Williams on the prowl for Slams, opportunities to effect change
Story by Chris Graham
sportsdom@ntelos.net
Reigning Wimbledon singles champ Venus Williams isn’t satisfied with her triumphant mini-comeback.
She wants more – a lot more – in 2008.
“I want to win as many Slams as possible next year. I really want to win three – and I think I can do it. I just need to stay healthy. I need to stay healthy all season, and I think I can do it,” Williams told The SportsDominion Tuesday after a visit to Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, where she delivered a lecture as part of an ongoing college series on leadership.
“I’d like to also win another gold in the Olympics next year – and I want to play at least two more. And if I can win a doubles, that would be four more golds – and that’s, like, huger than huge. I don’t know. It would be amazing if I could do that,” Williams said.
It was an interesting revelation – that she would like to play in two more Olympics, which would keep her active through 2012. It had seemed in the last year or two that Williams, a four-time Wimbledon champ who has won six Grand Slams in her storied career, was more interested in her post-tennis career than anything else. She has her own fashion line, EleVen, and has interests in the music business as well.
But something else that she has is grounding. Asked by a reporter after the MBC lecture about what it feels like to be a celebrity, Williams shrugged off any notion that she is on that kind of pedestal, at least in her own mind.
“For me, I think it’s still strange, the whole concept of celebrity. It’s just … I don’t know. Some people who are famous, and others who aren’t … it’s strange,” Williams said.
“I don’t see myself as a celebrity or someone who is famous. I see myself as me – I do what I do, and I feel blessed to be doing it and really fortunate and privileged. And at times I wonder, why did I get to live this life and be able to live my dreams, and why wasn’t someone else? So it’s just a blessing every day,” Williams said.
Williams has made giving back a mantra – she has been a vocal champion of equal pay for women on the professional tennis tour, and as the 2007 Wimbledon winner she was the first women’s champ to earn the same as that year’s men’s champ.
“I can’t exactly give them a separate ranking. They go hand in hand,” she said of her on- and off-court lives. “If I couldn’t have played tennis, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do the things that I do. So I think they’re equally as important. The better that I play, the more platform that I have, and I think that I can make a difference now while I’m playing, and then when I’m done, I’ll be known as someone who goes forward for a change, and then people can pay attention to whatever I may be lobbying for, and that may make a difference.”
And that was what brought Williams to Staunton this week – the chance to try to make a difference.
“I want to speak to groups and speak to people in general because it makes a difference in my life being able to give back. It also helps me to refocus in my life on the things that I want to achieve to listen to my own message,” Williams said.
“I feel that giving back to others my information and my knowledge from the things that I’ve done and my parents have taught me was so key to my success, and I want to pass that message on to. So I definitely have a lot to say. Is it time to say it? I definitely think so,” Williams said.
“For me the most important thing for the young women is to have confidence in themselves, believe in themselves, follow their dreams and their goals, to work hard at it and to enjoy themselves and to enjoy their lives and what they do. To me, those are the key messages – and I really, really sincerely hope that that goes through,” Williams said.
Staff member Mike Hodge contributed to this report.
