That game at 5-3 in the second lasted 16 minutes, and Venus fought off something like 5 or 6 match points. There are a lot of younger players (Sloane, Muguruza, etc.) who could learn from her example of fight and heart. We're so lucky to still have her competing on the tour like this.
Imagine a young Venus playing, this 6 foot 1 super fast athlete who could cover the whole court with a lunge with serves consistently going well over 120mph!!!! She’d be beating these girls routinely 6-2 6-3.
Serena beat Svitolina 63 61 this very same tournament and then loses in the final! Serena is very mentally strong so for her to succumb to nerves in the last four slam finals she lost the pressure must be so big its unimaginable to the typical fan!
Brent Pham normally Serena pre birth in finals ups her game and everything and rarely loses but it’s so different now, normally she would demolish them in finals and would have slow starts in the first week.
It's actually hard to believe Venus lost this one in straight sets.. she could have won.. she did soo many things right, just cut the unforced errors..
I know she lost...but wow Venus game is so lethal!! If she can just put it all together and reduce those unforced errors she will be back where she belongs in no time! Wow her backhand is scary!!
Yeah when Venus is on, she can still overwhelm anyone with her power. There may be players that can hit harder than her now, but they do not have the intent or the Net skill she has
She's 40 years old now, I don't think it's realistic to expect her to return to the top at this point. Just being able to compete at this level as seen here is extremely impressive.
Great match! I didn’t watch the match live but Venus didn’t play bad from this highlight... Svitolina was just really good at this Open! Couple of indecisive moves from Venus here... been noticing this recently. She needs to be more confident of her shots. Her net game to me is the best (at least used to be)
Venus should really stick with this tactical play. Shes playing really well with it. One slight recommendations is for her to use more slice and to slow down her ball hitting but go for more angles. She has very good slice. She would drastically cut her unforced errors, coupled with the tactical and power play, she could be golden again.
One thing ive noticed when watching Venus or Serena play is when they are patient and work the point, they usually end with a winner. I understand that ocourse they are big hitters and want to end the point, but sometimes it comes with too many unforced. more so in Venus case
Great shots but Venus worked a lot harder than she had to providing consistent pace for Svitolina to just redirect back. If Venus had just changed the pace with a bit more variety, maybe some slices/lobs she wouldn’t have to go for broke on every point, must be a very tiring way to play especially at her age.
Yeah, it definitely takes a lot of energy - and a lot can go wrong timing wise if the energy starts to fade. But on the other hand if she isn’t as offensive she’d had to do a lot more running which is what they want to avoid. Long rallies aren’t good for her anymore
Dude I love Venus to death, but really, after every loss talking about how she would destroy them in her prime, well no shit she would, so step discrediting other players just because they beat her. She's 39 and has an autoimmune disease so the fact that she's still able to hang with these girls shows show much of a champion she is. Everyone knows she would destroy them in her prime.
I like Venus, but the fact is, she isn’t in her prime now. And Svitolina was the better player that day. So please, like the other person said, don’t discredit other players like that and just be happy that Venus is at least still playing.
Totally wrong tactics from Venus, hitting wide with that unstable forehand and net play will only encourage Svitolina to counterattack. Totally dumbfounded that she played 3 great games with topspin and backhand winners then regressed to the old self. Just no commitment to a game plan... was disappointed
