The Eclipse of Venus

July 22, 2005
By: Dave Zirin

It was the sports story of the year....Yet the news going into the weekend was not Venus

These are called the “dog days” of sports, that time of the summer before the start of NFL training camp when the days are long, the sun is hot, and Chris Berman’s jiggling neck fat becomes almost hypnotic. To fill the 24-hour sports news cycle, non-stories rule the airwaves: Will Pete Rose ever get in the Hall of Fame? Will Larry Brown’s bladder hold up for an 82-game NBA season? Is poker really a sport? But in the painfully sexist world of pro sports, where, as comedienne Bret Butler once said, “harass” is two words, not even dead airtime could force the sports media to abandon their sausage fest and notice the triumph of Venus Williams.

If the definition of sports is competition, athleticism, and cool strategy in moments of unbearable tension, then the Venus Williams/Lindsay Davenport Wimbledon finals was the event of the year.

The facts make it plain. Williams triumphed over Davenport 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 9-7. It was the longest Women’s Final in the 119-year history of Wimbledon. In this epic two-hour-and-forty-five minute contest, Venus Williams beat back match point and went on to victory. Due to injury and (heaven forfend) interests outside of tennis, Williams had drifted from the top of the ranks. As the 14th seed, she ibecame the lowest ranked woman’s player in the Open era ever to win the Wimbledon title. As Williams said, "I wasn't supposed to win. I guess whoever put a bet on me really came in good on that, but I always bet on myself."

This match had everything. It seemed as emotionally exhausting to watch as to play. After Davenport's last shot hit the net, Williams jumped up and down repeatedly, dropped to her knees and jumped up and down again.

Davenport, who played with back pain so intense, she required treatment during the contest made no excuses. "I feel like I played great," Davenport said. "There's not many times when I feel like I've played well and I haven't won. So that's where I give her a lot of credit. I don't have anything to be ashamed about. But it's tough when you work so hard to achieve something like this and it just doesn't quite work out."

"Lindsay played so well, and so many times I was just trying to stay in the match," Williams said. "Really, I couldn't have asked to play a better player today to bring my level up.”

Yet the news going into the weekend was not Venus’ poise under pressure, or the rallies that wrung both players and audience dry. Even the nationalist angle of two American women in the Wimbledon final on July 4th weekend wasn’t enough to push Venus’ story to the front of the line. Instead the Venus story merited barely a mention. On ESPN Radio, the only serious discussion of Venus’ performance was regarding her father, Richard Williams. It seems he made the finals of the weekly “Just Shut Up” competition, joined in the final two by Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers who faces assault charges for an unprovoked attack on two cameramen. What could Richard Williams have uttered to not only “overshadow”