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CNN Saturday Morning News

Venus, Serena Williams Battle for Wimbledon Title

Aired July 06, 2002 - 09:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ROBIN MEADE, CNN ANCHOR: So today at Wimbledon the women's final is a family affair, or perhaps a family feud, depends on how you look at it.

Venus Williams seeks her third consecutive Wimbledon title as she battles her sister, Serena.

For the latest, we serve it over to CNN's Richard Quest in Wimbledon, England. Hi, Richard.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Robin, I'm just trying to decide whether to go for the big strawberry or the little one. Delicious.

It wouldn't be Wimbledon if there weren't strawberries and cream, especially -- excuse me eating, talking while my mouth's full...

MEADE: Looks like you've made a choice.

QUEST: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of that.

But the straw -- well, let's face it, yes. Lovely strawberries, lovely summer afternoon, bit overcast, the weather. But we have got some splendid tennis taking place on Center Court just behind me.

The Williams sisters are basically in the first set. It's gone to a tie break. And they've got to six games each. Any allegations or questions or suggestions that they weren't going to go bejeebees and attack each other on the court, we can put that to rest. The tennis has been fast and furious.

Venus Williams at one stage breaking her sister's serve in the 10th game of the first set. The two of them have been both serving and volleying and rallying extremely powerfully. And because they both have the same style of tennis, to a certain extent, pushing the ball to the very back of the court, forcing their opponent to the baseline, we've seen some tremendous rallies between both Venus and Serena.

The question, of course, is, Venus is defending her title and her championship title here. She's going for the third championship in a row, not being seen since Steffi Graf did it in -- in the early 1990s.

But Serena has actually won against her sister more times in recent matches. Over the eight times that they've met in a grand slam tournament, Venus Williams has won five and Serena three. But those three have been the last three. And that, Robin, is perhaps the key point. Has Serena Williams improved her game, improved herself?

We know she's got a formidable -- I mean, you know, let me give you a statistic, Robin. Serena's fastest serve so far on Center Court behind me has been 110 miles an hour. Now, that is formidable. That's the sort of serving speed that one would expect to see in perhaps the men's finals, in the men's championships.

I know that when I saw Serena Williams play earlier in the week, when she was playing against Amelie Mauresmo from France, when I saw that game, I mean, you saw that ball coming toward you, I'd run in the opposite direction, never mind stand there and try and hit it back.

But Venus Williams has hit it back on numerous occasions. We are in the first set, we're at a tie break situation. I'm just going to wait to be updated, hopefully, as to how we're standing in that tie- break situation.

And also taking place, the semifinals, the other semifinals for the men's championships. There we have Xavier Malisse, who's playing David Nalbandian. Now, that was a match that was called off yesterday afternoon when bad light stopped play.

So that will be, that's under way at the moment. And we're going to get a conclusion of that today.

It's 6-4 to Serena in the tie-break on the first set, so it's looking, Robin, as if Serena might just take this first set, which would be a fascinating dynamic between these two sisters.

MEADE: And the question is, what do the parents do? How do you cheer for a game when your two daughters are playing? Of course, it's not the first time the parents have had to do this.

QUEST: Well, the father, of course, Richard, isn't here, he's not well at the moment. The mother, with her rather bright long hair, she is there, she's in the special enclosure. I must say, every picture that I've seen of her, does look like she's sucking a bit of a lemon this afternoon.

I would put that down to unbelievable pride. She clearly feel, and that's the strawberries. Maybe she got a sour strawberry from the box.

But, you know, I think there must be the most phenomenal pride, because, you see, not only are the Williams sisters playing excellent tennis, everybody to a person here agrees they are lovely people, they're well-rounded people, they are people.

For example, a final, just want to finally say, we've seen Serena Williams in the break between games, she sits there and prays. You don't see that every day on the Wimbledon center court.

MEADE: Hey, Richard Quest, get this, we just got an update that Serena took the first set. Do I have that right, folks? Seven to six was the score on that.

Did I have that right? OK, yes.

QUEST: It's all to play for now.

MEADE: Richard, good to talk to you, thank you so much for a look at what's happening there in England, and hope you enjoy those strawberries, bud.

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