Why Tennishead salutes Venus Williams

Venus Williams - 2008 Sony Ericsson WTA Championship winner

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Given half a chance, the media is never slow to put the boot in and last week’s 2008 Sony Ericsson Championships had its fair share of criticism. Should it have been in Qatar, should it have been outdoors and could the headline-grabbing withdrawals of Ana Ivanovic and Serena Williams have been avoided? Enough, we say. Let’s try to be positive.

Venus Williams should be applauded for her display at the WTA Tour’s end-of-season Championships, a tournament she won on Sunday night with a come-from-behind victory over Russian underdog Vera Zvonareva.

The WTA Tour’s marquee event needed a superstar to stand up and be counted – Venus did that

Applause in the sporting arena usually recognises outstanding technique or tactics – incredible shot-making or an astute gameplan perhaps – but on this occasion it’s Venus’ spirit and professionalism that we reckon deserves some credit.

With a career that has featured seven grand slam singles titles and with earnings of well over $20 million, we suspect it probably wasn’t the $1.3 million winner’s cheque (whopping though it is) that inspired Venus to victory on Sunday. We have a hunch that pride had a large part to play too.

Women’s tennis should thank its lucky stars that it has an ambassador with as much integrity as Venus. After the frustration and disappointment of losing the first set against Zvonareva, less determined millionaire superstars that were playing their last match of a very long year might have thrown in the towel.

Venus let slip a 5-1 lead in the first set tie-break and squandered a handful of set points, but rather than change down into neutral and coast towards the off-season she knuckled down to the job in hand. In the second and third sets she showed why she’s one of the best players in the world and why tennis fans pay good money to watch her by blowing the Russian off court for the loss of just two games.

Without taking anything away from Zvonareva’s achievements in Qatar, after the unhelpful big-name withdrawals earlier in the week, the WTA Tour’s marquee event needed a superstar to stand up and be counted and be crowned champion to ensure its credibility as one of the year’s most prestigious events. Venus did that.

Had Zvonareva, a player, let’s face it, most tennis fans would struggle to recognise, walked away with five top ten scalps and several suitcases full of cash, onlookers could have been forgiven for asking whether anyone really cared about winning what is supposedly the most important women’s tournament outside the four grand slams.

That’s not an accusation that can be levelled at Venus, or Zvonareva for that matter. The American’s determination was a theme during her week in the Middle East. Time and again Venus was forced to dig deep during her matches with four out of five stretching to three sets.

The Russian also demonstrated huge desire every time she stepped on court and notched up four massive wins by beating Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic and then Elena Dementieva. The tears that rolled down her cheeks at the end of Sunday’s three-setter showed how much the title meant to her. It was only because she faced a woman who wanted it just as much – perhaps even more – that she was denied an unlikely tournament victory.