It was the day of Venus Williams. The US Tennis star thrashed her sister Venus Williams 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 Thursday to reach the semi-finals of the WTA Tour’s season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships. Serena Williams later called the match the worst of the year. Serena started to unravel early in the second set. She recalls it was difficult to keep the eyes on the ball.
Venus Williams won on her fifth match point, and is now 3-0 in round-robin play of a tournament finding her in the list of top eight players. Serena Williams dropped to 1-1, but still has chances of entering the semi-finals if she could win over Elena Dementieva on Friday. Dementieva had earlier thrashed out Dinara Sefina 6-2, 6-4, on Thursday which made Safina move out of the championships.

The Williams’ sisters are 9-9 in career match ups. Serena had earlier defeated Venus in the U.S. Open quarterfinals this year, and Venus won the title match at Wimbledon.

Venus was seen staying composed throughout the match, serving powerfully to frustrate Serena, and refrained from celebrating after winning. Venus was not sounding so enthusiastic after the match, when she told that that Serena did deserve a victory.
The first set was filled with power tennis while in the second set, Serena was seen growing frustrated by her errors. Venus grabbed two set points in the second while Serena double-faulted and converted the second with a crosscourt backhand that passed her younger sister at the net.

Top-ranked Jelena Jankovic had won over Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6 (6), 6-4 earlier to enter into the semi-final. The seventh-ranked Kuznetsova had to call for a trainer early in the second set for a back injury. Kuznetsova has one more round-robin match left but her chances are less as she has already lost twice.

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Well, Tennis is a game that brings big money. Thanks to the heavy popularity of it in developed European countries and the US. Has the heavy inflow of bucks done anything wrong? Holy Jesus, the puritans are always critical of the flow of cash into the tennis kitties. They fear the money to disrupt the spirit of the game. Is it true? There may be loud noises from around on it.

It is a hard job to say if a way is right or wrong in tennis. It depends on person to person to decide, whether they should opt for money or not. It is a wide sight around the court that tennis players spend more time in making money. Perhaps more time they spend on ramps and shows than in grass courts. Is it a waste of talent? Is it ethical? 

More great tennis players over the last 30 years have been burned-out by age 26; much earlier than any other sport. Tennis players begin their training at a tender age, say six or seven (it is much earlier than any other game) and never let up. Yes, they do enjoy the taste of fruit (read here, dollars), but do break down physically and mentally at a young age.

Veterans like Andre Agassi of the US are not considered as someone who dedicated more time to tennis. Instead he is looked upon as someone who spends more time on ramps and glamour shows that spending time with rackets. It was after 28, he started focusing more on game. Now a question comes out here. Why do, most players fail to deliver the best after 28. May be, it is the failure in the career until the age of 28 would have made Agassi to dedicate completely to the game.

Now the recent examples of this money game are Williams’s sisters.  Like Agassi, the duo has been criticized for their focus on fashion and outfits. This have triggered criticisms from conservatives that being talented than many others on court, they have failed to dominate the game. Well, we can argue that there is no textbook rule that all tennis players should be committed to the game for the whole life. But can we deny the fact that the lack of concentration towards the game has played a big role in burning out the talent. Definitely, both the sides, puritans and bohemians have their own arguments. This may range from the game, contracts, and way of life and choice of living. But in the end it is the game and performance in the court that matters. How lot money he makes is not an issue in tennis. If you love tennis, spend more time on courts. Nothing is wrong in making money, but no money can match the success in career. A player is remembered for his wins in grass courts not for the moolah he made outside the court negotiations.

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