Sport
Wimbledon 2012: Venus Williams will not proceed to round 2
Williams has been champion or runner-up at the All England Club eight of the past 12 years, with her last title coming in 2008. The three losses in finals all came against younger sister Serena.
“I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself,” she said. “I’m not going to give up on it. There’s no way I’m going to just sit down and give up just because I have a hard time the first five or six tournaments back. That’s just not me.”
The Olympic tournament will be played at Wimbledon three weeks after the end of the championships.
“At the Olympics, you’ll see me here,” she said. “I’m planning on it.”
In keeping with tradition, the defending men’s champ got the honor of opening play on Centre Court. Djokovic, bidding for a sixth Grand Slam title, was broken in his second service game as he slipped behind the baseline on break point and couldn’t return the shot. But he held serve the rest of the way, losing only nine points on his first serve and finishing with 13 aces.
Ferrero, a 32-year-old Spaniard who won the French Open in 2003 and reached No. 1 in the world that year, was never able to mount a challenge on the fast surface.
Sharapova, who won the French Open this month to complete a career Grand Slam, picked up right where she left off at Roland Garros. She thoroughly dominated the 133rd-ranked Rodionova, a Russian-born Australian, to win in just over an hour.
