Williams sisters come across as a pleasant interlude, in comparison to the hefty air some Indian players with smaller stakes throw.
Williams sisters come across as a pleasant interlude, in comparison to the hefty air some Indian players with smaller stakes throwBANGALORE: Serena Williams has 15 Grand Slam titles to her credit, Venus Williams has 14. If one would not be a tennis fan, it would be impossible to know the achievements that these women have to their credit given their easy demeanour.
Given the noise and air that some of our players with much smaller stakes on the world stage manage to quickly adopt, the Williams sisters are a pleasant interlude for any Indian tennis reporter.
The sisters have faced the same questions across the world over and over again. They could hardly be blamed for looking jaded when an eager press pressed in with queries that did not always stem from tennis know-how.
Their discovery of the saree in the players’ party the night before fought for byte along with pointed queries firmed up by long trawling of the net. Perhaps it was the number of people or possibly the omnipresent onlookers, but the sisters were decidedly tame in their responses.
Many a question could have been swatted away as frivolous but the cool never really went. But the expectation to see some of the blistering responses more their ilk out on court re-enacted on the mike quickly went bust.
The most pertinent tennis queries met the same bland response as those left to waft awaiting indulgence. There were smiles aplenty but there was no zip; that essential pizzazz that is the life breath of any substantial reporting just was not there.
The Williams are explosive on court and obviously seem to prefer loud talk strummed off racquet strings. Creating a racket otherwise doesn’t seem to be their style.
Later on at snatched one-on-one sessions where a horde of waiting media got rude, begged for more time or just realised not much tennis sense could be made from this effort, Venus smiled easy and sat relaxed offering an extended hand to the timid and bold alike.
The queens of the court appear to be just nice girls off it. The swagger and noise is for the arena alone. Perhaps they could hold some classes for our tennis lot.
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