More final than semi

Remember that much-hyped NBA playoff series between the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs? You know, the one that was billed as a matchup of the last two NBA champions? That fell flat as a flour tortilla (regardless of whether it was made in San Antone or SoCal).

But now, as the Wimbledon ladies' singles semifinals approach, we have a matchup of the last two champions at the Big W that is sure to live up to the hype: Venus Williams versus Lindsay Davenport.

They met in the 1998 U.S. Open semis: Davenport won, on the road to her first Grand Slam title.

They met in last year's Wimbledon final: Venus won, capturing her first major championship.

They squared off under the lights in a Saturday night U.S. Open final last year (that was because of a rain delay; this September, the women's final at Arthur Ashe Stadium is scheduled for a prime-time start), and Venus shrugged off a 4-1 first-set deficit to beat Davenport in straight sets and establish herself, at the time, as the best player in the world.

Now, after a certain woman named Jennifer has taken the tennis world by storm, this match will mark each player's re-entry into the tennis spotlight in the 2001 women's tennis season. The question currently surrounding Davenport -- albeit one that is fading with each match she rolls through at The Championships -- concerns the health of her knee, which sidelined her for much of the clay court season and the French Open. The question with Venus -- and with her recently defeated younger sister, Serena, as well -- is if her lack of match play in 2001 will translate into sluggishness.

If this match goes three sets, as it very well could, the issue with Davenport will be her footwork and her ability to run down shots with the sizeable patch she wears on her knee. With Venus, a three-setter will turn on her ability to focus on Davenport's hard and heavy groundstrokes for an extended period of time. Without the slightest test in her first five matches, a three-setter won't necessarily test Venus' fitness -- which is the central issue for Serena -- as much as it will her ability to play consistently well, the key for either of Richard Williams' daughters in Grand Slam competition.

If the third set sees Williams buckling under the relentless pressure of Davenport's yo-yo groundstrokes, you know which way the match is going. If Venus chases down a few balls, works her way back into a point on even terms, and then finds one of the incredible angles she usually does, it will be equally easy to discern that Venus will be on her way to a second straight serving of Breakfast at Wimbledon on the final Saturday of The Championships.

Richard Williams has created a stir -- and the usual sideshow -- around the All England Club with his tear-soaked announcement that Venus' tennis-playing days are short, and that his older daughter could make a lot more money outside tennis than within it. That pressure-reducing distraction, plus the exit of Serena and a whole Pandora's Box of conspiracy theories along with it, might very well make Venus -- literally and figuratively -- get right down to business against Davenport. Edge, Williams (family?).

Then again, Davenport, though in the semis, has had to put up with less media coverage than anyone else remaining in the ladies' singles competition. Think about it: the whole Belgian media are hanging on semifinalist Justine Henin's every breath, so the much more quiet native of California, whose tennis parents are perpendicular opposites of Richard Williams in virtually every way, figures to be more relaxed when the first ball is put into play. Edge, Davenport.

Men's tennis features plenty of matchups where two big bombers see whose fireballing serve is better. In women's tennis, many matchups involve confrontations of two Big Babes with blistering baseline groundies. Such will be the case with Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport.

When the smoke clears -- and it might take a long time for that to happen -- the lady with the more accurate artillery will emerge a bloodied survivor and live to have one more Breakfast at Wimbledon.