Venus Williams prevailed in the all-Williams Wimbledon Ladies' Singles final this afternoon, defeating her younger sister Serena 7-5 6-4 to lift the aptly named Venus Rosewater Dish for the fifth time. Unfortunately however, rather than focusing on the possibility of such an amazing feat, much of the pre-match discussion concerned speculation that the winner of matches between the two sisters was pre-determined.
Though such rumours are far from new - they were present when Serena and Venus contested the 2002 and 2003 Wimbledon finals - in this case they were stoked up again by comments made by Elena Dementieva following her semi-final defeat by Venus. When asked about her opinion on the outcome of the all-Williams final, Dementieva said that she could not imagine having to play her own family member, and "for sure it's going to be a family decision." This statement elicited a sharp response when it was put to Venus, who said that she "found the question pretty offensive." Serena was equally dismissive of the suggestion.
While the furore itself was sadly inevitable, what surprised me was the contention of John Inverdale on BBC television that it was a "legitimate question" to ask the siblings, and that perhaps if they laughed off the accusation rather than react so sternly, the question may go away more quickly. Frankly, it seems to me that Venus would have been justified in responding much more vehemently than she did. After all, what the Williamses are effectively being accused of is conspiring to fix the outcome of a Grand Slam tournament, and in the process cheating television viewers, paying spectators, sponsors, their opponents and ultimately bringing the tournament into disrepute. It may be that the gravity of the claims is diminished by the fact that the two finalists are sisters, making any supposed arrangement appear merely 'friendly' or justifiable in some other way. But if one were to level the same accusation against one of the sisters and an unrelated competitor, the full magnitude of the charge can be understood. As for the 'legitimacy' of the question, there is none. If even an iota of evidence supporting the claim existed, then the question could be rightly asked, without it however, the claims are spurious and defamatory.
Similarly risible is the manner in which Dementieva sought to distance herself from her comments, and how others have tried to defend her. For her part, Dementieva hurried together a statement that she "did not think for one second" that matches between the Williams sisters were fixed, but that rather that "it is a unique situation for a family to be in." During Venus' post semi-final interview, one of the journalists off-camera attempted to placate her by arguing that Dementieva's comments were somehow "lost in translation." The weight of evidence would suggest otherwise. Elena Dementieva has never before exhibited such problems with her English, and the term "family decision" is pretty unequivocal. In addition, back in 2001, a loss to Venus in the quarter-finals of the Tennis Masters Series at Indian Wells set up an all-Williams semi-final showdown. Afterwards the Russian said "I'm not sure what father Richard Williams thinks about it. I think he will decide who will win tomorrow." It would be interesting to hear her argue the case that that too was misinterpreted due to the language barrier!
Finally, congratulations to Venus. It will be interesting to see how both she and her defeated sibling fare in the Ladies' Doubles final later today...
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