The Dubai tournament may have been dealt a blow on Saturday with the last-minute withdrawal of world No1 Serena Williams, but in reality, it is the older Williams sister, Venus, that is the queen of centre court here in the Emirates.
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While Serena has failed to advance past the semi-finals in any of her previous appearances here, Venus is the defending champion and has won her last 15 consecutive matches at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
After picking up the title in 2009 and 2010, Venus skipped the event three times before returning to win the trophy again in 2014, where she beat Alize Cornet in the final.
“Those wins spanned quite a few years. It’s a nice accomplishment. I hope I can add to it, nothing is a given, but I’m hitting the ball pretty well so I think I have a good chance,” Venus told reporters in Dubai on Saturday following the draw ceremony.
Donna Kelso, the WTA supervisor, kicked off proceedings at the draw with some surprising news, announcing the withdrawal of both Serena and world No7 Eugenie Bouchard, who had accepted a wildcard just a day earlier but was forced to pull out with an arm injury.
Serena has been suffering from a respiratory virus-related illness since the Australian Open last month and was unable to recover in time.
The 19-time grand slam champion flew to Argentina from Melbourne to take part in Fed Cup, but could only play one of her singles matches there.
“She was sick in Australia, then she had to withdraw from her Fed Cup match so it’s very challenging to go all the way and hit three or four continents, it’s a lot,” Venus said of her sister’s illness.
“So when you do all that travel you don’t have a chance to get better. So she needs time to regroup and get better. She needs to sit down and let herself recover.”
Things have been equally hectic for Venus, who has also traversed the globe, visiting no less than four different continents in the past two weeks.
The 34-year-old, who was diagnosed with the energy-sapping Sjogren’s Syndrome four years ago, has had a great start to the 2015 season, winning the title in Auckland before reaching the quarter-finals at the Australian Open, but admits the packed travel schedule has not been easy to handle.
“I’m hanging in there. It’s definitely a lot. I usually don’t travel that much. But this time it was necessary, and I’m alright,” said Venus, who has a bye in the first round and awaits the winner of the clash between Belinda Bencic and Karin Knapp.
On being the defending champion in Dubai, the American seven-time slam winner added: “I’ve done it a lot of times. No pressure really because it’s so great to get the title, and no one can take that away from you, it’s always yours. For me I’m just enjoying the moment to be back.”
Venus’ good results over the past 13 months have taken her up to No11 in the world and she could be returning to the top-10 soon for the first time in four years.
“Honestly my goal was to hit the top 16 and I don’t really count the points so after Australia I was definitely surprised to be where I am now so of course top 10 is my next goal, or top eight, and I’ve got to earn it. That what I’ve got to do, win matches,” she says.
Both Serena and Venus are the top two ranked Americans in the WTA and it’s remarkable how they are still going strong at the ages of 33 and 34, with their careers spanning three different decades.
“Time passes by so quickly and I don’t think anyone ever feels older, in your mind you always feel young and thankfully the body is cooperating with the mind for both Serena and I most of the time,” said Venus.
“And we just want to keep doing it while we can because there’s not going to be comebacks for us. When we walk away I think we’ll walk away, so while we’re here, we’re just going to go for it.”
Last year’s runner-up Cornet also can’t believe how fast time has flown by and that it has been 12 months since she shocked Serena for the first time in her career in the Dubai semi-finals. The Frenchwoman, who opens her campaign against Kirsten Flipkens, went on to beat Serena twice more in 2014 and she is now firmly established in the world’s top-20.
“I did a very good 2014 season after this Dubai tournament. I think my confidence went really up after this tournament where I saw I was able to make these kind of results,” Cornet told Sport360.
“So I got back into the top 20, I was playing very good tennis. Then I did a very good preseason preparation this winter. I’m ready to keep going this way. My goal is to get into the top 10. So I have to let go my shots again, go for it, try to believe in myself and anything is possible. I’ll try my best.”
