Venus Williams and Andy Roddick remember 2009 Wimbledon finals but prefer to look ahead

Reporting from Wimbledon, England — 

It was runner-up day at Wimbledon on Saturday.

Venus Williams and Andy Roddick came to talk more about the possibilities to come rather than chances lost a year ago.

Remember?

Roddick left the grounds at the All England Club in 2009 with fans still chanting “Rodd-ick,” and now, a year later, he came to practice Saturday and two groundskeepers shouted, “We love you Andy.”

He has become beloved here for the fight he showed in a 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14 loss to six-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer in the final.

And Venus was the foil to her younger sister Serena Williams last year, losing the championship 7-6 (3), 6-2. And there aren’t many here who think they’ll see anything other than a Serena-Venus final again with Serena seeded No. 1 and the newly-30 Venus No. 2.

Federer, 28, is seeded No. 1 on the men’s side with 2008 champion Rafael Nadal seeded No. 2. Roddick is seeded fifth.

The tournament is scheduled to begin Monday with defending champion Federer kicking things off on Centre Court with his first-round match against Alejandro Falla of Colombia. Serena will open defense of her title Tuesday against Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal.

This is Venus’ 50th Grand Slam event and comes 10 years after she won her first Wimbledon title. On Saturday, and only for a moment, she let down her guard and allowed some emotion to filter into her otherwise monotone answers.

Getting ready to play a 50th major event? She loves it. “I think anyone who loves this game, they always make it a part of their life. I think I’m one of those people, I’m addicted to tennis and I’m addicted to the majors,” she said.

Certainly Venus is addicted to Wimbledon. She has won five singles titles here, including 2008. Serena has won here three times. It’s no surprise that at least one of the sisters has been in the Wimbledon final every year since 2006 when Venus was upset in the third round and Serena missed the tournament because of an injury.

Because Serena isn’t scheduled to meet with the media until Sunday, it was Venus who was asked whether Serena would curtsy in front of the queen of England, who is expected to attend Thursday — the first visit since 1977. It would be Serena’s half of the draw scheduled to play Thursday so no one at first seemed to care whether Venus would curtsy.

For the record, Nadal said he would bow to the queen and 16th-seeded Maria Sharapova said she would curtsy. “I think it would be an honor for all of us,” Sharapova said.

Would Serena curtsy? her older sister was asked.

“I don’t know,” Venus said. “I don’t know.”

The follow-up question was quick. “Do you think it’s important to respect that tradition?”

“I might not be the best one to comment on it because I’m an American,” Venus said. “I’m not well-versed on English tradition.”

And should it happen that Queen Elizabeth II was in attendance for a Venus match? Would she curtsy? “I guess I’ll cross that bridge if it ever comes.”

So get ready for curtsy-gate.

Or maybe dress-gate.

Venus’ self-designed dress at the French Open — an outfit that evoked the cancan, with black lace and flesh-colored underwear — caused an uproar and had the self-appointed good-taste police wondering what she might have been thinking. But Venus declined to talk about the alleged fashion faux pas. “That’s over,” she says.

And when a third question came up about the curtsy, Venus sighed and said, “I don’t want to talk about curtsying anymore. I don’t understand that tradition. I’m not educated on that. So thanks.”

She is educated on how she and her sister perform on the grass courts here. Last year, besides the all-Williams singles final, the sisters won the doubles title.

“The last two years have been really great to anyone named Williams,” Venus said. “I would love for us to have that again.”

Roddick would love to find what he had here last year. But only what he found during the second week. His memorable loss to Federer isn’t something Roddick wants to forget.

“I have great memories of last year,” said Roddick, who meets fellow American Rajeev Ram in the first round. “Everyone talks about a match, but it takes two weeks of getting to that match, of playing pretty good tennis. It’s a tournament as a whole that I think I’ll always be extremely proud of.”

Etc.

Dinara Safina, the Russian who was ranked No. 1 for part of last year, withdrew from Wimbledon because of a continuing lower back injury. She had been seeded 20th. To give the draw 32 seeded players, American Melanie Oudin will be listed 33rd. Canadian Stephanie Dubois became a lucky loser entrant, getting into the main draw because she was the highest-ranked among the final-round losers in the qualifying tournament.

Maria Martinez Sanchez, seeded No. 22, also withdrew Saturday, citing a knee injury. Her position in the draw was taken by Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko, who will be listed 34th in the seedings. Bondarenko’s place in the draw was taken by a lucky loser Anastasia Pivovarova of Russia.

diane.pucin@latimes.com

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