Thursday, April 01, 2004
Dementyeva Angers a Defeated Venus
Friday, Apr. 2, 2004. Page 16
Dementyeva Angers a Defeated Venus
MIAMI -- Venus Williams has rejected accusations from Yelena Dementyeva that she played up the effects of a foot injury in their Nasdaq-100 Open quarterfinal Wednesday in which the Russian dumped the second-seeded American out of the tournament.
"After the medical break I was thinking she was a good actress because she was moving so much better than before," said Dementyeva, who eventually won 6-3, 5-7, 7-6.
"Maybe I should talk to her," Williams said. "I clearly twisted my ankle and I had issues there. But if that's the way she feels, that's fine."
Dementyeva criticized Williams' conduct when the American seemed to sustain a right foot injury late in the second set. Williams visibly grimaced when she landed awkwardly after hitting a forehand on her opponent's service game at 5-6 and 30-30.
She had the problem evaluated by WTA trainer Lisa Heller and then took a statutory three-minute injury timeout while her foot and ankle was strapped.
"On her face it looked like she had something very painful, but then she started to move very well," the Russian said.
The medical timeout appeared to upset Dementyeva's rhythm, who lost the next two points and with it the second set. The Russian also went a break down at the start of the third set and had to save a match-point at 5-3 before regaining her composure in time to win the match in the tiebreaker.
"It was a very difficult situation for me because [the time-out] was in the middle of [a] very important game.
"It was 30-all on my serve and she had a really long medical break, then she started to play and move much better than she was playing in the first set," Dementyeva said.
"It took me a few games to come back to the game and get my focus on the court. I'm not sure if she had something [wrong] or not. I can't know, but I think she did everything by the rules."
Struggling with her comeback from injury in the shadow of her sister Serena, Venus seemed a case study in all that could go wrong when a player has not played many matches.
Williams served 11 double faults, had her serve broken six times and made an astounding 51 unforced errors in losing.
For Williams, who has played only four tournaments since Wimbledon because of an abdominal strain, there is plenty of time to contemplate a career that once had her as the world's No. 1 player. She has dropped to 17th, has played only 10 matches this year and has not reached a semifinal. The loss spoils the potential for a renewal of the Williams sisters' rivalry.
Dementyeva's play was little better than Williams' for most of the match, and this result was more an avoidance of defeat than a grasping of victory. Dementyeva's serve has long been a weakness, and she served four double faults in the first game (she, too, had 11 double faults and was broken six times).
But Williams could not take advantage of Dementyeva's anemic second serves, which were as slow as 101 kilometers per hour. Williams seemed listless and was frequently caught flat-footed. On several occasions she did not pursue shots that seemed reachable, and she hit shot after shot into the net or long.
"I just kept trying to play better," Williams said. "I didn't have any room for errors today."
Friday, Apr. 2, 2004. Page 16
Dementyeva Angers a Defeated Venus
MIAMI -- Venus Williams has rejected accusations from Yelena Dementyeva that she played up the effects of a foot injury in their Nasdaq-100 Open quarterfinal Wednesday in which the Russian dumped the second-seeded American out of the tournament.
"After the medical break I was thinking she was a good actress because she was moving so much better than before," said Dementyeva, who eventually won 6-3, 5-7, 7-6.
"Maybe I should talk to her," Williams said. "I clearly twisted my ankle and I had issues there. But if that's the way she feels, that's fine."
Dementyeva criticized Williams' conduct when the American seemed to sustain a right foot injury late in the second set. Williams visibly grimaced when she landed awkwardly after hitting a forehand on her opponent's service game at 5-6 and 30-30.
She had the problem evaluated by WTA trainer Lisa Heller and then took a statutory three-minute injury timeout while her foot and ankle was strapped.
"On her face it looked like she had something very painful, but then she started to move very well," the Russian said.
The medical timeout appeared to upset Dementyeva's rhythm, who lost the next two points and with it the second set. The Russian also went a break down at the start of the third set and had to save a match-point at 5-3 before regaining her composure in time to win the match in the tiebreaker.
"It was a very difficult situation for me because [the time-out] was in the middle of [a] very important game.
"It was 30-all on my serve and she had a really long medical break, then she started to play and move much better than she was playing in the first set," Dementyeva said.
"It took me a few games to come back to the game and get my focus on the court. I'm not sure if she had something [wrong] or not. I can't know, but I think she did everything by the rules."
Struggling with her comeback from injury in the shadow of her sister Serena, Venus seemed a case study in all that could go wrong when a player has not played many matches.
Williams served 11 double faults, had her serve broken six times and made an astounding 51 unforced errors in losing.
For Williams, who has played only four tournaments since Wimbledon because of an abdominal strain, there is plenty of time to contemplate a career that once had her as the world's No. 1 player. She has dropped to 17th, has played only 10 matches this year and has not reached a semifinal. The loss spoils the potential for a renewal of the Williams sisters' rivalry.
Dementyeva's play was little better than Williams' for most of the match, and this result was more an avoidance of defeat than a grasping of victory. Dementyeva's serve has long been a weakness, and she served four double faults in the first game (she, too, had 11 double faults and was broken six times).
But Williams could not take advantage of Dementyeva's anemic second serves, which were as slow as 101 kilometers per hour. Williams seemed listless and was frequently caught flat-footed. On several occasions she did not pursue shots that seemed reachable, and she hit shot after shot into the net or long.
"I just kept trying to play better," Williams said. "I didn't have any room for errors today."
