Colorful Display by Williams
All Serena Williams was missing were the shin guards.
Her pre-World Cup tribute to the Cameroon national soccer team consisted of a green dress, green and yellow shoes (not cleats, of course, this being clay) and, best of all, yellow socks that were almost knee high.
Her soccer awareness on the eve of the World Cup does not fully extend to the United States, as she asked whether Kobe Johnson was still playing. Close enough, she was thinking of Cobi Jones.
Anyway, Williams has a commercial link, through Puma, to Cameroon--which will play Ireland in its opening game Saturday in Japan.
“Since I always wear sleeveless things, Puma came up with this idea for me during the French Open to wear the Cameroon outfit, which is really exciting,” said the third-seeded Williams, who defeated Martina Sucha of Slovakia, 6-3, 6-0, on Wednesday.
“I mean, us Americans aren’t really into--we call it soccer--but lately I’ve been watching a lot of the football or soccer.... [Cameroon] won the Olympics in Sydney. I’m supporting them.
“I was reading an article where it says that Cameroon is everyone’s favorite team. If you’re supporting England, a lot of people have this love for Cameroon because they’re always fighting so much it seems. They’re the best African team.”
Venus Williams, who won her second-round match, 6-0, 6-1, against Wynne Prakusya of Indonesia in 39 minutes, probably won’t be following her younger sister’s fashion statement.
“She said it was really nice, really cute,” Serena said. “I think she wishes she had a team she could support in the World Cup.”
And as for watching Cameroon....
“If I’m awake,” Serena said.
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It was hard to say who had a more difficult day in their first-round loss, Anna Kournikova or Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain. Sanchez-Vicario, a three-time French Open champion, was humbled in a 6-0, 6-1 loss to her up-and-coming countrywoman Marta Marrero.
It was the worst loss at Roland Garros for the 30-year-old Sanchez-Vicario, who faced a litany of questions about retirement. A French Open semifinalist as recently as two years ago, she said she is going to take some time off from tennis.
Kournikova lost to Australian wild-card entrant Christina Wheeler, who had not won a WTA match this year. Wheeler, ranked No. 197, beat Kournikova, 6-4, 6-3, and relished the reflected attention from the crowd.
“I’m sure half of them weren’t there for me,” said Wheeler, who had to beat four Australians to receive the wild-card spot. “Well, Anna Kournikova is Anna Kournikova, and she always will be. I guess it was a little bit different. She’s very famous for her on-court and off-court things that she does.”
Kournikova, who is now being coached by Harold Solomon, was asked about her lawsuit against Penthouse magazine. The magazine has acknowledged its error in publishing photos it claimed to be of Kournikova. Instead, they were of Judith E. Soltesz-Benetton, the daughter-in-law of fashion designer Luciano Benetton.
“How do I put this? Well, first of all, it’s not me,” Kournikova said. “I think people who have seen it know that, just in general. I’m not really allowed to talk about it for the legal purposes. I really don’t know what to say about that.”
