Tracy Austin

For the third straight year, Venus Williams is gone from the French Open in the third round. She lost to a clay-courter, Agnes Szavay of Hungary, 6-0, 6-4.

Everything about Venus’ game was a little off, but it’s still tough to explain how she was so dominated in the first set. Only 14 times in 662 career matches has Williams lost a set at love.

It’s hard to say how much was expected from Williams even with her high seed. Clay is her least favorite surface, and she’s made only one French Open final, back in 2002, when she was beaten by her younger sister, Serena.

Her clay-court preparation for this major produced mediocre at best results. At Charleston, she won her opening match, but lost her next one in the Round of 16 to Sabine Lisicki. She did have a decent showing in Rome, reaching the semifinals before losing to World No. 1 Dinara Safina. But then she flopped in Madrid, coming off a bye to lose in the Round of 32 to Alisa Kleybanova.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion was playing for the third straight day. She lost the first set of her second-round match against Lucie Safarova on Wednesday before play was suspended because of darkness. Williams saved a match point and defeated Safarova on Thursday. Her first-round match also went three sets, but none of this I believe factored much if at all in her performance against Szavay.

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Venus seemed somewhat flat, both mentally and physically. She’s one of the best movers on the tour, and against Szavay there were some shots that she failed to get up to, and some others where she couldn’t quite get back far enough on, putting herself in an awkward position.

Obviously, she wasn’t in the groove in the first set, but it seemed she was starting to find the groove when she was up 4-3 and serving in the second set. But she was broken on that point when she first hit a backhand long, one of her 23 unforced errors which contributed to her downfall, and then double faulted on her serve, allowing Szavay to draw even at 4-4, and fueling her drive to close out the match.

There were more than a few opportunities for Venus to even the match at one all, but it was just not her day. She couldn’t capitalize on them. Too many times she took her foot off the pedal when she could have taken control of the second set.

In fairness, Szavay deserves credit. She put on a very solid showing, and moved extremely well. She served well when she needed to, and her serve is her favorite shot. She knows how to finish out matches against big-time opponents, with Venus being the latest example of that. Although I will say over the last few games, she got some help from Venus in bringing the match to conclusion.

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In almost every Grand Slam event a player takes part in, there are days when one’s “A” game is missing. It was for Venus against Szavay, even thought the sunny and dry conditions favored the American’s power game. There are times Venus has gotten through a match where she wasn’t at the top of her game, but today was not one of them.

When you look at Venus’ French Open history, it’s clear she loses a bit when playing on the dirt. The clay diffuses her power so her groundstrokes suffer. And she could be more patient on clay, but she is used to winning points in quick fashion. Her defensive skills are affected as well.

While losing has to be disappointing to Venus, we’ve seen that on more than a few occasions she’s come off early exits in Paris, to make a great runs at Wimbledon, where she is a five-time champion. This loss should not be a huge blow to her confidence.

As soon as Venus arrives in England, and starts playing on the grass, it’s almost like her whole demeanor changes. She becomes more aggressive, and she just feels more confident on the lawns. Most other players lack confidence on grass. So despite another fairly brief singles showing in Paris, there’s no reason not to expect another long run on the Wimbledon lawns from Venus.