Venus Williams

WIMBLEDON, England - It was every little sister's nightmare. Serena Williams was trying so hard and playing so badly. She was fighting herself, trying to keep up with her big sister, Venus, who was soaring closer to a title match they both desperately wanted. She bounced her racket in the dust and slapped it on her leg. She shouted out a plaintive "Nooooo!" as a forehand sailed long. And when it ended in a tennis tiebreaker turned heartbreaker, with her last desperate serve and double fault, with the ball sliding agonizingly off the net and plunking onto the scarred grass, Serena Williams wiped her face and took the longest walk of her short career, to take comfort from a winner she has known all her life.

On the tennis court, Venus and Serena Williams attack their opponents with an unmatchable zeal, but each sister brings to the game a style all her own. Off the court, the championship-dominating sisters share a similar zeal for fashion. And just like during tennis matches, the two express their flair for fashion in different ways. Venus Williams She will be signing autographs today at noon at Steve & Barry's in Eastpoint Mall.

PARIS -- At first, Venus Williams did not want to know the identity of her first-round opponent at the French Open after yesterday's draw."No, I don't want to know who I'm playing," Williams said.Her main concern was the placement of herself and her younger sister, Serena. For once, the sisters were placed in opposite halves of the draw, a relief after playing each other early at the Australian Open and Italian Open.The only way they could meet at the French Open is in the final.For the record, Venus Williams, seeded eighth, will open against Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.

WIMBLEDON, England - Venus Williams proved she can beat her little sister Serena. But can she beat a champ? That's the main question heading into today's Wimbledon women's final as Williams takes on defending champion Lindsay Davenport in an all-American Centre Court classic. It's an occasion filled with great expectations and crammed with potential drama and history. There's Davenport, a tall player with a big game seeking to reassert her dominance in women's tennis while trying to retain a title that has filled her with wonder and confidence.

WIMBLEDON, England -- For Jana Novotna, the losses hang out there, unmentioned but unforgettable.Nobody brings up Wimbledon 1993, when Novotna handed the title to Steffi Graf and wept on the Duchess of Kent's shoulder. And Wimbledon 1997 is simply a distant memory, when Novotna faded in the third set and let a smiling kid named Martina Hingis steal the title.This year, Novotna is trying to build a new resume, and trying to write some tennis history.With yesterday's 6-2, 6-3 victory over Irina Spirlea, Novotna advanced to today's most enticing quarterfinal match of the tournament, a meeting with No. 7 Venus Williams.

WIMBLEDON, England - To quiet the skeptics, they'll have to play a great final. But to win Wimbledon's women's title today, Venus and Serena Williams may have to do something more difficult - grab something the other wants. For the first time in their careers, there may actually be a genuine rivalry brewing between the sisters raised together to be champs. Venus Williams is Wimbledon's two-time champion, but Serena Williams, in her first Wimbledon final, is desperate for the crown. Venus is No. 1 in this week's women's tour computer rankings.

Chanda Rubin and Alexandra Stevenson will replace the injured Monica Seles and Venus Williams on the U.S. Fed Cup team that will face Italy in a quarterfinal July 19-20 in Washington. Seles withdrew because of a foot injury. Williams is recovering from an abdominal strain sustained during Wimbledon, where she lost to her younger sister Serena on Saturday in the women's final. Rubin, ranked eighth in the world, has a 4-2 record in singles and 1-0 in doubles in three Fed Cup appearances since 1995.

WIMBLEDON, England -- Maybe in the future, Serena Williams will complete a Wimbledon match in which she's losing and hurting. Maybe she'll remember to shake her opponent's hand and acknowledge a crowd that had gathered under threatening skies to see her perform.But Williams is 16 and still learning the finer details of professional tennis etiquette.In yesterday's women's third round at Wimbledon, Williams injured her left calf muscle early in a match against Virginia Ruano Pascual and retired after falling behind 5-7, 1-4.So, the Williams sisters won't be meeting in the round of 16, even though Venus Williams did her part by defeating Chanda Rubin, 6-3, 6-4."

WIMBLEDON, England -- Will the Williams sisters take over Wimbledon? Is Mark Philippoussis tough enough to knock off a British star en route to becoming the new grass-court king? And can Pete Sampras overcome injury to make history? These are the questions that may dominate Wimbledon, which resumes today on grass courts growing ever more scarred after an opening week of fair weather and stormy tennis. Great tournaments, like great matches, build slowly. This Wimbledon is no exception, as the sport's most important stage is left to the game's captivating stars who have taken their appointed places in a draw narrowing in focus and tension.

WIMBLEDON, England - Hundreds play women's pro tennis one way. The Williams sisters play it their way. Others strike tennis balls in hope. They strike them with intent. Others advance to Grand Slam semifinals. They go to finals. Yesterday, Venus and Serena Williams once again showed the way of the present and future in women's tennis, blasting their way into Wimbledon's women's final and setting up their third championship match in the past four Grand Slam events. Too focused, too strong and too good for everyone else, the Williamses became the first sisters to reach Wimbledon's final since 1884, when Maud Watson defeated Lilian Watson and won a silver flower basket.