One Williams sister rolls along, other rolls out at Wimbledon

The Williams world in which we live inverted again Wednesday.

You know Venus Williams, 27, presumed waning, ranked No. 31, seeded No. 23 out of Wimbledon nostalgia, aching at the wrists in recent years, unseen in the second week of six of the last eight grand slam events?

She made 27 seem the new 17, hitting groundstrokes like daydreams and moving like water.

You know Serena Williams, 25, presumed roaring, ranked No. 7 on a surge from No. 140 in 2006, winner of the 2007 Australian Open, hot pick to win Wimbledon, winner of an epic fourth-round match in which she crumpled to the grass with a screaming calf?

She resembled a patient in a physical-therapy facility, with a bandage on her left hand for a thumb injury plus the bandage on her left leg for her calf injury.

Venus Williams routed Maria Sharapova and said she’ll play on well into her 30s.

Serena Williams lost narrowly to No. 1 Justine Henin and said she’ll play Cincinnati, Stanford and Los Angeles before the U.S. Open.

“I know I have a lot of stuff that a lot of players don’t have,” Venus Williams said after winning, 6-1, 6-3.

“I was probably at 40 or 50” percent, Serena Williams said after losing, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Everything flipped, and Sharapova flopped, and Wimbledon whittled its women’s field to six with the last Williams people expected, the one who slogged through first- and third-round matches to win third sets by 7-5 after trailing by 3-1 in one and 5-3 in the other.

A semifinal had Henin, trying to win her first Wimbledon after winning everything else, and Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli, gracing her first final four. A lingering quarterfinal had French Open finalist Ana Ivanovic, 19, and two-time grand-slam event semifinalist Nicole Vaidisova, 18, and the other lingering quarterfinal had 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova against, suddenly, Venus Williams.

That one fixed to begin at 3 a.m. PDT today and could prove somewhat a formality, according to Serena Williams, who said, “The eventual Wimbledon champion, I saw playing in the fourth round today, definitely.” She meant her older sister, and that concluded another bustling Williams day.

Venus Williams played the mid-afternoon. Serena Williams followed immediately. Venus Williams so ransacked Sharapova before a rain delay at 6-1, 1-1 that people saw Sharapova’s father, Yuri, lecturing her in a hallway. Venus’ father, Richard, felt curiosity but said, “I don’t know what he said because he was speaking Russian; I’m not that bright.” The players returned for a 13-deuce 1-1 game seemingly longer than Elizabeth II’s reign. Sharapova won that but little else. Venus Williams bounced Sharapova even more emphatically than in the pretty emphatic 2005 semifinal. She looked exhilarated and exited. On came Serena Williams.

Standing outside Centre Court, Richard Williams said he’d tried to convince Serena Williams to withdraw, but she’d replied by saying nothing. He spoke of bygone days, smiled and said, “I was in charge then.” He said of Venus Williams, “I think she could be a champion until she’s 34, I really do.”

While Serena Williams began with Henin, Venus Williams defended Serena Williams against charges she’d embellished her injury in the fourth-round match against Daniela Hantuchova, calling such criticisms “ignorant.” She said she’d been helping attend to Serena and her strained calf muscle Monday and Tuesday and that, “Everywhere I ran to, somebody had a suggestion of what Serena should do. I ran up to get her bananas. Some stopped me and said, ‘She should do this, she should do that.’ I’m going back saying, ‘Somebody said this.’ ” She said, “You know, one of the biggest jobs in my life is a big sister.”

Having sprained the thumb in the third set against Hantuchova, Serena Williams said her decision to play was last minute. Her backhands flew long and wide at times, but her will forced a third set in a match of fine quality. She trailed, 5-1, but then only 5-3. Henin kept looking nervously toward her coach, Carlos Rodriguez. She netted a sweet volley chance on match point and elicited a crowd gasp.

Williams finally lifted one last backhand just long, and Richard Williams said her exit came as part relief. He thought Serena played “very, very well,” and that Henin “could’ve done a lot more to beat her.” He also said he’d felt surprised at Henin’s frequent looks toward Rodriguez, and that he now believed her “about as mentally tough as” -- he paused to find the metaphor -- “a duck on a dry lake.”

“I thought she was as mentally tough as a duck in wet water, but that is not true at all,” he said. “To see her look up in the stands and have that sorrowful look on her face, that is scary. I wouldn’t want to coach one like that.”

All that remained was Serena Williams’ self-defense against the odd charges that she’d exaggerated her second-set injury against Hantuchova and play-acted her wailing and sobbing on court. She reiterated she’d never felt such pain in her life as on Monday night. She said she’d withdrawn from the doubles with her sister.

Told that her doubters included commentator Michael Stich, the 1991 Wimbledon winner, the eight-time grand-slam event champion said, “I mean, my career is actually more stellar than Michael Stich’s.”