Venus Williams Loses in First Round at Wimbledon

I was watching. Seeing Venus leave the stadium I sensed a career-ending loss.

At Telegraph UK, "Wimbledon 2012: Venus Williams suffers worst defeat since 1997 as Elena Vesnina knocks her out in round one":

Even at 2.51pm and against a clear-blue sky, one could discern the sight of Venus setting in the west.

In the corner of south-west London that had yielded five Wimbledon triumphs, Venus Williams bade her farewells in only the third hour of the tournament as she succumbed 6-1, 6-3 to Russia’s Elena Vesnina in the latest chapter of the American’s painful demise.

The pity was that Williams could not muster the same resistance in her match as she did in the extraordinary press conference that ensued. The 32 year-old, who has been diagnosed with the chronic fatigue-inducing condition Sjögren’s syndrome, had been described by one inquisitor as “struggling”. She curled her lip, regarding the observation not as an innocuous observation but as a vicious personal slight.

“Am I struggling?” she shot back. In truth, the question sounded rhetorical, given that she only began the comeback from her debilitating condition in April and had already endured a second-round exit at Roland Garros.

“Am I? I don’t know. Tell me what the struggle is.” The reporter explained, harmlessly enough, that it was to win matches. “You think? Tell me how I should do better,” she replied, before launching an impassioned defence of her accomplishments.

And see Diane Pucin, at the Los Angeles Times, "Venus Williams' Wimbledon loss is telling."