Wimbledon Ladies

Felt kind of bad for Marion Bartoli. It's always a little creepy to watch a career peak right in front of you. And no matter how many nice returns she made, how tough she was on her serve, no matter what she did she just couldn't get away from Venus. Even when she was in control, running Venus back and forth across the baseline, she couldn't put it away--she just couldn't get the freakin' ball past her! Venus always reminded me of Patrick Ewing in the way she uncurls herself to play, she's all knees and elbows out there. She dominates the court like no one I've ever seen. More than Steffi or Serena, more than Sampras or Federer. When she wants to win she looks positively unstoppable.

Venus has won 4 Wimbledons now and it seems like she could've won 3 or 4 more. What happened to the Williams sisters? We used to wistfully ponder how they'd be playing each other in all the grand slam finals and while they've both won their share of titles, it feels like their time has just about passed. This was supposed to be Justine Henin's breakout year or maybe Kim Clisjter's last hurrah. Instead it was comeback time for Serena in Australia and Venus at Wimbledon and does anyone know why the Williams sisters left in the first place? Where have they been?

Don't Serena and Venus have to be considered somewhat disappointing?

Venus (A) 0/1 (F) 0/1 (W) 4/6 (U) 2/4 (T) 6/12
Serena (A) 2/2 (F) 1/1 (W) 2/2 (U) 2/3 (T) 7/8

They have played head-to-head in 6 Finals so perhaps the only thing standing in the way of total domination is each other. But I would disagree. The two of them combined have played in fewer Slam Finals than Steffi Graf won.

Graf (A) 4/5 (F) 6/9 (W) 7/9 (U) 5/8 (T) 22/31