By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
WIMBLEDON, England -- Venus Williams was in the stands nervously clutching her hands. Younger sister Serena was on Centre Court grabbing a place in a Wimbledon final for a seventh time in 11 years.
"No way," was Serena's response when told of the numbers. "I was working so hard. I really wanted it."
Copyright © 2012 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
WIMBLEDON, England -- Everyone seems to have a label here. They've decided Serena Williams is the "Warrior Queen,'' and her opponent in this country with an imperial history, Victoria Azarenka, naturally is being called "Queen Victoria.''
Copyright © 2012 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com
WIMBLEDON, England -- These may be the All England Championships, but we pause more than a moment on America’s birthday to offer praise for Serena Williams, an American Beauty.
Waking up the echoes and smashing home the aces, she has become last U.S. player remaining in singles.
© RealClearSports 2012
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
WIMBLEDON, England -- They call it Manic Monday here. Think of it as a tennis version of March Madness. Everyone remaining is scheduled in a fourth-rounder. The next thing you know, a favorite is defeated, and the survivors are tiptoeing to the quarterfinals.
As Serena Williams will be. As Maria Sharapova will not be.
Copyright © 2012 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to The Los Angeles Times
WIMBLEDON, England — The way Maria Sharapova was talking, discussing her French Open victory last month as opposed to her Wimbledon loss Monday ("I'll have that for the rest of my career"), it was easy to think of the film "Casablanca."
"We'll always have Paris," Humphrey Bogart says in that familiar line. So will Sharapova.
Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
WIMBLEDON, England -- It happened three days ago to Rafael Nadal. It almost happened two days ago to Roger Federer. It seemed to be happening Saturday to Serena Williams, a star losing to a lower-ranked opponent on the All England Tennis Club's Centre Court.
Copyright © 2012 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
WIMBLEDON, England -- The great ones manage to find a way, which in part is the reason they are great. Roger Federer seemed destined to follow Rafael Nadal out of Wimbledon in this unpredictable first week but instead remains a factor and one of the favorites.
Copyright © 2012 Newsday. All rights reserved.
By Art Spander
Special to the Los Angeles Times
WIMBLEDON, England -- The match began under the blue sky of a humid English late afternoon. It ended in the Twilight Zone.
A kid from the Czech Republic who never even had qualified for Wimbledon before now, a kid who is ranked 100th, stunned the tennis world by defeating one of the game's all-time greats, Rafael Nadal.
Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times
By Art Spander
Special to Newsday
WIMBLEDON, England -- All Lukas Rosol wanted was to play respectably. "So I don't lose 3-0,'' he said. He played spectacularly. He played Rafael Nadal right out of Wimbledon in an upset of enormous proportions.
Rosol, 26, is ranked 100th in the world. Nadal, 26, an 11-time Grand Slam winner, is No. 2 and was trying for his third Wimbledon title.
Copyright © 2012 Newsday. All rights reserved
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com
WIMBLEDON, England — It always comes down to money, doesn't it? Whether you're A-Rod or some kid just drafted into the NBA or a relatively successful and - herein lies the issue - relatively unknown tennis player named Gilles Simon.
Fame usually brings wealth. Wealth often brings fame. Everybody wants more of both, which is the reason there are holdouts and lockouts and player strikes in team sports, and there is jealousy in individual sports, such as tennis.
© RealClearSports 2012
By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner
In only a few days, the season has improved dramatically for the Giants. Baseball joyfully provides for such rapid swings of success and emotion.
As opposed to the sport that matters most here in England, soccer, or as they call it, football.
Copyright 2012 SF Newspaper Company
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com
WIMBLEDON, England — There’s no DL, disabled list, in tennis. As Venus Williams said once, if you’re play you’re not hurt, if you’re hurt don’t play. But what if you want to play and you’re unable?
Any athlete is beholden to his or her body, and so always there are worries and fears. And pain.
© RealClearSports 2012
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com
WIMBLEDON, England — The response was a fusion of philosophy and defiance. A champion never concedes, which is why she is a champion. For a decade, Venus Williams, a queen here in a land of royalty, unquestionably was a champion of grace and grandeur.
Now, in one of those awful twists of fate, Venus has been stricken by an autoimmune disease named Sjogren's Syndrome, which has sapped her strength and stolen her brilliance.
© RealClearSports 2012
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com
Even as it was unfolding, even as the balance tipped and Serena Williams went from winner to loser, it seemed unbelievable. Serena Williams doesn’t fall apart. Serena Williams doesn’t lose first-round matches in Grand Slams.
Serena is a finisher, not someone who gets finished.
© RealClearSports 2012
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — The warrior is old, comparatively, a man of 30 in a sport of 20-year-olds, knowing the way it was, believing in the way it could be.
"It is always in my mind still,'' said Roger Federer, "that I can still crush anybody."
Which he can, if not when it matters most, in the biggest events...
© RealClearSports 2012
By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – It’s all about fame. Or infamy. All about recognition, for something you accomplished or couldn’t accomplish. All about fans chasing you for an autograph or a photo or no less significantly wishing they could chase you into the next county.
Hero or villain. The roles are virtually inseparable, although from a standpoint of morality and goodwill we would prefer a hero or heroine. Easier to accept. Easier to respect.
© RealClearSports 2012