By Art Spander
Special to NewsdayWIMBLEDON, England — They were talking of what could be. But on the warm Monday when Serena and Venus Williams, within two hours of each other, were ousted from Wimbledon, the issue should be of what was.
They had been the prima donnas, in the positive context of the term, of the All England Lawn Tennis Championships. One or the other won the previous four years — Serena in 2010, 2009, Venus in 2008, 2007 — and nine of the last 11.
The domination came to a halt as the second week of the 145th Wimbledon began, Marion Bartoli of France stopping an erratically hitting Serena, 6-3, 7-6 (6), in one fourth-round match and Tsvetana Pironkova defeating Venus, 6-2, 6-3, in another. That was the same score Pironkova, of Bulgaria, beat Venus last year in a quarterfinal.
Were they upsets? Perhaps, although with the Williamses coming off long absences because of health problems, perhaps not. Were they surprises? Absolutely, as was 24th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova's 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 win over the top seed, Caroline Wozniacki, who despite her place on top of the WTA rankings never has won a Grand Slam event.
A minor surprise on the men's side was the 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4 triumph by Mardy Fish overTomas Berdych, one of last year's finalists. Fish, unexpectedly, guaranteed the United States would not go without someone in either men's or women's quarterfinals for the first time since 2006 and only the second time since 1911.
Venus, 31, hadn't played for five months because of a strained hip flexor until coming back two weeks ago. Serena was out nearly a year. She severely cut her right foot stepping on glass a week after winning Wimbledon, then was diagnosed with life-threatening pulmonary thrombosis, and finally developed a hematoma that required surgery.
"Considering my condition," said Serena, "I think I really did well. I never came here thinking I would lose. I was able to hang in there, and I can only get better. And that potentially can be really scary, because I can only go up from here, and I can do so much more."
Venus described her play against the 5-10 Pironkova, who has defeated her three times in a row, as "inexplicable." Venus missed overheads, swinging volleys, "shots I never miss."
But Venus reminded that both Williams sisters "hit the ground running," because they didn't want to miss another Grand Slam tournament.
"At least I wasn't making errors trying to keep the ball in," Venus said. "I made errors that normally would go as winners. So those balls will land pretty soon . . . I got ready for this tournament so fast. You wouldn't believe how quick it happened. With more time I can definitely play better.''
Serena, who will be 30 in September, tried to be philosophical. "Even if today I lost," she said, "I was able to kind of hang in there and play tough . . . I would have been sad being at home and watching it on TV, like I'm going to be soon."
The thought of some in tennis is it would have been sad for women's tennis if, with so little preparation, either Serena or Venus won. Could she appreciate that? "Yeah," Serena said sarcastically, "I'm super happy I lost. Go women's tennis."
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