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By Richard Pagliaro
© Natasha and Mark Peterson/Corleve

(August 25, 2010) Venus Williams' right arm has worked overtime during a summer spent largely beneath the covers. She has spent much of this summer scripting her signature between the covers of her new book and recent weeks training in Los Angeles and completing coursework toward her interior design degree. Sidelined since Wimbledon with a sprained knee cap, Williams will try to make her mark on the US Open wearing a dress she calls "a little more sexy" than her prior designs while hoping her lack of match play won't leave her exposed.

"I had a tough summer with some bad luck with my leg (knee), but I'm ready for the Open, thank God," Williams told the media in a conference call. "I'm still training...Just being on the sidelines and kind of waiting it out wasn't ideal and wasn't what I was expecting. But I honestly feel positive going into the Open. I am doing the best I can because (of) the circumstances (it) doesn't mean I can't be successful."

The question is: can Williams, who last reached the Flushing Meadows final eight years ago, be a factor at the season's final Grand Slam without playing a single US Open Series match and coming off a surprisingly tame effort in a Wimbledon quarterfinal loss to World No. 82 Tsvetana Pironkova?

Conceding skipping the entire US Open Series is not ideal preparation for the Open, Williams points out she has won majors without significant match play in the past.

"I've done it before so that helps," Williams said. "Obviously, it would have been ideal to at least play one (event). I did my best to try to be ready for Montreal. It did not work out for me and mentally, I just need to get ready and just try to play points and practice matches. I know I can play the game."

Williams has won five Wimbledon titles without playing a single grass-court tune-up match, but will the lack of match play prevent her from making at run in New York or, at the age of 30, has Williams mastered the art of peaking for the majors with minimal tournament preparation?

"The Open has been one of my most successful tournaments," Venus said. "(I've made) four (singles) finals and winning in doubles I have a winning tradition."

The Williams sisters won't defend their doubles championship as World No. 1 Serena withdrew from the US Open last week citing the foot injury that has sidelined her since she captured her 13th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon last month.

Venus said she's unsure if Serena, who is scheduled to participate in a Nike exhibition event tomorrow, will come to the Open to watch her big sister try to regain the title the Williams sisters have combined to claim in five of the past 11 years.

"It's a big disappointment for her; last year playing so well and winning it the year before," Venus said of Serena. "It's bad luck. You just have to roll with the punches. I know she'll support me all the way through and they'll be another Open for her. I haven't asked her (if she's coming to the Open) and you never can tell. I am just focused on what I can do."

It has been reported Serena stepped on glass in a restaurant in Germany prior to her record-setting exhibition match against Kim Clijsters in Belgium. And while the WTA Tour announced in a statement Serena underwent "a procedure" to treat the injury, the exact details of how the glass got in her foot and what type of procedure or surgery she had are still unclear.

Asked to clarify her sister's injury, Venus was characteristically vague, pointing out the sisters have a history of not detailing their injuries for public consumption.

"Serena released as much information as she wanted for her leg (foot)," Venus said. "Traditionally, we don't talk a huge amount about our injuries. We don't want people to feel sorry for us. I wasn't with her (when it happened)."



From her audacious US Open debut in 1997 when you could hear the red,white and blue beads popping against her neck when she pounded down another percussive serve in reaching the final as World No. 66 to the shrieks of exertion that sounded like they'd been swiped from the soundtrack of a karate flick she unleashed in rising to the World No. 1 ranking, Venus has always played the game on her terms.

Skeptics say Venus and Serena's outside interests, including their design endeavors and book deals, detract from the time and commitment they can give to tennis. Venus suggests the reality is just the opposite: since they have spent time pursuing other interests, broadening their lives through education, experience and endeavors they bring even more back to tennis as complete people rather than wind-up tennis automatons.

"Serena and I were brought up with a different mentality and we were taught to be complete
people and explore who we were outside the court and to have that entrepreneurial spirit," Venus said. "For me, it's really been a dream come true as a person who went to school to learn design."

She designs her own on-court apparel for her EleVen line and Williams will take the Polo pony for a test run at the US Open. Venus is partnering with Polo Ralph Lauren for a webcast tomorrow and for a co-branded dress that could lead to a future expanded relationship with the long-time US Open sponsor.

Venus will host a live interactive virtual tennis clinic at New York’s Sportime Tennis Center on Randall’s Island tomorrow at 2 p.m. Eastern time. Tennis enthusiasts around the world can log in as the seven-time Grand Slam champion answers questions, demonstrates technique and offers hints and tips on how to improve your game during this live one-hour interactive clinic. The clinic will reach a global audience as it will be streamed live online exclusively at RalphLauren.com  and accessible on mobile devices at m.ralphlauren.com/USOpen.

She will wear the co-branded dress at the clinic but not at the Open, where her dress will be on sale. Instead, Williams has designed two dresses — one for day play and one for night — and calls her Open design "very New York" adding "it's so much different from the rest of the tennis dresses."

Williams, whose red Parisian, can-can inspired dress drew international attention at the French Open, suggests her US Open attire will be more provocative.

"It's very New York. My dress at the French Open was very French," Venus said. "(The US Open dress) will be a little bit louder, a little more in your face, a little more sexy."

Venus' apparel is often dissected almost as much as her performance following first-round Grand Slam matches. She says she welcomes the commentary and discussion her designs provoke.

"For me it's flattering because I design them myself right from the very first sketch and picking fabrics to the finish," Venus said. "I am a designer and I am trained so the fact they do look good and people care to comment on it is good. If they don't like it, that's their opinion. Not every design is for everyone, that's why there are so many choices. I think for the most part it looks good."

Can she stitch together another run in a field that features four former US Open champions — defending champion Kim Clijsters, Venus, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova —  and appears more wide-open without the presence of Serena, who has a 13-3 record in major finals?

"You're just trying to win — no match is a given match," Venus said. "You have to win that match whether it's open or not open whoever is across from the net doesn't matter. You gotta come out there and play well."

Despite the disappointment of Wimbledon and her absence during the North American summer hard-court season, Williams has had a successful season, including regaining the World No. 2 ranking earlier this year.



Williams, whose Wimbledon record dropped to 68-9 after her quarterfinal loss last month, still owns one of the most lethal first serves in the sport, she produced a 15-match winning streak earlier this season in winning back-to-back titles on hard court (in Dubai) and on clay (in Acapulco) and went on to reach the Sony Ericsson Open final in Miami before bowing to Kim Clijsters.

On her worst surface, red clay, Williams beat eventual French Open champion Francesca Schiavone and eventual French Open finalist Samantha Stosur in succession to reach the Madrid final last month. She played some spring events without any adhesive taping on her knees or thighs, an encouraging sign for a woman who has long competed with tape adorning some part of her body.

Williams has posted a 14-2 hard-court record this season with her hard-court losses coming to Na Li in the Australian Open quarterfinals and to Clijsters in the Miami final.

The Wimbledon loss is clearly a shock to the system. Like Andy Roddick, Williams will confront questions about how she can bounce back from a lethargic loss where nearly nothing went right.

Then there are technical issues. Can Venus, whose second serve can go haywire and who sometimes struggles to handle the low, no-pace balls to her sometime fragile forehand, tame those two strokes? Given to slow starts in past majors, can Venus work her way into the Flushing Meadows field?

The larger question is: can Venus revive herself as a serious contender for the three other major titles? Though she hasn't reached a US Open final in eight years, the Flushing Meadows Deco Turf is now the fastest major surface in tennis and after seeing Schiavone win Roland Garros weeks before her 30th birthday and Clijsters return to reclaim the US Open as a working mom last September, it would be foolish to write Williams out at the Open.

Without striking a single shot this summer, Venus remains America's best shot to win the Open.

"In the past we've had such a great tradition to have that missing (is tough)," Williams said of the state of American tennis. "What else can I say? I hope someone comes through soon. It will be great  if it happens. In the meantime Serena and I will keep playing well."