Williams Gets Scare From Old Neighbor

Fred Haynes reached back in time Tuesday, remembering leaving the tennis courts at night after a long day of practice with his kids -- grocery shopping beckoned -- and there were others still out there practicing.

That would have been Richard Williams and his daughters, Venus and Serena. Years later, Haynes’ daughter, Angela, walked off Court 2 at Wimbledon shortly after 8 p.m. here, receiving a rousing ovation. Still out there was the victor, Serena Williams, deciding who would get her smashed racket. The racket had been a target of her anger after a first-set loss.

The fourth-seeded Williams defeated her childhood friend Haynes, 6-7 (12), 6-4, 6-2, in 2 hours 20 minutes in the first round at Wimbledon. The immediate effect was that Williams’ continued presence kept her quarter of the draw from falling into disarray. That area took an unexpected and significant hit when Eleni Daniilidou of Greece defeated French Open champion and No. 7-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, 7-6 (8), 2-6, 7-5.

“I didn’t have the best preparation for coming here,” said Henin-Hardenne, who double-faulted 11 times, the final one coming on match point. “That was the worst draw I could get.... My injury got a lot worse in the last two days too.”

The loss ended Henin-Hardenne’s 24-match winning streak. But Henin-Hardenne, suffering from a hamstring injury, had not played a match on grass in about two years. It marked the first time in the Open era of tennis that the women’s French Open champion had lost in the first round of Wimbledon.

For Williams, there was a broader theme. Her match against Haynes summoned childhood memories, those of practicing in Lynwood and Compton. Haynes, 20, is three years younger than Serena.

From Compton to Wimbledon, it has been an incredible ride for these two tennis families.

“It’s an amazing story, it really is,” Williams said. “I mean, who would have thought that three people from Compton are playing Wimbledon. It really is, if you think about it, amazing to be that young. I just remember all those days we would be out there, and they would be out there as well, just training and training and training, still struggling, just trying to make it.”

Haynes, ranked No. 104, came within two games of the biggest win of her career. She saved four set points in the first-set tiebreaker, which lasted 26 points.

“If I won, it could have changed my whole life,” said Haynes, who lives in Irvine. “You know, she’s a champion. Man, I don’t know what would have happened if I won that match.”

Haynes came close against an often-erratic Williams, who was playing for the first time since early May. She was down a service break in the second set, and got it back in the eighth game when Williams double-faulted on break point. But Haynes was broken at 4-4, feeling victimized by an overrule on break point, causing the point to be replayed.

Then Williams got the break on a net-cord winner and held at 30 to push it to a third set.

“I felt really rusty,” said Williams, who did not play in the French Open because of an injured ankle. “I felt like I was feeling my way around ... just kind of getting back in the rhythm of things.”

Fred Haynes said his daughter was thrilled to draw Williams: “She had such a glow like she won the lottery.”

These days, Williams is a far cry from the player who twice won Wimbledon. Fred Haynes suggested that a big bank account has a way of changing a player’s approach, in terms of discipline.

“You’re not going to run 15 miles when you have $30 million in the bank,” he said.

At the 2003 U.S. Open, Haynes made some remarks regarding Richard Williams, indicating a lack of support for the Haynes family. Apparently, the break between them has healed. Venus and Angela Haynes practiced together in Carson this year, and Fred said of Richard: “He’s kind of held my hand here. I’ve been like his apprentice.”

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Nearly everything fell right for second-seeded Andy Roddick. He beat Jiri Vanek of the Czech Republic in the first round, 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-2, and then had a major obstacle, Ivo Karlovic, removed from his path in the second round. Karlovic of Croatia hit 51 aces but still lost to Daniele Bracciali of Italy, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (8), 3-6, 7-6 (5), 12-10, in 4 hours 17 minutes.

Roddick, who has been in one Grand Slam final since winning the 2003 U.S. Open, was asked about the pressure of trying to win another major.

“It’s a tough situation to be in, to finish No. 2 in the world and have this and that said, people speculating what’s wrong,” he said.

“If you guys were the second-best journalists in the world, I bet you’d be pretty happy. It’s a fine line, but also it’s almost a backhanded compliment.”

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Wimbledon: Day 2

Highlights at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club:

Men’s seeded winners: No. 2 Andy Roddick, No. 4 Rafael Nadal, No. 6 Tim Henman, No. 12 Thomas Johansson, No. 14 Radek Stepanek, No. 15 Guillermo Coria, No. 18 David Nalbandian, No. 27 Richard Gasquet, No. 28 Jiri Novak, No. 33 Olivier Rochus.

* Men’s seeded losers: No. 17 David Ferrer to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, No. 19 Tommy Haas to Janko Tipsarevic, No. 20 Ivan Ljubicic to Jurgen Melzer, No. 30 Robin Soderling to Igor Andreev, No. 32 Filippo Volandri to Wayne Arthurs.

* Women’s seeded winners: No. 2 Maria Sharapova, No. 4 Serena Williams, No. 8 Nadia Petrova, No. 11 Vera Zvonareva, No. 12 Mary Pierce, No. 14 Venus Williams, No. 16 Nathalie Dechy, No. 19 Ana Ivanovic, No. 20 Daniela Hantuchova, No. 26 Flavia Pennetta, No. 29 Marion Bartoli, No. 32 Virginie Razzano.

* Women’s seeded losers: No. 7 Justine Henin-Hardenne to Eleni Daniilidou, No. 18 Tatiana Golovin to Alyona Bondarenko, No. 21 Francesca Schiavone to Kristina Brandi, No. 31 Anabel Medina Garrigues to Katarina Srebotnik.

* Quote of the day: “Sometimes I feel like my arm is like a swan’s neck, it is so weak. But I’m getting there. I’m working on it.” -- Maria Sharapova

* Today’s men’s featured matches: Mark Philippoussis, Australia, vs. Marat Safin (5), Russia; Roger Federer (1), Switzerland, vs. Ivo Minar, Czech Republic; Lleyton Hewitt (3), Australia, vs. Jan Hernych, Czech Republic.

* Today’s women’s featured matches: Marissa Irvin vs. Kim Clijsters (15), Belgium; Amelie Mauresmo (3), France, vs. Maria Sanchez Lorenzo, Spain; Lindsay Davenport (1) vs. Jamea Jackson.

* Today on TV: ESPN Classic, 5 to 7 a.m. PDT; ESPN2, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT.