Glamour queen Serena rules tennis in 2002
December 22, 2002
By Dale Brauner
SportsTicker Tennis Editor
JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (Ticker) - Even in one of her many guises, there
was no mistaking Serena Williams was the top player and the biggest tennis
story of 2002.
After missing the Australian Open with an ankle injury, Williams went on a
tear, winning the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. In all, she
captured eight of the 13 events she entered to lead the WTA Tour in titles.
But it was not only the mastery in which she ruled women's tennis that
impressed, but also her elan. This was a No. 1 player who really took to
the spotlight, delighting in being the lightning rod of the tour.
Nowhere was this on display more than in her on-court fashions. Clothing
styles on court becoming leading tennis stories is nothing new, but Serena
took it to a new level.
At the French Open, the shapely 21-year-old wore a sleeveless green shirt,
red shorts and yellow knee-high socks - paying homage to the Cameroon
soccer team just days before the World Cup kicked off.
At Wimbledon, Williams wore the required white with a rhinestone tiara,
out-duchessing the Duchess of Kent, who handed her the famed gold plate
trophy. Later in the year, she sported a extravagant diamond tennis
bracelet.
However, she saved her best for the fashion capital of the America when
she turned up at the U.S. Open in New York in a skin-tight black "Catwoman"
outfit. She alternated that form-fitting, wet-look jumpsuit with one she
called the "Pink Panther," a baby pink hooded sweatshirt that showed off
a pierced belly button.
"It makes me run faster ... jump high ... like a cat," Williams said.
"It's really sexy."
But it was not style without substance. Williams lost just two matches
after May and soundly defeated older sister Venus - considered the best
player after winning consecutive crowns at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open
the previous two years - in the finals at Paris, London and New York.
The two, who became Nos. 1 and 2 in the world after the French Open, have
squared off in the finals of four of the last five Grand Slams. If Serena
wins the Australian Open in January, she would be just the fifth female
player ever to hold all four major titles at the same time.
"My goal right now is the Australian Open," Serena said. "Both Venus and
I want that one as neither of us have won it. Maybe I want it more as I
want to do the 'Serena Slam.'"
Next year will be an important one for Venus, who looked pleased when her
sister won her first Grand Slam since the 1999 U.S. Open in Paris, annoyed
when Serena took her Wimbledon crown and downright despondent in New York.
Still, she was second on tour with seven titles.
"I do not take it so seriously any more," Venus said at Wimbledon. "I
realize this is just a game. And when I walk off the court, that part
of my life is over. so I just try to keep it on the court."
It was just as well that the Williams sisters generated so much star
power, as Jennifer Capriati stumbled after winning the Australian Open
in January and former world No. 1s Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis
were injured for large chunks of the season.
If Serena Williams provided the glamorous side of being a champion, than
Lleyton Hewitt showed the grit. He proved himself to be a true No. 1,
finishing in the top spot for the second year in a row. The 21-year-old
Australian claimed his second career Grand Slam at Wimbledon and finished
tied with Andre Agassi for the ATP lead in titles with five.
Hewitt also won the Tennis Masters Cup for the second straight year.
"I come out here and I play my best, my game," he said after his triumph at
Shanghai. "I try not to change my game. If other guys are good enough to
beat me against my strengths, then that is too good. I go out there and
give 100 percent every time I stop on the court."
Two of the most exciting men's players were missing from the stage.
Patrick Rafter took a break at the end of last year but never officially
retired. Every few months this year, word would come from Down Under that
the likable two-time U.S. Open champion was mulling over his future, but
nothing happened.
Meanwhile, Croatia's Goran Ivanisevic, who finally won Wimbledon in 2001,
was out all year with a shoulder injury.
Two great champions turned back the clock at the U.S. Open as Pete Sampras,
who rediscovered his devastating serve and mended his shattered confidence,
beat Andre Agassi to add to his record haul of Grand Slams with his 14th.
Sampras had not won a title since Wimbledon 2000. Just two months before
his triumph at New York, the former long-time No. 1 looked bewildered in
his loss to George Bastil in the second round at his beloved All-England
Club.
"This one might take the cake," Sampras said upon winning. "I never thought
anything would surpass what happened at Wimbledon a couple of years ago.
But the way I've been playing this year, (to) kind of come through this
and play the way I did today, it was awesome.
"This might be my biggest achievement, to come through adversity and win
the Open."
In the other two Grand Slams, Thomas Johansson triumphed at the Australian
Open and Albert Costa took the French Open as both won their first majors.
For the second straight year, there were eight different finalists in the
men's portion of the Grand Slams.
Slovakia and Russia won the Fed Cup and Davis Cup, respectively, for their
first victories in the team competitions. In both events, a young player
proved crucial to the win.
Daniela Hantuchova was the star in Slovakia's win over Spain, building on
her first career title claimed against Hingis at Indian Wells.
For Russia, Mikhail Youzhny stepped in for a struggling Yevgeny Kafelnikov
to win the fifth and deciding match against Paul-Henri Mathieu and France.
Youzhny, who rallied from two sets to love down, dedicated his win to his
father, Mikhail Sr., who was beaten to death alongside a road in Russia
in September.
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