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Serena Williams dominates Krajicek, moves into third round
Thursday, September 1, 2011
The win comes one day after Venus removed herself from the main draw, citing a recent diagnosis of Sjogren's Syndrome - an autoimmune disease where white blood cells can damage the vital organs of the body and cause fatigue and joint pain. Serena, who herself has battled medical maladies such as foot lacerations, a hematoma and a pulomary embolism since her last Open appearance in 2009, steamrolled Krajicek - a qualifier - in a tidy 49 minutes to make it two-for-two for her inside Arthur Ashe Stadium in the last 48 hours.
The abrupt announcement shocked many in the tennis world and created a Google search rush on "Sjogren's Syndrome." Yet, despite being concerned as any family member would be, Williams revealed that putting her sister out of her mind "wasn't that difficult."
"I know she's a fighter and she's really strong," Williams said. "She's great. I think she's really happy now that she knows what it is after all this time. I think, if anything, it's gonna help her now to treat it and go forward."
The three-time Open champion channeled the dominant form she displayed in years past, when she was winning titles in 1999, 2002 and 2008. As the crowd in Ashe shouted words of encouragement to the American favorite, Williams fired 10 aces and converted five-of-six break point opportunities.
Krajicek, meanwhile, did not convert her only opportunity to break in the match and committed 18 unforced errors. Very little went right for the 21-year-old journeywoman, making her first main draw appearance since 2007 when she also lost in the second round. The victory was so lopsided that when Krajicek finally won a game, a soaring roar of applause met her modest triumph - it was just one of those days.
"I told her after the match: 'Welcome back,'" said Williams of Krajicek. "I know she's been going through a really tough time, and not to be discouraged - I hope she doesn't because she's played well.
"She qualified here and won a round, and she never gave up today no matter what the score looked like. I thought it was a really tough match. It was good for her and, you know, she's still young. Her whole life is ahead of her."
Williams defeated Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski in the first round, 6-1, 6-1, in her first match since losing in the '09 semifinals to eventual champion Kim Clijsters. Seeded 28th, Williams could be involved in a star-powered clash on Saturday should No. 4 Victoria Azarenka advance over Argentina's Gisela Dulko. The two play later in the day inside Louis Armstrong Stadium.
If it is Azarenka, Williams believes that she will "definitely be the underdog."
"(Azarenka) has been doing everything good," Williams said. "She moves her feet I think better than anyone on tour, to be honest. She's always moving, and that's really enabled her to get ranked high where she is and have such a great year ... I feel like I have nothing to lose in this match if I have to play her."
Match Facts
- Krajicek hit only five winners and had four double faults.
- Williams is no 3-0 in her career vs. Krajicek, last beating her in Roland Garros in 2007, also in straight sets.
- Williams took the first set in just 22 minutes, firing six aces to Krajicek's none.
Arthur Ashe Stadium - Women's Singles - 2nd Round
Michaella Krajicek NED 0 1
Serena Williams USA (28) 6 6
By Erin Bruehl
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Venus Williams unexpectedly withdrew from the 2011 US Open before her second round match Wednesday, saying she had been diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome, an autoimmune disease, raising questions as to Williams’ future on the WTA Tour at age 31 and as to just how the disease affects a person.
In an interview on ‘Good Morning, America’ Thursday, Williams said she plans to return to tennis and was happy to finally be diagnosed, as she had been suffering from swelling, numbness and debilitating fatigue.
Sjogrens is not one of the more commonly known autoimmune diseases, in which the body’s immune system, rather than attacking an outsider invader like bacteria or a virus, starts attacking itself instead. Other autoimmune diseases are rheumatoid arthritis, in which the joints are attacked, and multiple sclerosis, which attacks the covering of the nerves known as the myelin sheath.
In Sjogrens, it is the glands that are responsible for secretions that are attacked, including the lacrimal glands of the eyes or the salivary glands, and a result the hallmark symptom is that people complain of dry eyes and dry mouth, of which the severity can vary from person to person.
According to Dr. Brian Hainline, the chief medical officer of the U.S. Tennis Association, there can be other effects from Sjogrens, which include joint pain and fatigue, and like other autoimmune diseases, just why the body begins to attack itself, is not certain. He does not know about just what kinds of symptoms Williams has or their severity, but the disease can make doing everyday things difficult and is vastly underdiagnosed.
“With a lot of autoimmune conditions, there is a spillover effect and it can damage other parts of your body. There are number of people with Sjogrens whose joints ache,” he said. “They have this achy feeling, kind of ache in your joints that people complain when they have the flu. When you have that, it is hard to fight through it. Usually when people have that, they also have this sense of chronic fatigue.
“And when you have fatigue and joint pain, to really excel at a high level , let alone to feel like you want to do things well on a day to day basis, it makes it very difficult,” he added. “I am not privy to what is going on with Venus; I can just speak in general. To play seven high-level matches where you are going at 100 percent, if your body is feeling fatigued and achy, it is essentially impossible to really perform at a high level.”
The disease affects mainly women and can be seen in people from their 20s to their 60s. The spectrum of the kinds and severity of symptoms varies largely from people to people and can vary over a person’s life span, according to Hainline.
“The mildest is people have a nuisance of dryness in eyes and mouth and other end of the spectrum, people can have kidney, liver damage, debilitating joint pain, chronic fatigue and essentially they are just chronically ill,” he said. “It is not unusual to see someone in their late 20s that have manifestations of Sjogrens. It could fluctuate (from minor to debilitating) for reasons that are not really known.”
However, just how and why a person develops Sjogrens is unknown. There could be a genetic component, a virus could jog the immune system to overreact, but nothing is certain.
“Why would the immune system attack itself? That is one of the mysteries of medicine,” Hainline said. “We do know in some families there is a genetic predisposition. But that is not normally how it is. Other times something just happens in the body and the cellular machinery shifts and it sometimes it can be as innocent as a virus that has been in the body and as the immune system is attacking the virus, the virus mimics something that is inherently in the body so the immune system revs up and not only attacks the virus but attacks itself.”
A person is usually treated by a rheumatologist, however, there is no specific treatment for Sjogrens. It is symptomatic treatment based on the person. He or she can take things for the dryness in their eyes or mouths and for people with joint pain, they can take medications for rheumatoid arthritis. However, unlike some other autoimmune conditions, there is no medicine to put the disease into remission, and could have effects on an athlete, depending on the severity of the condition.
“For Sjogrens, you are at the mercy of how active the condition is, how active the immune system is against yourself,” Hainline said. “They do what they can to treat you symptomatically and the patient does what she can to make sure his or her immune system is in the best shape.
“When you are dealing with an elite level athlete, if you have something that can knock someone even 5 percent off, that can be the difference between a gold medal or Grand Slam and being out in the first round,” he added.
Williams had missed much of the 2011 tennis season already with hip and abdominal injuries and then withdrew from a few tournaments this season with a virus. Her sister, Serena, told ESPN during an interview that both her and Venus are happy she was finally diagnosed and that is she is doing ok.
“My sister is my best friend, we are really, really close,” Serena said. “If anything, I can definitely help her and offer advice on staying positive. She is doing great, she is really happy that she knows what it is.”
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