Venus and Serena Williams are without a doubt America’s go-to tennis stars and U.S Captain Mary Joe Fernandez made sure she took advantage of her secret weapon during the Fed Cup World Group Playoff.
When things were getting rough for the U.S team, Fernandez made the decision to substitute Venus Williams in for 16th ranked Sloane Stephens (who lost her previous match) and it proved to be a wise choice but a difficult one to make against Swedish opponent Johanna Larsson.
“The hardest thing was trying to decide when to play which one,” Fernandez said. “At the end of the day, experience just goes a long way. Venus has been there so many times before.
“To have her in that clinching match for me was really important.”
Fernandez also knew that Venus Williams was desperate to play.
“To be honest, I wanted to be out there,” Venus Williams said. “I told Mary Joe yesterday I feel good, I feel positive.
“I pumped myself up and I wanted to be there for the team.”
Little sister Serena also did her part to seal a victory for the US against Sofia Arvidsson – even though she had to battle the sun in the process.
“I felt OK out there but the sun was intense,” she said. “Those games like that are really important because if she would’ve won that game it would have been a tougher score, a different match.”
According to the Post,
Except for that third game, Williams played focused tennis throughout the 57-minutes match.
She posted 35 outright winners to only eight for Arvidsson. She served 10 aces to none for Arvidsson. She broke serve on four of six break point offerings from Arvidsson.
The final score was 3-2 after the U.S. defaulted the doubles match, giving the doubles point to Sweden, due to injury of three of four of the American players.The victory guarantees the U.S. a spot in the coveted 2014 Fed Cup World Group, while Sweden will play 2014 World Group II action.
Just goes to show you… when in doubt turn to the Williams!
