| 2002 Wimbledon Wrapup and Analysis | |
Dateline: 07/10/02
Three of the last four Grand Slam women's singles finals have featured Venus and Serena Williams. Saturday's Wimbledon final was the first in which the sisters were able to display their real talent. Serena was particularly sharp, defeating Venus 7-6 (4), 6-3 and having her on defense for most of the match.
Serena had a few patches where she seemed to lose concentration, but for most of the match, she found the deep corners with remarkable accuracy and power. Venus was able to retrieve more such shots than any other opponent would have, leading to some rallies that were rare for number of should-have-been-winners per point.
With balls skidding low on grass, one would expect the lower-set Serena, also having a quicker first step, to hold an advantage, but Venus was the two-time defending champion. In this meeting, Serena served better than Venus and struck her groundstrokes more cleanly. She has defeated Venus three times in a row now and risen to the number-one ranking. Whether she's the better Williams may be subject to some debate, but that the sisters are better than the rest of the field is becoming increasingly clear.
The men's singles final Sunday was less competitive, with world number one Lleyton Hewitt winning 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 over David Nalbandian, who was playing in his first grass tournament on the main tour. Hewitt's groundstrokes and footspeed were simply more than Nalbandian could handle, and Nalbandian seemed nervous to boot.
Other results of Sunday's finals:
Venus and Serena took the women's doubles title over Paola Suarez and Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2, 7-5.
Jonas Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge won the men's doubles, defeating Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Elena Likhovtseva beat Kevin Ullyett and Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 in the mixed doubles.
Todd Reid captured the boys' singles title over Lamine Ouahab 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Vera Douchevina, only 15, beat Maria Sharapova 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the girls' singles.
Elke Clijsters (Kim's sister) and Barbora Strycova won the girls' doubles title over Ally Baker and Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-4, 5-7, 8-6.
Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau outlasted Brian Baker and Rajeev Ram 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the boys' doubles.
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