(Photo by Tim Whitby/Getty Images)
Grunting seems to be a hot topic in women’s tennis these days, but if there’s a word that describes women’s tennis better than ‘loud’, surely it’s ‘international’. It seems like players come from a wider range of countries than ever.
It’s no exception at this year’s Wimbledon, where the end of the first week means that only 16 of 128 women remain in the ladies’ singles draw. If you’ve been following women’s tennis, you probably guessed—correctly—that many of the remaining women are from the United States, Russia or Serbia—or have been asked about them. Their responses are often varied, ranging from the mildly amusing to the seriously informative and the absolutely zany.
Russia
The Russians aren’t coming—in the world of women’s tennis, they’re already here. Half of the women in the top 10 are Russian.
Serena Williams, World No. 2, isn’t likely intimidated though. For one thing she has more Grand Slam titles than all of them combined in a sport where that number is often used to quantify tennis greatness. Serena isn’t lonely either since she’s joined in the top 10 by her older sister Venus, who’s World No. 3. One thing Serena is, by her own admission, is confused.
“Everyone is from Russia,” she said. “Sometimes I think I’m from Russia too… All these new ‘ova’s—I don’t really recognize anyone.”
While you can’t always count on Serena to be gracious in a post-match interview, you can generally count on her to be newsworthy. Naturally journalists prodded her for more.
“So are you saying you came to Compton when you were seven years old from Russia?” one journalist asked.
Serena happily obliged: “I think I am, and I think my name must be ‘Williamsova’.”
When told about Serena’s statements, No. 4-ranked Elena Dementieva chuckled before giving her take on why the Russian army has invaded the top of women’s tennis: “We have a very tough competition, and that’s what makes us work hard and improve our game. I think it’s always good to have lots of girls practicing all together trying to be the best one. It always helps with the motivation.”
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