Twice as Nice for Williams

Even before play started, as the players appeared at the traditional pre-final photograph at Center Court, the match already was advantage, Venus Williams.

There she stood at 6 feet 1, 160 pounds. There Justine Henin stood at 5-5 3/4 and 126 pounds. She looked like a ball girl. Or a novice at tennis camp who as part of her tuition gets to have her picture taken with a Wimbledon champion.

It was an illusion, of course. Henin isn’t that much smaller than Martina Hingis. It’s just that Williams is so much larger.

Henin also is a fine tennis player, proving she belonged in the Wimbledon final Sunday at the All England Club. But in the end, as in the beginning, Williams was too quick, too fast and too powerful--and too smart not to use all of her edges--in a 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 victory.

It was the second consecutive Wimbledon title for Williams, 21, who also won last year’s U.S. Open and Olympic gold medals in singles and doubles. She is the first women’s champion to repeat here since Steffi Graf in 1996.

Williams’ celebration wasn’t as joyous this year. The difference, she explained later, was that last year she wasn’t sure she was going to win until the final point of her 6-2, 7-6 (3) victory over Lindsay Davenport.

At the end Sunday, she was playing to beat a second rain delay, rushing through her serve in the fifth game and breaking Henin in the sixth as a gentle drizzle fell. Williams gave the impression she could win a point any time she really needed one.

But she said that this title meant more than last year’s, primarily because she had to work so much harder for this one. No question it has been a difficult year for her, with questions about the influence that her father, Richard, exerts over his daughters’ careers and even the matches between the siblings.

Venus and her sister, Serena Williams, both denied here that either has tried not to win against the other, but the speculation has become so universal that perhaps it was a small consolation to them that Serena lost in the quarterfinals to Jennifer Capriati. Until then, the sisters were on course to meet in the final.

Venus, however, acted carefree after winning the title. Her only concern seemed to be about whether she could find a dance partner for Sunday night’s Wimbledon Ball. Traditionally, the women’s and men’s champions have the first dance. But there is no men’s champion yet, rain having caused postponement of the final until today.

“It’s hard on the market these days,” Williams said. “You’ve got to go solo.”

It’s a long way from Compton, where Williams grew up before moving to Florida, to the Wimbledon Ball. But, in Henin, Williams was facing an opponent who has overcome as much off the court as she has.

There has been much discussion of Capriati and the “Little Girl Lost” phase of her career, when she rebelled and dropped out of tennis for a couple of years. But Henin, 19, truly had a lost childhood, losing her mother to intestinal cancer six years ago and taking over the household, including the care of two older brothers and a younger sister, in Marloie, Belgium.

Her father, a postman, supported her tennis and even began following her from tournament to tournament when she turned pro at 16, but they had a falling out after the Australian Open this year because she felt he was too overbearing. He was not in the friends’ box Sunday to see her play.

She also was toughened, she said, by a loss in the semifinals in June at the French Open, a match against fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters, that Henin felt she should have won.

She lost the first set in three of her matches before the final here, including the semifinals against Capriati, but rallied to win despite a badly blistered right foot.

If you wanted a player for an instructional video, you would probably choose Henin over several of the players ranked above her, including Williams. Henin was seeded No. 8 here. She has the game’s best backhand, which she says came naturally. A gift.

Her game is best suited to clay--she beat Williams on that surface in their only other meeting--and it would be no surprise if Henin continues to contend on grass and hard courts because she has deceptive power. But she, like virtually everyone else, is no match for Williams on grass when she is serving well.

Williams, who had one serve of 125 mph during the tournament and had a first-serve average Sunday of 107 mph, had only three aces against Henin. But Williams won 86% of her first serves and took 18 points at the net to six for Henin.

“It’s unbelievable to return this kind of serve on a grass court,” Henin said. “You know, when you have all the pressure on [your serve], you can be broken.”

Williams broke Henin on her second and fourth service games in the first set and was on to the next one in 20 minutes. It looked as if it would be a very short afternoon for them.

But Henin, as she had done against Capriati, suddenly became more aggressive in the second set, coaxing more power out of her groundstrokes by lifting herself off the ground as she hit them back.

Williams, who is prone to losing concentration when she’s winning easily, didn’t adjust quickly, and her serve was broken at 3-4. Henin served out the set.

It was a blip on the screen. Williams breezed through the final set in 20 minutes.

Williams spent several moments talking to Henin at the net after the match.

“I just didn’t want her to be upset because she’ll have her chance,” Williams said. “She plays a lot of gutsy matches. If she keeps playing the way she is, good things are bound to happen.”

But, despite a warning from Williams’ father last week that she might retire soon to seek fame and fortune in other endeavors, Venus doesn’t appear as if she is going anywhere soon.

She knows better than anyone that she is still an incomplete tennis player, needing work on her second serve and her forehand. She said Sunday she still wants to win Grand Slam tournaments, but her new goal is to knock off Hingis to become the No. 1-ranked player. Even after winning here, Williams is No. 2.

To move up, Williams said she will play more tournaments in the future. And practice more.

Imagine how well she might play when she returns to Center Court next year.

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Women’s Final

Box score of No. 2 Venus Williams’ 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 victory over No. 8 Justine Henin in the women’s Wimbledon final Sunday:

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WILLIAMS HENIN 63 First-serve percentage 57 3 Aces 2 4 Double faults 3 86 Pct. first-serve points won 72 52 Pct. second-serve points won 37 19 Winners (including service) 7 12 Unforced errors 18 5-14 Break points 1-1 18-24 Net points 6-8 71 Total points 54

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