Tracy Austin
WIMBLEDON, England - Serena Williams had some difficulty in her opening match at Wimbledon but not to the degree where she was sent packing from the major she last won in 2003.When she left the All-England Club after beating unranked Estonian Kaia Kanepi, 7-5, 6-3, Serena had to be happy that despite arriving here without having played on a grass court this year she didn’t litter the lawn with a lack of execution or effort that would have made her vulnerable to a stunning upset.
Serena worked through her difficultly, fending off five break points in the first set against Kanepi, who was a quarterfinalist at the French Open earlier this year. Kanepi would double fault on set point and Serena took charge in the second set putting to rest any thought she would follow her shocking third-round, straight-set loss to Katarina Srebotnik at the French Open with a Day-1 exit from Wimbledon.
Serena is always most vulnerable in the first week of a major but there’s no reason that she isn’t capable of winning this Wimbledon, which I see as a wide open following the retirement earlier this year of Justine Henin. The key for the sixth-seeded Serena as it is for her sister -- seventh-seeded Venus -- is to come through the first few rounds. It seems that once they do that either one could get on a championship roll.
Kanepi was a very tough first-round opponent but Serena may find that helpful to her title chances as she got in a good grass court test right off the bat with the Estonian hitting the ball really hard and deep off the ground. It could very well to Serena’s benefit that she was pushed by Kanepi. Psychologically, Serena needed to be tested and to draw confidence from successfully dealing with a challenge on a surface she likes a lot but plays little on. Getting this win under her belt should fuel her as the fortnight rolls on.
Not playing any tournaments on grass courts prior to Wimbledon is not something new for Serena or Venus. They followed that plan before. This is certainly a far different approach to the grass season than in my days of playing. I played Wimbledon six times in my career -- reaching the semifinals in 1979 and ’80 -- and I remember clearly that virtually all the top players played the tune-up tournaments such as Birmingham and Eastbourne.
It never even seemed an option to go back to the United States between the French Open and Wimbledon. Maybe that was because in that era players didn’t make as much money as they do nowadays and so it didn’t seem to make much sense financially to go back home for just a couple of weeks.
This year it wasn’t only Serena and Venus going back to the United States after the French Open but Maria Sharapova did the same. Sharapova usually plays Birmingham, but with this being an Olympic year there is going to be extra travel on her schedule and she felt that time to rest and work on the hard courts was a more advisable plan than playing on the grass courts prior to Wimbledon.
Looking at how Serena’s match went against Kanepi it’s clear that to survive better opponents the American will have to improve her first serve percentage from 56 percent. As the matches get tougher, Serena will need to be finding a first-serve percentage range of at least 65 percent or she could be in big trouble.
What was impressive and an aid to her cause is how Serena mixed up where she placed her serves very well -- which is a strategy that keeps opponents off-balance. She seemed to be comfortable serving out wide or down the T well, but she wasn’t particularly successful when she attempted to serve into Kanepi’s body.
Serena could come in more often than she did against Kanepi but encouraging for her is that when she did decide to venture forward, she was fairly successful, winning seven of nine points at the net.
Serena’s statistics showed that she made more total winners (22) than unforced errors at (11) and needs to keep it that way. But, most importantly, was the way she responded to a tough first encounter on grass. It was no secret that Kanepi was capable of giving Serena trouble but the American handled it well – just like you would expect from an eight-time major champion.
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Serena’s success right out of the gate here was imperative considering the sloppy, surprising loss to Srebotnik at Roland Garros. Serena went into the French Open very well prepared and had won three titles already this year at Bangalore, Miami and Charleston. What happened to her in Paris truly shocked me. She’s out to make up for it at Wimbledon.
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IMMELMAN WITHDRAWS DUE TO ILLNESS
Serena starts slow before powering into 2nd
