“CAN YOU moonwalk, Serena?” “No not at all,” said one half of the famous Williams sisters act.
It was one of those days at Wimbledon, giddy and vaguely unsettling. There was a bigger story in town. While Williams, who met the creepy but talented pop star a number of times and yesterday described him as “beyond iconic”, may not be able to bust out a move Michael Jackson-style, her performance on the court lived up to her usual choreographical excellence.
The second seed’s only anxiety of the early afternoon match came before she hit a ball. Left in the lockerroom, she had to leave on her own as the normal security provided for the cross stadium walk didn’t arrive. Players of her celebrity status have at least three security guards carving a route through the busy walkways. She eventually bravely broke out of the lockerroom and arrived to meet her opponent Italian Roberta Vinci six minutes late.
The match was one of those meetings patented by Serena and Venus, who plays today. Slap and bang, with the odd howl of frustration when it wasn’t going all her way vintage Williams. Vinci, ranked 51 places below her on the ladder, had a resigned smile on her face for most of the 6-3, 6-4 beating.
Williams and Venus are the two most famous players on the women’s tour, with only Maria Sharapova coming close in terms of public recognition. Many of the top 10 players go unrecognised, even among the fans around Wimbledon.
But the Williams’ lives have mirrored Jackson’s in that from a young age and coming from a poor black family, they quickly came to dominate their game. They burst straight on to the senior tour as teenagers, and have amassed €31 million in prize-money alone and 16 Grand Slam titles.
But Serena, who said she had met Jackson a few times, wasn’t to be drawn into any parallels.
“I wouldn’t even mention my name and his in the same sentence,” she said. “To be in that position, I can’t imagine. Since he was a child, he has always been Michael Jackson. So for me he was the celebrity of all celebrities. I think any celebrity who met Michael Jackson was completely in awe.”
Perhaps Vinci was a little in awe too. Still Williams hit 20 aces in the one-sided match, which took just over an hour. Of the 28 questions put to the American afterwards just one referred to the match. But it was also a timely chance to seek her views on the state of the women’s game, which is a topic that always emerges during the first week of Wimbledon as weaker players are ruthlessly put to the sword.
The point that was put to Williams was that since Belgian Justin Henin retired from the game in 2007 as the number one player, a position she occupied for 117 weeks, the name beside the top rank has changed seven times since. Williams has been there twice, as have Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic, and incumbent Dinara Safina once.
“I just think it shows in women’s tennis, there’s a lot of depth in the game,” said Williams. “You have lots of players with lots of talent and you never know who’s going to be number one because there’s that much talent on the ladies tour. You never know what’s gonna happen in a tournament. I think that raises the level of excitement.”
Her fourth round opponent is Daniela Hantuchova, who beat her doubles partner Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-3.
“She’s one of the best players in history,” said Hantuchova. “I know exactly what to expect. It’s obviously going to be a tough match. But I feel I have my chance and we’ll see.”
Williams considers that this will be her year because she keeps saying so. But there is a small army of European players gathering in her half of the draw.
Elena Dementieva, seeded four, beat Russian compatriot Regina Kulikova 6-1, 6-2; Bulgarian eighth seedVictoria Azarenka defeated Sorana Cirstea 7-6 (7-2), 6-3; while 10th seeded Russian Nadia Petrova beat Sharapova’s conqueror Gisela Dulko 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Only seventh seed Vera Zvonareva, from Russia, left the stage, before a ball was hit, withdrawing from her match against Virginie Razzano because of injury.
