Serena Williams was seemingly back on top of her game, having won seven matches in eight days and consecutive WTA tournaments.
But a troublesome right big toe forced Williams out of the Western & Southern draw Wednesday in Cincinnati and cast some doubts about whether she'll be fit enough to celebrate a significant anniversary at the U.S. Open.
"I don't think this is a good time for me to take a chance," Williams said after pulling out of a second-round match against Samantha Stosur to begin resting up for the Open, which starts the week after next. She cut the toe when she stepped on a piece of glass after winning Wimbledon last year and has had two operations to repair the damage.
Williams claimed the first of her 13 Grand Slam titles at Flushing Meadow in 1999, a couple weeks shy of her 18th birthday. Only two players in the Open Era have won the same major championship a dozen years apart. Pete Sampras collected the first of his then-record 14 Slams at the Open in 1990 and took his last one there in 2002. Martina Navratilova's run of 18 majors began at Wimbledon in 1978 and ended on Centre Court in 1990.
Also, it was a decade ago when Williams and big sister Venus squared off in the 2001 Open final, the first ever played in prime time and the first to pit two African-Americans - never mind siblings - against each other with one of tennis' four biggest titles on the line. Adding to the magic, of course, was the venue - Arthur Ashe Stadium.
"People of color weren't allowed to play in a sanctioned tournament until the '50s," WTA founder Billie Jean King reminds us.
Previously, the women's final had been sandwiched between the two men's semis and, as a result, often got lost in the "Super Saturday" shuffle. But the women stole the show that weekend in 2001.
Despite hitting just seven winners, Venus won 6-2, 6-4 in 69 minutes to defend her championship and give the Williams family three titles in a row. (Serena extended the streak to four in 2002.) The next afternoon, Lleyton Hewitt stunned the heavily favored Sampras in straight sets to take the men's title.
Then, two days later ...
Somber anniversary
The U.S. Open men's final falls on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, and the USTA intends to mark the occasion "in a dignified and respectful manner," chairman of the board and president Jon Vegosen said. "We are one of this nation's global stages, and we have a special responsibility to honor those fallen and those who responded heroically on that fateful day."
For both the women's final the previous evening and the men's match, the court will be inscribed with "9-11-01." The usopen.org logo ringing the stadium will be replaced with the 9/11 memorial logo.
Cyndi Lauper will perform on Saturday night and Queen Latifah on Sunday. Both ceremonies, to be televised live by CBS, will include a moment of silence and the unfurling of a giant American flag over the court by a Marine Corps color guard.
The men's finalists will enter the stadium through an honor guard including members of New York's police and fire departments and the Port Authority police. A military flyover will follow.
But a troublesome right big toe forced Williams out of the Western & Southern draw Wednesday in Cincinnati and cast some doubts about whether she'll be fit enough to celebrate a significant anniversary at the U.S. Open.
"I don't think this is a good time for me to take a chance," Williams said after pulling out of a second-round match against Samantha Stosur to begin resting up for the Open, which starts the week after next. She cut the toe when she stepped on a piece of glass after winning Wimbledon last year and has had two operations to repair the damage.
Williams claimed the first of her 13 Grand Slam titles at Flushing Meadow in 1999, a couple weeks shy of her 18th birthday. Only two players in the Open Era have won the same major championship a dozen years apart. Pete Sampras collected the first of his then-record 14 Slams at the Open in 1990 and took his last one there in 2002. Martina Navratilova's run of 18 majors began at Wimbledon in 1978 and ended on Centre Court in 1990.
Also, it was a decade ago when Williams and big sister Venus squared off in the 2001 Open final, the first ever played in prime time and the first to pit two African-Americans - never mind siblings - against each other with one of tennis' four biggest titles on the line. Adding to the magic, of course, was the venue - Arthur Ashe Stadium.
"People of color weren't allowed to play in a sanctioned tournament until the '50s," WTA founder Billie Jean King reminds us.
Previously, the women's final had been sandwiched between the two men's semis and, as a result, often got lost in the "Super Saturday" shuffle. But the women stole the show that weekend in 2001.
Despite hitting just seven winners, Venus won 6-2, 6-4 in 69 minutes to defend her championship and give the Williams family three titles in a row. (Serena extended the streak to four in 2002.) The next afternoon, Lleyton Hewitt stunned the heavily favored Sampras in straight sets to take the men's title.
Then, two days later ...
Somber anniversary
The U.S. Open men's final falls on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, and the USTA intends to mark the occasion "in a dignified and respectful manner," chairman of the board and president Jon Vegosen said. "We are one of this nation's global stages, and we have a special responsibility to honor those fallen and those who responded heroically on that fateful day."
For both the women's final the previous evening and the men's match, the court will be inscribed with "9-11-01." The usopen.org logo ringing the stadium will be replaced with the 9/11 memorial logo.
Cyndi Lauper will perform on Saturday night and Queen Latifah on Sunday. Both ceremonies, to be televised live by CBS, will include a moment of silence and the unfurling of a giant American flag over the court by a Marine Corps color guard.
The men's finalists will enter the stadium through an honor guard including members of New York's police and fire departments and the Port Authority police. A military flyover will follow.
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