Richard Williams

What's wrong with Venus Williams?

"I just was feeling dizzy, a little sick to the stomach," she said. "Was just having some energy problems. I'm not really sure what's wrong with me."

Neither does anyone else. After making 56 unforced errors in her agonizingly close quarterfinal match with Jelena Jankovic, Venus made 35 this afternoon—compared to 26 winners—in a straight-sets loss to Justine Henin.

Williams said she's been feeling strange—dizzy, tired, depleted—since she got two days off after the fourth round. That's when she told her mom, Oracene Williams, that something was wrong.

Oracene spoke to a group of reporters afterwards and revealed that Venus was feeling was sick after Wimbledon and was diagnosed with anemia.

"She was happy when she found out she had anemia and she thought that was it," said Oracene. "Now there's something else wrong. We need to get this checked out."

Venus told Oracene she was feeling sick after her match against Ana Ivanovic. It was a match where Richard Williams told me that something seemed a little off. Oracene recalled Venus telling her that when she hits a ball it feels like the ground beneath her is moving (sort of like vertigo). Oracene spent the last two days racing to Whole Foods buying up oranges for Venus, finding anything that could boost her energy.

Venus' boyfriend, Hank Kuehne, told me last week that he spends her matches paying close attention to her body language. While packing up the Williams family Lexus this evening he told me: "She looked zapped. I won't know what's wrong until I get in in the car with her tonight."

Venus was asked if she told her sister Serena about the apparent illness. "Serena was my opponent in the draw, too. I didn't tell her how I was feeling," she said laughing.

Maybe it's just fatigue after playing a three-set match the other night, or maybe it's something serious. The only thing that we do know: Venus didn't have the energy to keep up with Justine Henin today.

It wasn't a work of art from Venus in her match against Jelena Jankovic. She hit 56 unforced errors and had 8 double-faults. But when it came to a deciding third-set tiebreaker, she played her best tennis of the night.

"I felt really strong in the tiebreak, I felt fairly fresh," she said, "and I stopped missing, so that helped."

By contrast, Jankovic made errors at the key point and said she was so nervous that when she spoke to the crowd afterwards her voice was shaking.   read more »

Jelena Jankovic and Venus Williams just finished hitting some last-minute balls on the practice courts before their quarterfinal match tonight.

Jankovic was walking back into Arthur Ashe Stadium when she told me how she could win tonight. “I’m gonna have to lift my game from where it’s been over the last few matches,” she said.

Jankovic has played in two consecutive three-set matches, while Venus Williams has cruised to the quarters without dropping a set.  read more »

Is Serena Williams secretly injured?

After her match against Marion Bartoli, she was asked if anything was affecting her physically: “I would be the last person to tell you just in case Justine or Safina reads it, and they're like, ‘Oh, I know what to do.’”

Then her father, Richard, had this to say to me two days ago: “I think Serena can beat anyone when she’s well. Serena’s really not well. I know she’s not well. I won’t let you find out what’s wrong with her, but she’s not well.”

Let's see if Henin can figure it out.

There's probably only one person in the world who wasn't impressed with Venus Williams thoroughly swift dispatch of Ana Ivanovic. Her dad.

“I don’t think she played that great today,” said Richard Williams. “The second serve wasn’t doing anything. Venus wasn’t turning. She wasn’t meeting the serve return. She hit too many serves out.”

But Mr. Williams, she won 6-4, 6-2 against the no. 4 player in the world.

“Sometimes tennis scores doesn’t reflect how a person plays. In my opinion, Venus played bad.”  read more »