Serena comes to St. Louis
By Kathleen Nelson
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
07/22/2007

Given the acting gigs, fashion shows and eight Grand Slam titles on Serena
Williams' rsum, many wondered why she would play team tennis with the Aces on
Monday.

Given the injuries she sustained at Wimbledon, people wondered how she would
honor that commitment.

Williams writhed in pain with a leg cramp in her fourth-round victory over
Daniela Hantuchova at Wimbledon. The bigger problem, though, was a sprained
left thumb, which forced Williams to pull out of Fed Cup, tour stops in
Cincinnati and Stanford, Calif., and her on-court duties with the Aces.

Unlike the other cancellations, though, Williams will show up Monday to help
at a youth tennis clinic, sign autographs for youngsters and hold a
question-and-answer session with the crowd at halftime of the Aces' match
against the New York Sportimes at Dwight Davis Tennis Center.

Williams declined a request for an interview last week but said in a
statement: "I'm disappointed that my injury will keep me from playing my
World TeamTennis match in St. Louis. I love the WTT format, and I was really
looking forward to playing for the Aces. While I wish I could be on the
court, it will still be great to be at the match to meet some fans, sign
autographs for the kids and cheer for my team."

The Aces and team tennis had an edge for several reasons:

1. Venus plays. Fresh off a victory at Wimbledon, Serena's big sister played
her fourth WTT season, consisting of four matches with the Philadelphia
Freedoms. The two share a house in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and their bond
and influence over each other seem stronger than ever.

2. Serena worships league founder Billie Jean King. If King asks, the
Williams sisters oblige.

"She is the epitome of not only women's tennis but women's sports," Williams
said of King before the U.S. Open last year. "She did so much for women's
sports and being one of the backers of Title IX. I really love Billie."

3. "She's grass roots," Aces general manager Dani Apted said. "Serena learned
to play on the public courts in Compton (Calif.). She understands that part
of team tennis' mission, yet she transcends the sport. Her story inspires
people who know nothing about tennis."

Williams' appeal was close to universal when she won four consecutive majors
from June 2002 to January 2003.

The success belied a nagging knee injury, which she fought through until it
required surgery in August 2003. She lost her shot at a third U.S. Open title
a small blip on her emotional screen compared to the loss of her sister,
Yetunde Price, who was shot and killed in Los Angeles on Sept. 14.

"She was always so happy for me and Venus," Serena told reporters at this
year's Australian Open. "We had so many unbelievable memories. I take solace
in those memories."

She returned to the court in April 2004, won her first tournament and lost to
Maria Sharapova in the Wimbledon final. But knee problems continued. A
victory at the Australian in 2005 teased her fans that she was back. Instead,
the knee pain returned. She finished out of the top 10 for the first time in
seven years and plunged as low as No. 140 last year, when she played just
four tournaments.

"There's always times out there where you think, 'Am I ever going to be
looking at another trophy?'" she told reporters in Melbourne, "especially
since I hadn't won a tournament let alone a Grand Slam in a long time."

Critics figured she was near retirement or perhaps more concerned with
indulging her other passions. The Internet Movie Database lists eight acting
gigs and 42 TV appearances for Williams, including "The Simpsons," "Law &
Order," "My Wife and Kids," and a reality show with Venus called "Venus and
Serena: For Real" in 2005. Her clothing line, Aneres, debuted in 2003. She
also had family issues to sort through her sister's death and her parents'
divorce.

None of that, she said, contributed to her slide in the rankings. The knee
injury simply refused to heal.

Williams was ranked No. 81 when she returned to Melbourne this January and
began an improbable march through the Australian Open that ended with a 6-1,
6-2 drubbing of Sharapova in the final.

Her inspiration, she said, was her sister Yetunde. Usually, Williams told
reporters in Melbourne, she writes notes to herself before a match to remind
her to focus:

"'Look at the ball,' 'move forward,' 'do this,' 'do that,'" she said. This
time, Williams wrote just one word: Yetunde.

"Every changeover, I looked at it and I just thought about how happy she
would have been, you know, how much she always supported me," Williams said

After the victory, she vowed to concentrate on tennis. Except for lending her
voice to one episode of the cartoon series "Loonatics Unleashed" and taking
the wheel of a stock car for the first round of "Fast Cars and Superstars,"
Williams has been out of the non-tennis limelight.

She has played 31 matches this year, compared to 16 in all of 2006. She is
seventh in the WTA rankings, won the tour stop in Miami and reached the
quarterfinals at Rome, Paris and Wimbledon. Her departure from Wimbledon
occurred with a loss to Justine Henin, which, because of the leg cramp and
thumb injury from her victory over Hantuchova, left her "probably at 40 or 50
percent max."

Anyone who saw her comeback at Wimbledon knows she would play here if she
could, Apted said. The fact that she is coming to St. Louis for the kids and
the fans when she doesn't have to shows you why she is an inspiration to a
lot of people.