The Badminton God

It is still visible in my head as I say the first ball struck told the whole story of the game. Venus Williams corked her shoulders, flung her legs toward the sky higher than ever and unleashed a powerful and scorcher of a serve, right down the T. It was an ace of course, and the sound of it was beautiful as it whooshed across Centre Court, signaling that this would be a painful afternoon for William’s young opponent, Jelena Ostapenko.  We are looking at Venus William’s eyes and we are seeing the she is ready for blood. It was a bloody and breath taking seventy minutes that Williams has put on a display of overwhelming firepower that stirred peak-moment memories of her 20 years here, the match was over in a very fashionable way. It was a very clean and efficient performance, on a day that could have been a muddy slog. She will now face a tough test in British No.1 Johanna Konta, but at a tournament devoid of the women’s tour’s biggest star – sister Serena Williams, out on m...