Venus bids for third consecutive major title

Melbourne, January 14: A familiar pose best captures womenacirc;euro;trade;s tennis today: Venus Williams at the net, racket cocked, re...

Melbourne, January 14: A familiar pose best captures womenacirc;euro;trade;s tennis today: Venus Williams at the net, racket cocked, ready to slam an overhead, a picture of aggression, intimidation and domination.

The striking image serves as a symbol at the start of the new year, with Williams poised to overpower her sport. All she has to do is follow through. Itacirc;euro;trade;s not that easy, of course. The Australian Open begins on Monday with Williamsacirc;euro;trade; formidable rivals on hand sister Serena, defending champion Lindsay Davenport and three-time champ Martina Hingis.

And doubts about Venus Williamsacirc;euro;trade; durability and devotion to tennis persist, leading skeptics to wonder how long she can dominate the WTA Tour.But thereacirc;euro;trade;s no question she reached a rarefied level last year. Despite sitting out the first four months with tendinitis in both wrists, she won 35 consecutive matches and six consecutive tournaments.

Williams capped the year by signing an endorsement deal with Reebok for an estimated 40 million, a record for a female athlete. She boasts that her two major titles are just the beginning, and sheacirc;euro;trade;ll bid for her third in a row at Australian Open.

The third-seeded Williams is the player to beat in the womenacirc;euro;trade;s draw. All the top contenders played warmup events in Australia this week, but Williamsacirc;euro;trade; preparation was characteristically unorthodox.

Following a 2 1/2-month layoff, she entered only doubles with her sister at a Sydney tournament, and they lost in the first round Tuesday to Hingis and Monica Seles.

But Williams scoffed at the suggestion sheacirc;euro;trade;ll go into the Australian Open rusty. acirc;euro;tilde;acirc;euro;tilde;If Iacirc;euro;trade;m not ready by now, then I should just go home,acirc;euro;trade;acirc;euro;trade; she said.

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Williams rejects the single-minded approach to tennisthat most champions take. She likes to cook, sew and read, studies foreign languages, attends fashion school and admits sheacirc;euro;trade;s easily bored.

In November her enigmatic father, Richard, said hisdaughters might curtail their schedules unless the WTA Tour shared more of its revenue with the family. But Venus played only 10 tournaments as it was last year, a light load even given the time she missed because of injury.