women’s singles final against her sister Serena on the Centre Court at Wimbledon on July 5. Credit: Anja Niedringhaus/Associated Press Photo
