Venus vs Maria Sharapova- Wimbledon 2005

MichaelNadal

MichaelNadal

Bionic Poster
Surprisingly, I had never seen this match. Nevertheless, Maria, as the commentators said at the end of this, had been the "face" of women's tennis for the past year at the time, and Venus haden't won a slam since the 2001 USO. Maria had beaten Serena the year before, and Venus seemed determined to make a statement. The ballstriking here is nuts at times. Anyone that hasn't seen these highlights or has 10-15 minutes to kill, this is definitely worth a look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNQlRNYJ-Ic

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insideguy said:
Neat. Didnt seem like Maria screamed as much back then. She still did but it didnt seem to be as loud.
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First thing I noticed is how well she was playing. Not sure anyone but Venus or Serena could have beaten her. Very surprising how awesome she was on grass 10 years ago.
 
My parents were cheering Venus like crazy in this match!

I had to tell them to go watch it in another room. :)
 
Hitman said:
My parents were cheering Venus like crazy in this match!

I had to tell them to go watch it in another room. :)
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I like your parents :)
Man could Venus move back then. Some of the balls she gets to :shock:
Her beating Sharapova and Lindsay back to back given how they were playing is pretty damn special.
 
Maria was completely silent when striking the ball at the beginning of the video.

Later when she started making noise, it certainly didn't seem nearly as loud as it is these days and Venus' sounds were just about as loud as Maria's at times.
 
ruerooo said:
Those ladies always make me feel like a shrimp.

:-)
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What's that supposed to mean? :lol:
I watched the full Venus v Serena Wimbledon 2008 final yesterday, it was the first time I'd seen the match since watching live. Was very impressed by Venus again. Serena was playing extremely well and was even up breaks in both sets and still lost in straights. The commentators were like wow, there's really nothing else she can do. Amazing how she was so deadly on grass. Back to the match in the OP though, a silent Maria is always a good thing!
 
MichaelNadal said:
I like your parents :)
Man could Venus move back then. Some of the balls she gets to :shock:
Her beating Sharapova and Lindsay back to back given how they were playing is pretty damn special.
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My mother loves Venus, her favorite player after Navratilova retired, and also likes Serena a lot. My father prefers Venus only. I like her too, but they really do like to support her in the big matches. They don't normally follow her all year round, just watching a mtach here and there, but when I tell them of a high profile match, especially at a slam, they are glued to the screens. :)
 
Hitman said:
My mother loves Venus, her favorite player after Navratilova retired, and also likes Serena a lot. My father prefers Venus only. I like her too, but they really do like to support her in the big matches. They don't normally follow her all year round, just watching a mtach here and there, but when I tell them of a high profile match, especially at a slam, they are glued to the screens. :)
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Hopefully they saw some of her at the AO :)
 
Why do the Williams sisters hit their backhands so weirdly? I can never watch their matches because I spend all my time fixated on their odd backhand technique.
 
Supertegwyn said:
Why do the Williams sisters hit their backhands so weirdly? I can never watch their matches because I spend all my time fixated on their odd backhand technique.
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You think Serena has a weird backhand? I can see how one would say that about Venus, but Serena's does not really attract any attention.
 
THUNDERVOLLEY said:
You think Serena has a weird backhand? I can see how one would say that about Venus, but Serena's does not really attract any attention.
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It's not as odd as Venus's, but it is still very unconventional. Serena typically brings hers straight back and just goes through. Not to mention that she typically does it open stance, which is quite unconventional in itself. This is in contrast with someone like Sharapova who brings her racquet head in a little 'C' shape when she sets up for it, and typically hits closed stance when she can.
 
Why do the Williams sisters hit their backhands so weirdly? I can never watch their matches because I spend all my time fixated on their odd backhand technique.
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It's a byproduct of being mostly coached by a family member. You can see instances of it in a lot of players like that were they do things that you would never coach, for example no one would coach Nadal to hit his backhand like he does with the extreme wrist pullback. The Williams sisters just hit their backhands like that because that's what they've always done and haven't had a professional coach say "No hit it like this instead" and they're good enough at doing it like that that they don't need to correct it.
 
This is one of my favorite matches of all time on the women's side. I still remember "camping out" in my sleeping bag in the living room watching this match live. Electric. The final was icing on top. Man, was Venus deadly and surgical at the tail end of this tournament.

The QF versus Pierce was something else too! Hard, hard hitting from both ladies, even harder than this match.

Thanks for sharing this oldie-but-goodie (man, time flies...).
 
I can remember watching this match and discussing it with one of my straight workmates the next day who very much enjoyed all the grunting lol. Very high quality, especially the first set, but scary to think it was nearly a decade ago.
 
MichaelNadal said:
I guarantee Sharapova thought she'd win.
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Yes, I'm sure of it. Venus put Maria in her place, and Venus' body language during the match was like "I've got more power than you, I've got more desire than you, and I can also grunt louder than you, if needs be."
 
Mustard said:
Yes, I'm sure of it. Venus put Maria in her place, and Venus' body language during the match was like "I've got more power than you, I've got more desire than you, and I can also grunt louder than you, if needs be."
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That's exactly what I got from those highlights :lol:
 
I'm gonna make myself a hot chocolate and watch these highlights in a minute. Might watch the final highlights straight after as well. :smile:
 
The final is nutso too of course :lol: too bad Venus didn't dominate instead of Serena. She really had the look of a champion.

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Fine, if you guys are really going to strap me to a chair and force me to have a smoke and watch highlights of the final, I guess I will, begrudgingly :twisted: #peerpressure
 
RF-18 said:
Thats the champions trophy if you didnt know.. so yes she had the look of a champion that day :)
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You're so much cooler when we're discussing Venus ;)

On a side note, I'm watching highlights of the final now, and Johnny Mac is commentating. How lucky is this guy? He's both played in, and watched many of the best matches in history.
 
MichaelNadal said:
You're so much cooler when we're discussing Venus ;)

On a side note, I'm watching highlights of the final now, and Johnny Mac is commentating. How lucky is this guy? He's both played in, and watched many of the best matches in history.
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Well we do share common interest/same opinion in something after all :)
 
Venus when shes on is probably one of the greatest if not the greatest player...her combo of explosiveness, speed and power is unmatched.

ofc she is either hot or cold and can often lose matches from winning positions.
 
MichaelNadal said:
Anyone that didn't see Kvitova vs Venus from Wimbledon 2014, thank me later for these highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxgf1jPrWko

The best women's match on grass in years. Kvitova's screaming is really ridiculous at times, but kudos to her for winning. Venus's form is amazing, they both crush the ball.

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I bring it up every time, but I just have to say this match is evidence of Venus' epic grass goatiness. Petra has won Wimbledon twice, and is great on grass. This match was considered the best women's match of the tournament. And yet, they did an analysis showing that V's serve and groundstroke speed were almost 10mph less than her peak days :shock: Granny Williams can go toe to toe with the best of the younger generation.*

*best to date. I think Keys will surpass Kvitty when all is said and done.
 
The tour has been lucky that venus hasn't been healthy for the past few years. Players would have had to deal with not just 1 but both WS. Shame about venus getting sjogrens.
 
Man of steel said:
Venus will be a major contender at wimbledon
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No doubt if she plays like she has been so far this year!

Vanhool said:
I bring it up every time, but I just have to say this match is evidence of Venus' epic grass goatiness. Petra has won Wimbledon twice, and is great on grass. This match was considered the best women's match of the tournament. And yet, they did an analysis showing that V's serve and groundstroke speed were almost 10mph less than her peak days :shock: Granny Williams can go toe to toe with the best of the younger generation.*

*best to date. I think Keys will surpass Kvitty when all is said and done.
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I think peak Venus is the deadliest woman on grass ever.

Man of steel said:
The tour has been lucky that venus hasn't been healthy for the past few years. Players would have had to deal with not just 1 but both WS. Shame about venus getting sjogrens.
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Indeed.
 
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