I’m not the retiring type, says Venus

Former world number one not ready to give up despite early Wimbledon exit.

LONDON:

Defiant Venus Williams made it clear she has no intention of retiring following her painful Wimbledon exit.

Venus’s 5-7, 7-6 (7/2), 7-5 third-round defeat against fellow former champion Petra Kvitova on Friday means the five-time Wimbledon winner has failed to reach the last 16 at a major since 2011.

At 34, Venus was the oldest woman left in the Wimbledon singles. Plagued for the last three years by Sjogren’s Disease, she hasn’t won a grand slam since securing the last of her seven major titles in 2008 at Wimbledon.

That has led to plenty of talk that Venus will opt to retire sooner rather than later and she was again quizzed about her plans for the future following the loss to Kvitova.

But Venus, in her 17th Wimbledon appearance, had made it to the last 32 at a major for the first time since the 2013 Australian Open and took heart from the way she gave a glimpse of her former glories to push the higher ranked Kvitova all the way.

“No, people have been trying to retire me since I was like 25,” said Venus when asked if this might have been her Wimbledon farewell. “For some reason in tennis we always do that to our players.

“It’s weird. We don’t encourage them to stick around. It’s like, ‘Get out of here’.

“So I’m not getting out of here. I think this year has been a great year for me. I’ve had some tough losses, but I’ve learned a lot from them.

“I’ve got extra steam because I have to make up for lost time.”

She added: “I want to win grand slams. Everybody does. You don’t get them easily.

“Look at what happened today [Friday]. No one gives it to you. They snatch it away and say ‘Mine’. “That’s what I’ll have to do is snatch it, say, ‘Mine’, too, growl if need be. That’s what it takes.”

Hewitt in no mood to call it quits

Lleyton Hewitt set a new record for playing the most five-set grand slam matches but insisted at 33 he felt fresh enough to carry on putting himself ‘through the wringer’.

The Australian veteran, playing his 16th Wimbledon, said quitting was “not something I think about” despite the exhausting toll it has taken on his body.

The 2002 champion went out in the second round to Polish 15th seed Jerzy Janowicz on Friday in a 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (7/9), 4-6, 6-3 defeat that was a gritty battle between two fierce competitors.

The contest saw Hewitt break the Open Era record for the most five-set matches played at Grand Slams.

It was his 42nd five-setter. He previously shared the record of 41 with Andre Agassi.

“I wouldn’t have a clue on the record,” said Hewitt. “I’d much rather win in three or four sets than go the distance all the time. I seem to put everyone through the wringer quite a bit.

Hewitt waved goodbye to the Wimbledon crowd but said he did not know it was adieu or just au revoir.

“You never know. I’m one injury away from hanging up the bats at any time.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2014.

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