Venus Williams wins Billie Jean King Cup and $400,000

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Wilson Blade 9

The long-awaited Billie Jean King Cup in the BNP Paribas Showdown took place on Monday night in New York and the winner is seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams.

Firstly, the one-set, no-ad semifinals were played at the Madison Square Garden. Kim Cijsters defeated Serena Williams’ replacement Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (7-2), while Venus Williams took care of Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4. I would like to point out a non-promising statement of Ana Ivanovic, who has a new coach: “It was a tough match. I was actually very nervous, but it makes it an important match. I just wanted to do so well.” I can’t believe we are listening to the same old story.

The final between Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters followed. Williams, who lost in the finals to her sister Serena last year, defeated Clijsters 6-4 3-6 7-5 in front of the crowd of 11,702 and earned $400,000 of the astonishing $1.2 million prize money. Good on you, Venus, for earning $787,000 in prize money in the past two weeks and one day ($350,000 for Dubai victory, $37,000 for winning Acapulco, and now these latest $400,000).

Billie Jean King herself did not attend the event because she is recovering from a recent double-knee replacement.

22 COMMENTS

  1. i think it’s a 7-6 for klijsters against ivanovic, and i heard ana even had a match point. I bet she’ll be back on top soon… :))

  2. Yes, it actually was 7-6, and 7-2 on the tiebreak.
    Ana was leading 5-3, and I don’t remember but she might have had a match point.
    I went to see the match, and Ana didn’t look that bad, although Kim didn’t look imposing on the semifinals either.

  3. Yassine, Michael, thanks guys for noticing, I’ve corrected the score.

    Michael, since you were there, can you tell us how was Ana’s ball toss?

  4. These prize moneys in tennis nowadays is unbelievable and irrelevant , 400 thousand $ for three days tournament!? How it could be? Who is giving such a money? All the prize moneys could be easily divided with 10 and even then it will be too much.

  5. Good job Venus! That’s a lot of money for 2 matches! And as much as I understand that Billie Jean just went through surgery, she couldn’t have moved it after the event? It’s named after her! lol.

  6. By the way, have you heard the news – in Monterrey Jankovic lost to Anastasija Sevastova from Latvia !

  7. Venus has been making a lot of money since the Australian Open.
    $350 000
    $350 000
    $37000.00
    $400 000.00
    plus appearance fees
    in just over a month

  8. Ana needs to learn not to admit that she is so nervous and not to show her emotions so much to her opponents. I admire her honesty but by doing this she’s giving her opponents a big advantage and they are going out there believing that they can beat her. I don’t think you’d hear many other players coming out and saying things like this.

  9. Actually, I`m on the side of Anastasija, cause I am from Latvia. That is great achievement for Latvian women`s tennis, though I`ve been fan of JJ for latest years.
    About Ana everything is quite clear and it is a pity, she seemed to be such a promising player till now.

  10. I agree with you Brona. She needs to be confident with the media and the press whatever happens and then maybe she will believe it herself. Some how she needs to re-focus and find her self and her game. Explaining to people that she is nervous does not help.

  11. Ugis, it was actually a one-day tournament. 🙂 Tournaments have their own ways of earning money: sponsors, tickets, etc. But the BNP Paribas Showdown is not a regular WTA Tour event, and the prize money is really beyond standards. And yes, I’ve heard it, just posted about it. Horrible for JJ, but Anastasija is at least a Top 100 player. 😛

    Lilly, who knows, those are health issues, I wouldn’t go into that.

    Bróna, Sunny, yes, Ana is too vulnerable and is not ashamed of that, but it puts her in an inferior position – her opponents get more confident, as well as journalists who find it more easy to attack her. I remember after her horrible Fed Cup performance in Belgrade recently that a journalist that interviewed her after the match was very direct, like almost disgracing Ana, but she stayed very calm and humble.

  12. Ugis, that’s nice, you’re allowed to be on Anastasija’s side. 🙂 Haha until it’s someone’s great achievement to beat JJ I will consider her doing fine. 😛

  13. Venus probably wants to step it up now. Well, she’s near the end of her pro career, so it’s going to be only a few more seasons to get some big wins. Ahh, seems that the tour will not be dull and boring anymore.

  14. Marine dont write off Venus because she is so unpredictable.Schiavone,Dementieva,Garbin,Patty,Henin,Serena,Craybas,Kim are all in the same age group …why Venus.I heard her saying she will be playing until her body says no so you have to put away the champaigne bottle for the next 5yrs.
    Venus and Serena lengthened their careers by playing less,now they are able to play on well into their thirties with no problem.
    Write off Venus at your own peril..

  15. I hope her new coach will teach Ana to relax.
    “I was actually very nervous, but it makes it an important match” — Hard to believe she is talking about an exhibition match! Steffi Graf was known for her cool and icy demeanour on court.

    If Ana herself makes such comments to the media (however honest she might be), it only encourages them to ask even more scathing/degrading questions. This in turn affects how she sees herself.
    Ofcourse, it is not appropriate to judge Ana based on a one set match.

  16. Karunya, good point, even though it was a high-profile exhibition match, it was just an exhibition. Ana’s afraid even of exhibitions. 🙁

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