Venus Williams has been talking all week about how her fight back from illness to try and compete at the top level has been an educational experience for her. And the fact is, it has been educational for all those watching her and listening to her too.
Like her sister Serena pointed out, Venus’ battle with Sjogren’s Syndrome is an ongoing struggle and can’t be compared to other players’ injuries that are dealt with in a certain period of time.
Venus is not just teaching us how to strike back when we’re down but also how to deal with it gracefully. It has been a tumultuous few years for Venus since she was diagnosed with the energy-sapping auto-immune disease and it looks like she’s starting to deal with it mentally in the right way.
She’s going to play her second final of the season today, and unlike Auckland – which is an International- level WTA event – Dubai is a Premier tournament with a higher quality field.
Venus’ path to the Dubai final saw her take out players ranked 33, 12, 22, and 11 and if shewins today, she can return to the top-30 – which means she can be seeded in her next grand slam if she manages to keep it up.
Venus is yet to drop a set this week at the Aviation Club and you can’t help but notice how there has been a sense of calmness to her during her matches.
She has been choosing when to attack and when to take it easy and we are yet to see her panic at any moment here. She’s also showing that at 33, she can still be extremely powerful, firing bullets from both sides of the court and serving better thanmany top players on tour.
Venus has explained how her illness has given her perspective and it seems it’s that perspective that has been pushing her.
She’s also another example of how age is becoming more of an asset on tour, and how maturity trumps youth in today’s game.
While Venus may not be able to sustain a top level throughout an entire season, she has proven this week that she can deliver high-quality matches against higher-ranked opponents in back-to-back matches.
The way both her and Serena have attracted audiences this week is also testament to how important both sisters are to the game and one can’t help but wonder how different the tournament would have been had they not received wildcards from the organisers.
Their doubles match earlier in the week witnessed a full house on Court 1 and the fact remains that the Williams sisters are still the biggest draw in women’s tennis.
Here’s hoping Venus’ rejuvenation continues and can live to see an all-Williams clash in Dubai in the near future.
