There's No Lull in Venus' World

By LISA DILLMAN

Aug. 5, 2002 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

CARLSBAD —

For those who looked at Venus Williams’ sad face and glistening eyes after she lost for the first time in three years at Wimbledon, wondering about her immediate future after a devastating loss to her younger sister Serena, those concerns have been rendered moot by back-to-back titles in California.

This was not like 1999 all over again.

After Venus watched Serena win the 1999 U.S. Open she went into an emotional and physical tailspin, missing the first four months of 2000 with tendinitis in both wrists. But four Grand Slam singles titles have a way of improving someone’s recuperative powers and self-belief.

After losing to Serena in a well-played final at Wimbledon, Venus has responded by losing only one set in two hard-court tournaments. That included a 6-2, 6-2 victory in 55 minutes over a weakened Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia in the Acura Classic final Sunday at La Costa Resort and Spa. For the top-seeded Williams, it was her third consecutive championship here, a first at this tournament.

She was loose on the court, losing serve only once, hitting six aces, 23 winners and, more important, committing only 24 unforced errors. A bit of summertime cleaning took care of the latter annoying problem, reducing an unacceptable 73 unforced errors against Kim Clijsters in a three-set quarterfinalto a more acceptable number.

Having taken care of those matters, Williams turned her attention to the mundane during the trophy presentation, going on an amusing riff about cutting down on her speeding tickets and her conversation with a Samsung vice president earlier in the tournament. She has been talking here about having no remote control for her TV, meaning the channel stays on Lifetime Network, all day and all night.

“He promised to update me,” she said, and apparently the “update” may be something in the form of a flat-screen TV.

She was enjoying talking about all her new gifts but seemed coy about a shiny new ring on her left hand, talking with reporters in the hallway on Saturday night.

“I’m too young to be engaged,” said the 22-year-old. “Not this girl.”

The way things are going for her opponents, the distraction of a Williams’ engagement or marriage might be their only chance. Williams has won six titles in 2002 and three of her six losses this year have been to Serena. The others were to Monica Seles at the Australian Open, Sandrine Testud (who has now retired) at Dubai and Clijsters at Hamburg in May.

If anything, Venus seems increasingly engaged.

“I’m always counting the numbers now for titles,” she said. “This was 27.... I really got interested this year because it started to be a [bigger] number than it used to be. I’m never going to get close to [Martina] Navratilova. I don’t know if I can make it that far because I’m not sure I can play as long as she did.”

The Venus-Serena Era is becoming a lot like the days of Navratilova-Chris Evert. They may be pushing one another, continually raising the bar, but the gap between the top two and the rest of the field is widening.

Davenport, 26, a former No. 1, took only three games from Venus in the semifinals and was losing consistently to both sisters even before her knee injury.

Of the younger challengers, there is Clijsters. And anyone with Dokic’s groundstrokes and attitude should be taken seriously. At La Costa, the 19-year-old, seeded sixth, made a breakthrough by beating Jennifer Capriati for the first time and was pleasantly surprised by reaching the final, acknowledging the support of her boyfriend, Formula One driver Enrique Bernoldi of Brazil.

She said she was weakened by a stomach virus in her semifinal against Anna Kournikova--in which she saved two match points--and needed the attention of a doctor before Sunday’s final. Still, the culprit may be too much tennis and suspect scheduling. Dokic is supposed to play this week at Manhattan Beach, followed by Montreal and New Haven, Conn., which would be five consecutive weeks of tournaments.

“I’ve beaten some very good players this week,” Dokic said. “It was a little disappointing today. Considering how I was feeling, I don’t think I could have done very much today.”

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Champions

Winners of the WTA tournament in the San Diego area, currently the Acura Classic:

2002 ...Venus Williams

2001 ...Venus Williams

2000 ...Venus Williams

1999 ...Martina Hingis

1998 ...Lindsay Davenport

1997 ...Martina Hingis

1996 ...Kimiko Date

1995 ...Conchita Martinez

1994 ...Steffi Graf