Flashback to 2009 US Open 4th round

We continue to look at some of the interesting matches that have taken place over the years during the North American hardcourt season. This week we take a look at the 2009 US Open 4th round between Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams.

The talk going into this match mainly centred on Kim Clijsters, a player who retired two years earlier, got married, had a child and then returned to the tour in summer of 2009 at the grand old age of 26. Let’s just say times were a little different in the 1990s and noughties when it was normal for players to retire in their mid to late 20s. Kim received wildcards to the Canadian Open, Cincinnati and the US Open and was an extremely dangerous player who favoured hardcourts above all other surfaces.

Meanwhile, Venus Williams went into the match as slight favourite, but by no means clear favourite considering Kim Clijsters’ pedigree in the game. In fact, the last time Kim played the US Open, she won it in 2005, defeating Venus in three sets in the quarterfinal along the way; however Clijsters didn’t defend the title in 2006 due to injury. Rather surprisingly, Venus had not won the US Open since 2001 at that stage, and still has not won the US Open since then. Surprising because Venus has all of the attributes to win the US Open but then again, the opposition in the 2000s was very high. For instance, players of the calibre of Jennifer Capriati and Amelie Mauresmo never got to play in a US Open final and Lindsay Davenport didn’t reach any final after the year 2000 when she lost to Venus.  Both players were extremely athletic so it would come down to who made the least errors throughout the course of the match and who would hold their nerve when the situation got tight.

The match was scheduled third on the middle Sunday on Arthur Ashe court, meaning it got top billing. I knew it was going to be fun but I wasn’t prepared for what I was about to witness, neither were 22,000 people in Arthur Ashe or millions watching on television around the world.  The match started with Venus serving and losing her serve straight away!  Not a huge problem you would think, womens tennis is different to mens and holding serve is not a given. Venus did save three break points but wasn’t able to win the game. Clijsters held serve comfortably to put the pressure back on Venus, who duly got broken again to go 3:0 down right at the start. To be fair, both players looked a bit edgy as you would expect when the best play each other, not quite knowing what to expect.  Before you knew it, Venus was 5:0 down after twenty minutes with Clijsters serving for the set. Clijsters obliged despite a slight wobble and completed the “bagel” as they say in New York.  Venus made too many errors and Clijsters capitalised extremely well, punishing short balls and the fast flat hitting of Venus suited her on the hardcourts, by far Clijsters’ best surface.

This meant Venus would start the second set on her serve, this time holding to 30, to big cheers from the New York crowd. However, it was Clijsters’ turn to lose concentration and after two bad points and a double fault, found herself 2:0 down. One minute later it was 3:0, all of a sudden Venus went from serving around 110mph (178kph) to 119, 120 and 121mph (192kph) all in a row to go 3:0 up. Venus wasn’t hanging around to see if Clijsters would get nervous or make mistakes, she was taking the game to her.  Clijsters meanwhile wasn’t helping herself because she started backing off her shots, a perennial problem many baseliners have, instead of taking on the midcourt ball and coming in to net; Clijsters would hit the shot and back off to the baseline, giving Venus the initiative to attack her instead.

By this stage Clijsters completely lost her rhythm, getting broken again and finding herself 5:0 down amazingly. Clijsters served to stay in the set and wasn’t able to do it, allowing Venus to take the set 6:0.  Needless to say this is not something I remember seeing at the time, and I don’t recall seeing such a score line since. It was very exciting and a little bizarre at the same time!  In fact, I remember back in 2009 thinking I would love to see a 6:0 final set, regardless of who would take it, it would be something historical :0 The crowd knew they were witnessing something special.

Venus started off a set for the third time in a row and held serve to 30, fending off a surge from Clijsters who knew she had to respond. The stats showed that Clijsters got 82% of her first serves in during the second set and yet wasn’t able to win a game, Venus became much more aggressive on return of serve.  Clijsters did hold and so for the first time in the match, both players held at the same time!  This was not to last long as after one too many punishing forehands by Clijsters, Venus found herself break point down and double faulted to immediately hand the initiative back to Clijsters.

Now, perhaps I would have expected an immediate break back considering what went on before but Clijsters showed her experience despite lack of match practice to go 3:1 up and put the pressure on Venus, who attempted to get to net but was missing a lot of backhand volleys which was not helping her confidence.  Having said that, there were some great rallies, both players showing their incredible defence and athleticism around the court, both hitting hard and fast, taking advantage of the light Wilson tennis balls which the women players use at the US Open. Ex American player Chanda Rubin once said she preferred and was sure many women players would probably prefer to use the heavier duty tennis ball which the men get allocated at the US Open because you can generate more topspin, the lighter balls can fly off the racquet especially if the wind is slightly swirling around as it so often did in New York.

The third set was the best sequence of the match with both players giving everything but despite a few wobbles, Clijsters would prevail. There was one amusing moment where she double faulted at 4: 3, 30:30 and started muttering to herself, it’s always fun to watch players mutter to themselves in a grumpy fashion, but her friends and family in her box were off their feet giving encouragement. Venus held which forced Clijsters to serve for the match, which Clijsters did with a wonderful serve to the backhand on her first match point after saving two more break points ( what would we expect?). The great thing about winning a big match at the US Open is that the crowd is so loud at the climax it is riveting to witness. As always Venus was very gracious in defeat but it was Clijsters’ day.  As commentator Chris Bowers said “that was tennis theatre at its best”.

The stats show that Clijsters got 68% of her first serves in, hit only 14 winners and made 27 unforced errors and won 8 of 12 net points.  Meanwhile Venus got 56% of her first serves in, hit 20 winners, made 24 unforced errors and won 14 of 19 points at net.  I think these stats show why Kim Clijsters was such a great hardcourt player; she was just a bit more solid at the right moments than Venus. On surfaces like grass or indoor hardcourts it would be much tougher to win against Venus with those stats but on outdoor hardcourts you can win with great defence and stepping it up at the right moment, which so many players do today in both the mens and womens game.  The reason being that you can play a consistent game on hardcourts whereas on grass or clay, you have to adapt more, perhaps change your grip for certain shots and be more proactive. Clijsters had a weakness with her two hand backhand above her shoulder but Venus could not exploit that because she hit hard and flat more often than not. Clijsters struggled with the kicker serve to her backhand and also struggled against players like Mauresmo who was able to hit the low slice making her hit up then the high loopy topspin backhand which Clijsters didn’t like. However, most women were not able to do that because they played into Clijsters’ hands by hitting fast and flat.

Clijsters would go on to win her second US Open title beating Wozniacki in the final. Clijsters would then defend her title in 2010 defeating Vera Zvonareva in the final, meaning she would win the title three straight times she played it including 2005. Clijsters would go on to defeat Li Na in the 2011 Australian Open to establish herself as one of the great hardcourt players of the open era. All of her grand slam titles came on hardcourt.