That quote is from her interview after her 3rd Round win.Clearly she doesnt rate Masha quite high because she thought that Venus was the toughest player in the draw when clearly Venus lacks matchplay.So its a bit of tounge in cheek comments also the love for her sister.

But does she respect or like Masha,I dont think so!

Take into account that after Maria nearly hit her with the ball at Oz,her imediate response was 'YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT"....

I think Serena has been brought up as a tolerant and respectful person. On the court she is ruthless but off it Im sure she has plenty of respect for Maria :)

I read that comment, and to be honest, what can you do but take it as tongue in cheek. Venus was a threat going into Miami no doubt, but she wasn't match fit and wasn't really in the top 3 or four favourites. Serena and Venus are always saying crazy things and they praise and love each other to the high heavans. I wouldn't read too much into it :)

Nice post for a change Serena ;) LOL

But in general,Masha isnt well liked by anyone and I dont think Im making too much out of it but I dont think the Willaims Girls like her.Yes,they will respect her but that I believe is professionalism and nothing more.

Well whatever their reasons for respceting her, it's good that there is respect there :)

If they don't respect her then clearly they're crazier than I remember, I mean not respecting a 2 time GS champion.


But personally I think it's just tongue in cheek, they're always known for praising each other perhaps at the expense of their opponents, it's just who they are and in many ways it's got them to where they are.


Anybody remember Serena's comment about Schiavone 'She's one of those players that are there to be beaten to get further in the tournament' :lol:

What rips me about them is that they are so blunt and honest.They know that unforced errors gives their opponents matches and it has nothing to do with any opponent playing well :D

This is hilarious..I never heard those comments before!

But yeah, I don't think you have to like someone to respect them.

Agreed! :ok:

yeah i think its just tongue in cheek comment from Serena.

LOL i remember that shot! it was hilarous, and boy did sharapova pay for it!

the body language of the Williams sisters is interesting in relation to they're competitors after finals. They seem cheerfully indifferent, though i must admit that has changed a little in the last few years, and their comments towards their foe were at best, half-hearted. The worst example was Venus when she first won wimbledon against davenport-her jubilation was, well ok, but she barely acknowledged davenport in the speech she made, sue barker was required to force some kind word for the loser out of a skittish williams.
Serena is better i admit. I think it reflects a kind of social myopia in relation to other players, ok you're there to win, but dignity in victory or defeat is a prerequisite of good sportsmenship.

Well,clearly she doesnt like or respect her she love embarassing her...She just destroyed Maria again 6-1 -6-1...As if the Australian Open wasnt enough.

This is an embarassment for Maria and her big mouth and also reaffirms to me that womens tennis and people in that top 10 are pretenders and weak.However I cant blame them for overachieving.If people like Serena and Venus were more consistant then there would be order in the top 10...

Serena love embarrassing Masha...

It does make the WTA look a little weak doesn't it? I won't fully agree with you until she turns over Justin Henin easily though. Hopefully they will meet in the final for us to see. Serena will certainly be the favourite.

I agree with you...I have to at least see her play Henin and if she wins then well...its a foregone conclusion about womens tennis...But I dont consider Henin a pretender or joke.She deserves that number 1 spot.

But Serena really,she goes into some other mode against Masha!

I don't think it really makes the WTA look weak to be honest :shrug: (although I do realise you are pending judgement on this Gav ;) )

I think it just shows how amazing Serena is, in 2003 people were already calling her one of the best ever. And I think people have forgotten just how good she is. I for one am not surprised by these results :)

(Well actually I was a little surprised, not to mention elated by the double breadstick :P )

Federer does it it all the time on the ATP, Serena is capabable of doing it on the WTA, both top tens have been denigrated by certain people because of one amazing player, which I don't agree with.

I know what you mean, those losses in 2004 really hurt Serena. 2005 AO was so close it wasn't really revenge, it was jsut Serena thanking god she had won such a close match.

These wins are something else though, it's definitely pay back. I don't think a lot of people realised how much losing Wimbledon in 2004 hurt Serena.

It's not because Serena is an amazing player and, when on form, seemingly the best that Women's tennis is denigrated. It is because she (and Venus to a much lesser extent) can do this whilst, effectively, playing part time.

The result is that the Williams' have shown that when you have a year-end tournament and everybody is heating up about whether Petrova will beat Dementieva or Hingis and whether Sharapova will be No. 1 it is all a storm in the teacup, because pretty much none* of the players are close to being the best.

* Like Gav I suspend judgment in relation to all the players because we have not seen Serena play Henin since her comeback, and I agree that Henin is a bit special (particularly on clay) and a worthy No. 1. If Henin puts up a good show I also think we should wait and see how Mauresmo does, but I don't hold her in such high regard as Henin.

I think you've all been very quick to write off Sharapova as well. This year has not been the best start for her. Anyone can see she was playing much nearer her best last year.

I don't think she signifies a weak top 10, she's just losing to the best player of their generation, Maria will stay top 5 throughout this year and IMHO is better than Mauresmo.

She's won 2 GSs before the age of 20, Venus had none at that age amd Serena only had 1. I don't think she'll be a sgood as Serena , but she can definetely get to around the 5 GS mark.

I did not mean to write off Shazza - I agree that she may well get more GS wins in her career. We should also not forget that she won Wimbledon the hard way in 2004.

I just think it is a shame for the women's game that Serena, wonderful player that she is, can seemingly do so well playing only part-time.

It'll be a keenly anticipated match if it happens - Henin hasn't played Serena in almost four years (Wimbledon semi in 2003 I think) and Venus in over four years (Australia 2003)

That's really quite remarkable given that we're talking about the three players who have been the most dominant in womens tennis since the turn of the millennium. Probably a testament to the amount of time each has spent out through illness and/or injury.

Mauresmo,I like,but as much as I do like her,when Serena is playing like she is against Masha,she virtually and mentaly destroys that girl with bagels and breadsticks and heaven knows what else!So she isnt in the same high regard as Henin for me as well!

Well is is going to happen and its gonna be quite interesting.Its like order has been restored and we are watching 2 people who should be competeting in finals against each other regularly!

I hesitated when typing the part about the WTA looking "a little weak" but it's not a good advert for the rest of the crew out there that Serena can seem to pick and choose when she plays and coem out of virtually nowhere and hand out two severe beatings to Maria. I certainly didn't think she would be able to do it, but she has.

Federer has been doing similar things on the ATP tour, but given time out of the game I am not so sure he could come back like Serena has a wipe the floor with top ten players as quickly as she has done since her comeback..... I wouldn't call the ATP weak.

Let' s see how Justine handles her...I think Serena will comfortably beat her, but I have been wrong many times in the past!

EDIT:- Just to add to this. Calling the WTA "a little weak" by no means takes anything away from Serena. I think she is the best out there at the moment and she has certainly proven me wrong by coming back and being so dominant.

For once you and I are on the same playing field on the same team :ok:

I can certainly see what you mean. And I agree with what Barry said, that it looks pretty bad that Serena can win so much when only playing part time. But equally she can lose awfully as well. If you take away the Australian Open from 2005, it was probably the worst year any former world number one has ever had!

Also I would say that hopefully Serena will play a full schedule (for her anyway) from now on, so hopefully we won't be having this discussion.

I do think thought that if Federer took a year off and just came back to tennis he would probably win most of the grand slams on a whim and still beat 99% of the people 99% of the time. Because you just don't forget how to beat these people. At the end of the day we are at the mercy of these great players as tennis fans and whatever they do they seem to keep surprising and shocking us. Life really is bizarre :lol:

And it's not just Serena who does it, Venus won Wimbledon 2000 with virtually zero match practice and Justine got to the final of the AO last year with hardly any matches, and she won her two titles this year having played only 2 tournaments in the last 6 months. It's just bizarre and testament to how good all three are, more than anything else I feel.

That's an interesting point that SerenaW19 makes about Henin. I had forgotten that she had a pretty injury ravaged time too and came back to the big time when she returned - she was out for much of 2004 and 2005.

When I look at it, I suppose I am also making a bit of a judgment about Serena's committment too.

Whether fair or not, it feels like Henin is more committed to (and present on) the Tour than Serena, who is playing only her 29th Tournament since winning Wimbledon in 2003! Serena is a year older than Henin, but has played 100 less matches than Henin on the tour, and Serena also seems to be more suscetible to awful losses when the likely explanation is a lack of focus or a lack of condition (rather than injuries per se).

The WTA tour is in a bind - they know that Serena is the best player and needs to be playing, but they don't want to hurt her feelings. I think that there is scope for them to get a bit tougher with her and stop the growing feeling that she considers herself to be an exception. She is famous because she is a tennis player and she obviously loves competing too - whilst still young and fit and competitive I think she is likely to need tennis more than it needs her.

Having said that its quite ironic that players from the "old school" can appear out of nowhere and just win becuase theres so much talk about the youngsters coming up and the improving technology.It actually makes them look silly!

Nevertheless,Venus and Serena and Justine are in a different league!

:coffee: Well.. it is important to always put things in the right perspective
anyway. Some people see other competitors as evil beings sent out to ruin their lives ( coria and Hewitt) whiles others see them as good friends to be liked ( kim clijsters )...

On court it always about winning..that is why it is a competition...... whoever said it is not whether you win or lose that counts most probably lost...... In the spirit of olympics , a competitior is merely an adversary.....so at that point in time...you are there to fight... that is simply serena's game face and attitude....

Mind you, I remember Serena saying....... that sharapova was a nice girl and she loved her long legs....... :) ... seriously, at miami I doubt she was thinking about those beautiful long legs of sharapova....

Off court .. life goes on...... you will go loopy :wacko: if you keep hating people off court....