When all is said and done, when the tennis racquets have been put away for the day and the locker room is empty, tennis is just a game. Two people with bats and balls and the one who collects the most points wins.
Maybe that is why this year’s women’s semifinalists have a combined age of 130. Venus Williams is 36, Serena is 35, Mirjana Lucic-Baroni is 34 and CoCo Vandeweghe is the baby of the group but she is still a relatively grown-up 25.
Maybe they know, deep down, what is really important in life. On court, they will fight for all they are worth but if they lose, their pride will be dented but they know that the earth will not be knocked off its axis. It is just a game, after all. And that philosophy can bring a sense of calm and perspective in even the most pressurised moment in a match.
The Williams sisters, of course, have their records to fall back on: if the confidence levels are dipping slightly, just remind yourself that you are a serial Grand Slam champion and a former world No.1. As Venus pointed out after beating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to reach her first Australian semifinal since 2003, she deserves this. Did she believe she could win the title? Oh, my, yes.
“Why shouldn't I?” she asked. “I try to believe. Should I look across the net and believe the person across the net deserves it more? This mentality is not how champions are made. I'd like to be a champion, in particular this year. The mentality I walk on court with is: I deserve this.”
The past six years have been a juggling act for Venus. In 2011, she was diagnosed with Sjögren's syndrome, a little-known autoimmune disorder that causes fatigue and joint pain. She never knew when she got out of bed whether it would be a good day or a bad day. All she did know was that the illness would not stop her.
After a few months off, she slowly inched her way back to the tour but for four years, she was only a shadow of her former championship-winning self. No one begrudged her time on court but no one thought she could be a contender again. But Venus always knew she would be back.
In 2015, she reached her first post-diagnosis quarterfinal here in Melbourne and in the last nine Grand Slam tournaments, she has reached the last eight four times. Now she stands one match away from her first final since Wimbledon in 2009. And she fancies her chances of getting there, too.
“The tournament is by no means over,” she warned. “It's definitely down to the business end. I feel like I'm playing the kind of tennis I want to produce the results that I want.”
Her sister has been producing the results she wants for years. So far, she has amassed 22 major trophies and she looks like she is homing in on another. Her 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Johanna Konta, the hottest property on tour at the moment, was brutal and it was decisive. It was just as Serena has been for the past 20 years, give or take.
As her sister was facing up to her health problems, Serena was making her way back from her annus horribilis. In 2010, she won Wimbledon but just a matter of days later, she injured her foot in a freak accident in a restaurant in Munich. That sidelined her for months but paled into insignificance when she suffered a pulmonary embolism in February of 2011 and almost died.
Slowly she recovered and came back but when she returned, she was a chastened woman.
“This has given me a whole new perspective on life and my career – and not taking anything for granted,” she said at the start of that grass court season. “I'm just taking one day at a time. I'm not preparing for today or for Wimbledon. I'm preparing for the rest of my career."
And the rest of her career has been spectacular. She has won everything multiple times and now every time she steps out on court, she is making history. That brings with it a unique pressure, one that sometimes ties her up with nerves. But, for the most part, she manages to draw on something within to fight her way through.
Against Konta, she knew the quality of the opposition would be high and that she had to be on her guard. So when her first serve started misfiring, Serena did not panic – years of getting through these matches can quell any nervous tension.
Now she plays Mirjana Lucic-Baroni whose fairytale story has been well documented. She was a rising star in the 1990s but her career was derailed by off-court personal problems. When she disappeared off the radar, no one imagined that she would be back but that was not accounting for the Croat’s determination, persistence and sheer love of her job. Now, at the age of 34, she has her chance to reach a Grand Slam final and despite a leg injury, no one and nothing is going to stop her giving her all to win.
“This is what I've been dreaming about, this is what I've been training for,” she said. “At 34 years old, I have a wonderful home. I'm happily married. I would be perfectly okay being at home enjoying my family. But I really knew deep down in my soul that I have these results in me. To now be here and actually live these moments, it's incredible.”
Which brings us to Vandeweghe, the baby of the group. Even so, this is her 10th year on tour: she has seen a lot and learned a lot on her way to her first major semifinal. Coming from a sporting background – her mum was an Olympian in swimming and volleyball, her grandfather played for the New York Nicks and her uncle was the general manager of the Denver Nuggets – she also knows that sport is important but that it also just a job. And she has been taught that nobody likes a show-off.
“They're just my family,” she said. “Nothing else, just like, regular aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters. They're quick to bring me back down off my pedestal if I get too high.”
The exuberance of youth can take you so far but when the chips are down, it is so much easier to cope with the pressure when you are a grown-up.
