VIDEO: Venus Williams Hits 127 mph Serve at Wimbledon
June 29, 2008 by Jodie Lynn Boduch
Filed under Baseball, Football, Golf, Sports Rumors, Tennis
We’re not huge fans of Venus and Serena Williams, mostly because their reluctance to credit an opponent after a loss irritates more than nails on a chalk board, small yappy dogs, and Maria Sharapova’s grunts combined.
Nevertheless, they are phenomenal tennis players and are paving the way for a possible all-Williams final at Wimbledon next week. So even though they aren’t big on giving credit, we will: A hats off to Venus for this incredible record-setting 127 mph serve—the fastest a woman has ever hit in the tournament.
It’s literally a blink-and-you’ll miss it moment at the start of ESPN’s Top 10. (Want more wows? Stick around for the rest of the other nine awesome plays across the sports spectrum in this 2m, 32s clip).
Venus has given her opponents tons of credit, especially this week. Read the post match interviews.
Serena is another story - she’s all sour grapes when she loses, a total sore loser, but that’s Serena: it’s all about her all the time. I find it interesting, though, that male athletes are never called out for their braggadocio, but female athletes are…
That’s because Venus hasn’t lost–they’re a bit more generous when they win.
As for male athletes, this bloggerette doesn’t like it when any athlete can’t credit an opponent, but the Williams sisters are notorious for it. It’s most noticeable in tennis because the sport is one-on-one (except for doubles, of course). Watch a Federer-Nadal match and you won’t find two classier and more gracious rivals—regardless of who wins or loses.
I still disagree. There are plenty of examples of both Venus and Serena giving opponents credit after they’ve been defeated, the problem is that Serena especially has been so obnoxious recently. Also find it interesting that Jelena Jankovic was rather sour after her loss today and the blogosphere has been rather quiet about it… had Serena made the same comments as Jelena, there’d be an uproar…
And so perhaps we agree to disagree.
Jelena Jankovic is still in the honeymoon phase with the media and with tennis fans. Once she’s a veteran of the game, like the Williams sisters or even Sharapova, she’s less likely to be given a pass for sour grapes.
Glad I watched the whole clip–that bunt into a double play was awesome. I don’t think that I have ever seen a play like that.