O’Brien there, right? Huge news in the world of tennis as Serena and Venus Williams have been handed a wild card to compete together in the women’s doubles at Wimbledon. And we’re joined now by former Wimbledon champion Marian Bartley to get her thoughts on the news. Really lovely to see you, Marian.
Um, how exciting is this for tennis, do you think? >> Oh my god, I was so exciting Vicki. Honestly, when I heard the news, sort of the rumor of the news at the beginning of Ron Garos, um I was really hoping and and crossing fingers that it will happen and Serena would be back. Uh but to see both of them back on the court playing together, Wimbledon obviously when they had so much success both on the single court and as well as a double squ um I think is one of the biggest news we can possibly hope for in women’s tennis. Um,
we had an amazing Ron Garos with a new player coming from the qualification and make it all the way to the final and now having the return of Venus and Serena Williams is just absolutely outstanding. >> Yeah, it’s lovely, isn’t it? I mean, we some of us have kind of not grown up because I think I’m older than both of them, but you know, we’ve watched them and their careers develop over the the years and they’re both what into their 40s now and they’ve had extended breaks, haven’t they, from tennis. So, just how
difficult is it to come back and get to the top level of this sport? Well, it is very difficult and especially on the training uh obviously your body is changing and evolving especially for Serena with a pregnancy and and twice per pregnancy as she has two child but I think for her playing in front of her children as well in front of her girls gave her so much strength.
I mean, we saw it at the Queens. Um, she played brilliantly, I thought, in her first match, in her first doubles match with Vicki and Boo got extremely unlucky to do not be able to keep on playing in that wicket at Queens because Vicki got injured. But Venus has been a lot more on the court um and especially still playing singles last year.
So, Venus is a bit less rusty. But for Serena to come up on her first match at Queens, serving out the way she did in that match was just I mean when I was watching on TV, I really sort of rolled back the years in my head 10 years ago when I was seeing Serena just close out matches like like that like nothing, you know, and she just came on and fired four first serve and close out that match and I just thought, okay, she’s back for sure.
Um so yeah, absolutely thrilled to see her back on the court. >> I mean, she’s an amazing opponent, isn’t she? And you played against them both, didn’t you? in your career. What made them such tough opponents, do you think? >> Well, I played Venus in my first Wimbledon final actually back in 2007 and I played Serena at Wimbledon as well uh back in 2011.
For me, they’re the two toughest competitor I have to face because mentally they’re never out of a match. Uh they can always come back at any moment. They’re two of the toughest competitors I ever faced. They’re serve incredibly. Um especially Serena, I think for me, has the best serve ever in the women’s game.
she can really hits any spot whenever she wants and she can ace you basically three to four times a game. Um, and they had incredible return of serve and obviously that’s why they have been so successful on the grass court because those are the assets you need on the grass. But I would say incredible mental strength, incredible competitors and really really one two two of the best servers that we ever had in the women’s game.
>> Yeah. Where are we with women’s tennis at the moment do you think? because you know when we’re seeing the likes of Serena and Venus being able to come back and potentially being able to compete, what does that say about women’s tennis at the moment to you do you think? >> Well, they’re coming back on the double court which is obviously a bit of a difference ball game that when you have to cover the whole court and play singles.
So, uh it’s going to be interesting to see if Serena wants to make a comeback in singles which hasn’t been announced yet. So, um that might be a bit of a difference answer I would give you then if that do happen. um in the double sport, you know, you only have to cover half of the court and it’s really based on your skills and I mean you can’t deny the skills of Serena Williams with 23 Grand Slam title in singles.
So I think for me just showing that age is just a number and it’s how much you actually love the sport and and just showing how much Serena and Vidas are passionate by tennis. Obviously, we just had Lewis Hamilton winning in Barcelona at 41 years old. And I just think we had those barriers in the past when we felt past a certain age in sports, we just couldn’t perform anymore.
And I think seeing those amazing champions that are just pushing those boundaries furthers um will help the new generation to give them a different timeline that what we used to have when we always told us that by 30 years old basically you’re done with tennis. And obviously um having those champions showing different um I think for me is amazing.
>> Yeah, for me as well. I’m hearing that 50 is the new 40 apparently. Uh, and I’ll stick with it. Look, just Mariam, whilst I’ve got you, I just want to ask a quick question on Emma Radicanakanu. Um, she obviously made it through to the final of Queens at the weekend. She didn’t quite make it though.
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Um, how encouraging is that for her ahead of Wimbledon, do you think? >> Oh, extremely encouraging. Um, look, she had a tough clay course season obviously handing it early in Ron Garos and I think she had probably a good amount of days on the grass to get herself ready. The way she was able to beat Iva Yovic specifically in the semi-final of Queens, uh, playing extremely aggressive tennis, really sort of playing the tennis that got her to win the US Open was for me extremely encouraging.
You can tell she was back on the court fighting physically being ready. Yes, she came up a little short in the final, but um to pull out a week like that just before Wimbledon should be extremely encouraging for her. um we know she that capability of playing amazing tennis and it’s about having that confidence before arm grand slam which is always a bit trickier in term of pressure to handle but um I was absolutely extremely pleasantly surprised with the way she has been able to play at Queens which is such a strong field. The tournament has
such a strong level to be able to see her putting on the days has been absolutely um really brilliant to see. >> Thank you Mariam. Thank you for joining.
