Venus Williams and Amazing Comebacks at the Australian Open

When I imagine Venus Williams on the court, I see her standing on the baseline, taking the ball early, hitting it hard and deep and flat. Or I think of her scrambling, her compact swing generating surprising power, her long legs almost flailing as they fly. I think of her high service toss, or the intensity with which she stares at the ball as she lines up a shot, or the coiled energy in her crouch as she pulls back her racquet. Pushed into a corner, she takes a wild swing and sends the ball, somehow, with perfect accuracy into the opposite spot. I think, too, of the way her feet can slow, and the way energy can seem to drain out of her in the course of a single game, or how it can be absent from the start. I also think of the way she fights.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

Related:
American Tennis in Black and White
Serena Williams, Andy Murray, and a Political Wimbledon
Serena’s Successor?