5/25/2014 Venus Williams Subdues a Teenager Mentored by Williamss Ex-Rival - NYTimes.

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TENNIS
Venus Williams Subdues a Teenager Mentored
by Williamss Ex-Rival
By NAILA-JEAN MEYERS MAY 25, 2014
PARIS Pick a number, any number, to best represent Venus Williamss
first-round match against Belinda Bencic on Sunday at the French Open.
Williams is 33. Bencic is 17.
Bencic, the 2013 French Open and Wimbledon junior champion from
Switzerland, had played two Grand Slam singles matches as a
professional. Williams had played 57 at the French Open alone.
Bencics tournament biography is three pages long. Williamss is 15.
But Williams and Bencic were connected nonetheless, by a woman
watching Bencic from the stands: Martina Hingis.
Hingis, also 33, was a longtime rival of Williamss, facing her 21 times.
She is now a mentor to Bencic, who is occasionally coached by Hingiss
mother, Melanie Molitor.
In many ways, Hingis, who retired as a singles player in 2007, is a
bridge between the players and their generations.
In 1997, the year Bencic was born, Williams, then 17, reached her first
Grand Slam final, at the United States Open. Her opponent was Hingis,
then 16.
Teenage champions were common then. Now, the top two women in
the rankings, Serena Williams and Li Na, are in their 30s.
Sundays match was also dominated by the 30-something, as Venus
Williams advanced with a 6-4, 6-1 victory.
5/25/2014 Venus Williams Subdues a Teenager Mentored by Williamss Ex-Rival - NYTimes.com
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Young folks today, eh? said Williams, joking, who will play another
teenager, 19-year-old Anna Schmiedlova of Slovakia, in the next round.
She added, Im just trying to hopefully stay alive myself as an older
player.
Bencic said she was not intimidated by Williams and got tips about
playing her from Hingis and Molitor. She had also faced Williams once
before, two years ago at age 15.
I knew that now I can play on the big court against big players, and it
was not the first time, said Bencic, who is ranked 81st.
Again and again, though, Williamss experience showed. Bencic
earned a break in the fifth game of the first set, but Williams broke her
right back as Bencic lost focus. With Williams serving for the first set at 5-
3, Bencic saved two set points and broke Williams.
But Bencic was not able to capitalize. She played another sloppy game
and Williams took the set, then won the first four games of the second set
to cruise to victory.
I think experience has helped her a lot, said Williams, who is seeded
29th. I think when I played her, it was really one of her first professional
matches, so obviously thats a complete different experience. Even then she
played well. I think she has a great attitude, and it will take her a long
way.
Before the match, the video board at Suzanne Lenglen Court
mistakenly had Bencic playing Serena Williams. But the younger Williams
sister had her own fresh face to play on Philippe Chatrier Court, Alize Lim,
23, of France, who was in her first main draw singles match at a Grand
Slam.
Serena Williams and Lim know each other well from training at
Patrick Mouratoglous academy, making Williamss 6-2, 6-1 victory
friendly and festive.
Shes been just getting so much better, and she just made up her
mind that she wanted to compete and be one of the best, said Williams,
who could face her sister in the third round. Im really proud of her.
5/25/2014 Venus Williams Subdues a Teenager Mentored by Williamss Ex-Rival - NYTimes.com
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Williams acknowledged that she thought her career would be over by
age 30.
When I got close to be 30, I felt like I didnt want to stop, she said. I
just wanted to keep going. I think maybe just people are just more or less
feeling that way.
Also, technology has changed. Training has changed. Peoples bodies
are better. People are more healthier for a longer amount of time.
No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska won the first match of the tournament, 6-
3, 6-0, over Zhang Shuai. The day proceeded rather routinely from there,
although No. 15 Mikhail Youzhny and Radek Stepanek rallied from two-
sets-to-none deficits to win in five in mens singles. No. 25 Kaia Kanepi was
the only seeded player to lose, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, to Monica Niculescu.
Roger Federer, another 30-something, played only his second match
since the latest addition to the next generation of his family, twin sons
born this month. Federer dispatched Lukas Lacko of Slovakia, 6-2, 6-4, 6-
2, in 1 hour 24 minutes as if he had diapers to change.
Yes, it was a simple, straightforward match, said Federer, whose 4-
year-old twin daughters watched from the stands. I had everything under
control from A to Z. On my serve games, there was never a dangerous
moment. Its always very pleasant to have such a good first round.
Even eighth-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada, only 23, found himself
talking about a next generation after his match against the Australian Nick
Kyrgios, 19, a former top junior player and the youngest man in the draw.
A 6-3, 7-6 (1), 6-3 winner, Raonic was asked to describe the game of
one of the young players coming up.
Raonic said, I havent been really on tour that long that I can tell you,
seeing a lot of guys come up, what really the big differences are.
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