Venus, Redux

Sadly, Venus Williams had to retire from her match this morning at the Australian Open after re-injuring a muscle in her side. She is always competitive and I believe this is the first time she has ever retired from a match.

For me, tho, the second sadness in her retirement is that we only got three days of new tennis dresses from her. The press was buzzing from the first day, and now we can be, also.

Day 1 she appeared in the most talked-about dress... er tunic. It's a lovely shade of blue and the fabric is alternating "stripes" of net and fabric, so that it looks like stripes in this picture. The real issue was the length... very, very short. Actually it barely covered her black spanky pants - remember them from high school? She told reporters that she initially planned to wear flesh-colored, which would have caused even more comment. I love the fabric, but doubt that I would have tried this look - even at my target weight! With her good figure she looked good in this and I rather liked it.

Day 2 she changed to an edgy yellow number. The lattice work in the bodice appears to be open-work with no netting. I really like that part. What I think doesn't work well is the patterned skirt. The black print is fine, but there doesn't appear to be any yellow in the print that matches the bodice. The tennis ball in the front - nice touch! - is too green. If that matched, or with a matching solid yellow (or solid black) skirt, this would really be a neat dress. And, it's long enough to please almost anyone.

Then today she chose my favorite of the week. The black bodice is alternating stripes of solid black fabric and a great silver-studded black. It's worn over matching black shorts that give "good coverage". It's the sort of tennis "costume" that has started showing up at evening matches at the U.S. Open. If she wears it again, she may get comments about the silver-studded band that runs across her breasts - it's a bit Madonna-like, but overall I do like it a lot.

If Venus were just about clothing, and not a top notch player, I probably wouldn't comment on her outfits, but she is first and foremost a fine athlete and after 17 years as a professional tennis player still rated as one of the finest players of the open era. So, bear with me. If she keeps wearing interesting things, I plan to keep commenting. Perhaps that is my niche in blogger-dom!

Besides it must be warm somewhere if they are playing tennis!

French Open Fashion

The tennis world has been focused on the French Open [actually known as Roland-Garros now] this past week - but more on what is being worn than on who's winning. The reason? Venus Williams!

In case you are not a big tennis fan, you may not know that in the off season both Venus and Serena are involved in fashion. Each has a line of clothing - Venus designs for "Eleven by Venus Williams" which has casual sports clothes for the player and the spectator. Soft fabrics for active clothes that would fit most anyone, but which are intended for play time. She also designs all her own tennis wear. It's always feminine and a bit edgy, like this white tennis dress from last year with the scalloped hem.

Serena's line is AneresDesign - for the independent woman who wants to dress well and look sexy. It's much more edgy, feminine and very much "dress up". She is working on a lingerie line and a fragrance, but they are apparently not yet available. Over the years Serena has shown up at various tournaments in not-so-normal tennis wear - things like denim, and boot covers on her shoes, tights and things that were a bit bare and a bit tight. For Roland-Garros this year she chose a conservative blue tennis dress with lime trim and a lime headband.

That's why it came as such a surprise when it was Venus who showed up this spring wearing a lingerie-like tennis dress. She has worn it several times, but didn't get big press until she showed up in Paris. There are two versions - red and black - but it's the black one that she has worn the past week.










It's a bit bare, rather short, and certainly suggestive of lingerie, but on first view I rather like it. NOT that I would ever think of wearing it! I look for the longer skirts and have never even considered a tennis dress - way too form fitting for me! Critics have called it her can-can costume, night clothes, and dance hall wear.

To give you a few other "costumes" to consider, here are some of the other leading female players and what they are wearing this week.

Jelena Jankovich of Serbia chose a yellow dress - rather similar to Serena's blue number. It's long enough, has a bit of ruffle for feminity and fits nicely. She has just played tennis for two hours and still looks fairly fresh and the dress is holding up and doesn't look sweaty, except for some wrinkling around the midrift. A nice choice, I think.

Oliva Sanchez of Spain chose a similar black dress with a bit of a floaty skirt. I like the higher square neck and the dress does not have the stretch at the waist so it doesn't pucker like Jalena's does, but overall, same dress different manufacturer. I don't particularly like the black. It looks a little "evening" to me, but overall a nice dress. Do you see a theme here in dress styles?

Other players have gone with a more traditional approach. Australia's Sam Stosur chose a regular knit tennis dress with trim at the neck and sleeves. She's worn it in orange and in navy, but it's pretty much the same dress that Chris Evert wore twenty years ago.

And Li Na from China is wearing what you and I would wear - a tennis skirt with a v-neck tee shirt. The pleats in the skirt give her additional room to move and the whole look is professional and appropriate to her job.

So, why all the hoopla about Venus's dress. It's still a bit short and a bit more like lingerie than everyone else's, but why is it creating a furor? It's what you cannot see.

Traditionally, women tennis players wear shorts or spanks that either match or contract with their dresses. Serena's are lime (contrast), Jelena's are yellow (match), Oliva's black (match), Sam's are white (contrast), and Na's are white (match).

But Venus' are skin-colored. Take a look at the action view and you decide... are these too much for the tennis court?

Serena Melts Down

What had been a mostly uneventful professional tennis season ended abruptly last night when Serena Williams foot faulted and was penalized out of the quarterfinals after a very unfortunate incident with a lines woman. It was late in the second set and Serena was trailing Kim Clijsters 6-3, 5-4 and down 15-30. That means that she was two points away from losing the quarterfinals to Kim.

Serena served and apparently stepped on the back line. The lines woman called the foot fault causing Serena to lose one point and giving Kim a huge advantage. Serena stalked over to the lines woman yelling something and shaking a ball at her. Serena returned to the serving line and started to serve, but then turned around and marched over to the lines woman a second time berating her. At that point, the referee called the lines woman to her chair and inquired as to what Serena had said. More words ensued and the Head Referee and a tournament official came on the court and ruled that Serena's behavior merited the loss of a point. That point was the winning match point and Clijsters won.

Apparently there is not a good enough angle to definitively show the foot fault. To me, it looks like she did, but there is certainly room for discussion. But, and this is a big but, the lines woman ruled. In tennis, referees and lines people are the law. They are situated on the court in such a way that they only look straight down a line and they are not supposed to watch the play - only their line. Their job is to watch carefully and decide instantly if a ball is in, out or on the line. In this case she needed to decide if Serena's foot touched the line at all. Just as we have to follow the law in life, tennis players have to follow the ruling of the judges.

Pretty much everyone agrees that it was an unfortunate incident, but interestingly enough not for all the same reasons. The pundits [did you think they only worked in politics?] are divided on whether or not she actually faulted. Those who think that she did step on the line are also divided on whether or not it was proper for the lines woman to call it. Many think that so late in the match, the lines woman should have let it go. What kind of message would that have sent? That pros who are on the verge of losing (or even winning) a match should not have to follow the rules? Or, that the rule is only for club players and pros get a pass? Neither would have been a good lesson.

More disturbing to me was Serena's behavior. She had a warning at the end of the first set for breaking her racquet in anger, so it was already not a good night for her. Obviously she was upset to be losing, and she had not played her best tennis during the match. But, one does not get a pass on civil behavior because things are not going well. She apparently used some bad language which was not picked up by the live feed. In defending herself to the Head Referee she clearly said, "other people said a lot worse," so she knew she said something inappropriate. She also approached the lines woman in a very menacing way waving her racquet. It did not help the situation that the lines woman was of Asian descent and quite small. The image of Serena at 5'9" and 150 pounds advancing on the lines woman at 4'11" and 90 pounds was compelling, and anyone who sees it would have to think the lines woman felt intimidated.

And, of course, the other loser in this situation was Kim Clijsters. She was playing excellent tennis and probably would have won the match, but she did not get the opportunity to win, or to enjoy the win. Even if she wins the finals tonight, there will always be an invisible asterisk on the match. Apparently they are good friends and Kim was obviously not happy with the way the match ended - even tho it was in her favor.

When my brother was about five he would play and play and play until he was so exhausted that he would completely come apart. After some sleep he would admit to having had what he called a meltdown. Many have described Serena's behavior that way, too. No doubt after two weeks of good, hard, competitive tennis she is tired - both physically and mentally. But it's part of being a professional. Pam Shriver described it best when she said that it's the player's responsibility to keep in control and maintain one's calm to play. Serena failed that test last night.