It was far from a close match between Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams last Saturday during the Sony Ericsson Open, where Clijsters won a total of 50 points after the match which lasted a mere 58 minutes. The match ended after Williams hit one final errant hand on match point. Clijsters won 30 of her total points because of unforced errors by Williams, but she also double-faulted twice in a row. She then won eight of the final nine points to close out the victory.
“I felt like from the beginning I was ready to go and really seeing the ball well,’’ Clijsters said of the game. “Of course she hit a lot of easy mistakes today, so I was just really trying to not lose my rhythm.’
It was clear to everyone that Venus was not feeling the game as fully as she had other games in the past. Both of her legs were in wraps when she faced off with Clijsters, which was attributed to too much practice. Venus herself agreed that her game that day was below 100%.
“Today wasn’t my best day physically,Williams said.”To fight errors and not feel your best, it’s a mental battle. Her sister Serena Williams watched encouragingly from the photographers’ pit, down with knee injury since she won the Australian Open two months ago.