Venus has to take a few of these this year to­ compensate for RG where she has never done better than­ 1/4s. Mind you the surface here is similar so maybe she­ intends to give RG a good shot this year but any number­ of french and spanish players will likely block her­ pregress IMHO.

It would seem Venus is playing matches now for the no.­ 1 sport. This is an unusual engagement from Williams­ sisters. Why not Venus feign injury and buzz off like­ the rest. You don't need all that day in day out­ appearances in the tour to prove anything. It is the­ likes of Safina, JJ , Dementieve and a host of other­ eastern europeans tours that need to exert themselves.­ Get off the tournament and prepare for Paris on one off­ apearance.

Good job Venus.These are kind of matches you normally­ loose but you have shown that you can fight on clay­ too.Welldone