Venus Williams performed good in Charleston.She can be­ very satissfied with herself and just try to even­ improve her game on clay.Because Lisicki trashed Marion­ Bartoli 6-3,6-1 and Vesnina 6-4,6-1 with some great­ shoots.Venus can be proud with herself because her­ defeat came from Lisicki who is now in final of­ Charleston.She just has to improve her game a little­ bit more and be proud with her movement,because she is­ 185 cm tall.Just continue with hard work Venus because­ you really deserve to become the
no 1.And Venus is­ playing on a really high level.

Richmc23,[1,18,and 32]
Monica Seles was stabbed by a­ seriously disillusioned Steffi Graf fan in Germany­ years back. U are beginning to worry people on this­ forum with your desperate attempts to smare the­ Williams Sisters achievements with baseless illogical­ facts and comparison with other tennis palyers. I say­ these are symptoms of an over-the-edge lonely fan. You­ not gonna stab somebody or any of the William Sisters,­ are u? We are beggining to worry.

I think what Darius fails to realise is that Venus­ really only specialises on grass. Ok... so she's­ also won the US Open, but has only made 1 final­ appearance in Australia and Paris. Hardly changing the­ game too much, is it?

Hingis was great on clay. On her­ return from retirement, she won the Tier 1 in Rome,­ beating Venus in the semis. She was also a finalist­ twice at the French, a semi-finalist 3 times and a­ quarter-finalist once. In her career, she won over 81%­ of her clay court matches. In addition, she won all the­ Tier 1 tournaments in Hamburg/Berlin, Rome and­ Charleston.

Also, whilst Clijsters only won 1 Grand­ Slam in her career, she was consistent on all surfaces.­ She has reached 2 French Open finals and also won Rome.­ In her career, she won over 80% of her matches and 78%­ of clay court matches. Real quality.

And don't­ even consider diminishing the achievements of Henin.­ She was the greatest player of her generation and­ performed consistently on all surfaces. She finished­ year-end number 1 on 3 occasions (as did Hingis), a­ feat which Serena has achieved just once and Venus­ never at all.

Yes - the Williams sisters are good­ players. However, they are not the greatest players­ ever... they are not the saviours of the WTA Tour and­ they are not responsible for the modern game of tennis.­ And that's what I begrudge... not necessarily them,­ but their deluded fans with their racist-ranting­ attitudes.

Venus will learn from her mistakes. She may not win­ Rolland Garros but i think in Quarter final or semi­ final place is acceptable. I think there should be­ credit going to Elena Dementevia she seems bery­ consistent. It has been a long time since i have not­ seen her NOT in a semi final or quarter final. She may­ be the true number one and the winner of Rolland­ Garross. SHE MAY BE THE BIG SUPRISE OF 2009 HER AND­ VENUS NUMBER 1 AND 2

Furthermore, Phil (#30), Hingis didn't win that­ often on clay either. What's more, she only won 1­ Wimbledon and 1 US open. Her other Grand Slam titles­ all came at the Australian Open, where it appears that­ most of the field is never at the top of their games. ­ As far as I am concerned, Hingis was no better than­ Venus or Serena, no matter how clever she was. ­ Apparently, cleverness was never enought to get her­ Grand Slam total even near double digits. And,­ Clijsters? Absurd! She only won 1 Grand Slam and, in­ all of her years on the tour, could never win more than­ that. Henin could not win Wimbledon, on 2 tries! Even­ Mauresmo won at Wimbledon. Excepting Graf, Evert, and­ Navritalova, all of the greats, or soon to be greats,­ have struggled on at least one of the 4 surfaces. In­ short, you've not substantiated your point well. ­ Venus and Serena have changed the way women's­ tennis is played and have made it a prime time event. ­ It is high time they are given their due.

id just like to say that, no one hear can really say­ that the williams sisters are rubbish on any surfaces..­ theyve both reached finals in every grandslam.. and­ gone to win most of the finals they have been in, you­ could say that clay is their worst surface but you cant­ say they are rubbish on it. after all their both in the­ top 5 in the world.. and no one can say ewt because­ none of you are better than them. its a bit sad to hear­ someone say they are rubish on one surface when really­ there not.. its just that other people may be better­ than them on that day ..

All this talk about Who is the best is meaningless. To­ be the best you have to shine on all 4 surfaces to be­ the Best all round player on the Tour.. Players like­ Graf, Hingis, even Clijsters, and, of course, Henin. ­ They were the best. You cant say they are the Best if­ they are useless on one or two surfaces. They are­ specialists, not all round Best players. Like­ 'Pova, useless on clay...no way could she ever be­ described as the Best.

Richmc23[19]Williams sisters are only women players in­ the WTA tour that I really enjoy to watch.Their game is­ combination of absolute tennis talent,power and­ accuracy.They are playing tennis for more than ten­ years and they are still in top 10,they had many­ injuries in their careers and they alwaly came back ­ stronger than ever,for example Venus has won Wimbledon­ and her ranking was 40 and she did that after long­ injury,and what if they are not so good on clay,they­ are still hardworking and constantly training to­ improve their game.Venus lost in second round in AO,but­ after that she won Dubai,by defeating Dementieva and­ winner of AO,her sister Serena,and also Acapulco,no­ matter if she played against lower ranked­ players,because the lower ranked players play better on­ clay than top ten players.And watch this no one is so­ consistent as Williams sisters,just look Safina,sorry­ to say but even Jelena J. they lost in Miami,Indian­ Wells and Dubai with really poor performance.Every­ tennis player has its bad day when they can not play­ their best tennis.But Williamses then come stronger and­ with their best tennis,and even if they are in deficit­ set,they are trying to fight back and win the match.And­ also we should applaud Venus because she is the oldest­ player in the tour,she is 28,and soon will be 29,and­ still playing on high level.And some young players like­ Ana Ivanovic seems to always have their bad days.But­ there are some young players who have bright future in­ WTA tour,like Caroline Wozniacki,Victoria Azarenka,even­ if she is not in form right now.I think that Jankovic­ will find again her form and her best tennis.

Richmc23[19]
Misguided comment! I think not. Venus­ has­ rebounded many times from early round losses at­ the­ French Open to win Wimbledon and once at the US­ Open.­ I call that impeccable show of resilience. I let­ u have­ the pleasure of doing the research if u are in­ doubt­ 'cause u seem to lack basic knowledge of­ the­ particular subject here. When all the dust has­ settled,­ great tennis champions will always be­ remembered and­ known by how many Grand Slams they have­ won....not­ petty tier 1 or 2 events.Those are just­ icing on the­ cake. Has the Williams Sister won Grand­ Slams? At least­ Richmc23 should know the answer to­ that.

Well commented, Adnankadic[25]! Please tell that to­ Richmc23.

Richmc23[19]
Misguided comment! I think not. Venus has­ rebounded many times from early round losses at the­ French Open to with Wimbledon and once at the US Open.­ I call that impeccable show of resilience. I let u have­ the pleasure of doing the research if u are in doubt­ 'cause u seem to lack basic knowledge of the­ particular subject here. When all the dust has settled,­ great tennis champions will always be remembered and­ known by how many Grand Slams they have won....not­ petty tier 1 or 2 events.Those are just icing to the­ cake. Has the Williams Sister won Grand Slams? At least­ Richmc23 should know the answer to that.

I watched the match Venus W. vs Lisicki and Venus­ played well,only that she had five double faults,but­ that is nothing,some players in the WTA tour,like­ Safina serves more Ddouble faults.Venus is definitely­ playing better on clay than she did last year.Also­ Lisicki played incredibely good,but on my opinion if­ only Dementieva played against Lisicki,she would lose­ also.And Lisicki also has powerful service and that­ helped her a lot against Venus.But wHy would Venus­ bother this, she won 41 tours in her career and is­ still playing,and I expect her to win 2 or maybe three­ tours by the end of the year.Also she is one of the­ best players on the hardcourt.And she is great on the­ grass
she has won Wimbledon five times.Venus and her­ Serena deserves our full respect for what they have­ acomplished in WTA tour.

Jexbj[23]
..and in a couple of years u gonna be looking­ for your bottom half of your jaw in disbelieve and­ bewilderment cause u gonna be eating your words when u­ notice that the Williams Sisters are still gonna be on­ top of their game.

In a couple of years,the Williams sisters will be part­ of the past

@#$% Vera, what happened!!!!!!!!!! Now i am really­ disappointed. Bad day. All the best.

Well, when reading others comment, please be­ careful,also try not to interpret what others say with­ personal bias.
First, in my last comment,I didn't­ mean that Venus is invincible on surfaces other than­ clay, i just mean that she is probably going to perform­ better on hardcourts and grasscourts.
Secondly, I­ didn't cite Serena at all in my last comment, so­ mentioning Serena in your rebuttal is of no­ use.
Lastly, it is too dogmatic of you to say that I am­ a Williams devotee just by looking at the last sentence­ of my last comment? Moreover, I didn't at all­ mention Serena too, so don't you should rather say­ I am a Venus devotee, which is still not really­ true.
Why you say I am a Williams devotee is just that­ you have let your personal bias against the williams­ get into you way when trying to coceiving other's­ comment.

Venus always surprises others by her early exits, like­ in the Australian Open 09 and here, beaten by players­ outside the top 20/30. She's not that consistent­ at all. The only surface she can be consistent is­ Wimbledon and she is certainly weaker in clay. Clay is­ the easiest surface for lower-ranked players to beat­ top players, like Serena shock exit last week. This is­ because clay is more slow. There are many talents­ players out there like Azarenka who beat Serena in­ Miami, Wozniacki etc. They are young and climbing the­ ranking extremely fast. Comparatively, the Williams­ sisters are old and they cannot rule women's tennis­ forever.

Oh dear. Another Williams devotee in the form of­ Chukwuemeka W.

I love misguided comments about waiting­ for the grass/hardcourt season as the sisters can't­ be beaten. Hmmm... so that'll be why Venus lost to­ Ivanovic in '08 Aus Open and in 2nd round of­ '09 Aus Open to Suarez-Navarro (ranked outside top­ 50 at time)... along with many losses to Jankovic.

And­ then there's Serena, with her 33 career titles in­ 12 years on the tour. Let's see... she averages­ less than 3 tournament wins a year, despite entering­ around 14 tournaments each year. Unbeatable on­ hardcourts? I think not. Remember the hammering to­ Dementieva in Sydney (6-3 6-1)?

Go get an education.

Venus's slump here isn't really too big a­ surprise after all. Qualities that have been showing­ Venus to success on other surfaces just can't­ menisfest themselves on clay. Ball is slower on clay,­ that means Venus can't really avail from her power­ and too full extent, also it's easier for Sabine to­ get balls back to Venus. Some may argue that­ Sabine's power may be cut down a bit too and­ it's equally easier for Venus to get balls back to­ Sabine, but what about their body shapes? Venus is­ slimmer and taller than Sabine, the former will benefit­ a great deal from her being slim and tall on other­ surfaces other that clay, however on clay, the body­ shape of Venus just makes her harder to balance when­ playing. Plus Sabine really had nothing to lose playing­ an elite player ranked 58 places higher than her.­

After all, credits should still be given to Sabine­ for bring the best out of her.

But most importantly,­ please just stop claiming that Venus's dorminance­ has been brought to a halt, there are just more­ circumstances that go against Venus on clay and she did­ made certain mistakes at critical moments.

We shall­ see the real Venus after the clay court season and­ hopefully as early as in the Roland Garros.

show #3 eurosport as this is valedictory.. Know the­ rules anyway.. Well said of the passing of legends..­ The poor playing from Russian girls demises tennis and­ pathetically one of them on top no 1 showed it. Rise up­ girls and don't count on williams sisters anymore­ as they have more focus.. where are the british spice­ tennis girls?