THE GRACIOUS ONES

The tennis sisters. Actually the Williams', Venus and Serena. Are there two better sports? They never fuss, throw tantrums, disrespect the other or their opponents. Yet, we hear relative little about them.

I know: tennis is not a big sport in the US. It wasn't a big sport at all in high school when I played. And, like golf, it's really not that great to watch. Oh, there are some great volleys and great saves that are amazing, but most of the action is pretty slow.

I used to think I expended more energy walking to the screen to retreat tennis balls than I did running all over the court in actual play. My point: there's a lot of down time.

Even the bad boys of tennis--Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, et. al, and there were a lot, couldn't add to the game. And then along came two great women players, no not Billy Jean King and Chrissie Evert, but the Williams' who are real pros, and the same result. Apathy for the sport or half-hearted interest.

That's too bad. It, like soccer, is a great sport, but not much fun to watch. And, it's too bad for two world class athletes, Venus and Serena, in every sense of the word.

Maybe if we all started saying, "Tennis anyone?"